Kanye West Leads Grammy Nominees

Posted in News on December 7, 2007

BMI rap superstar Kanye West will be the top contender at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards, earning eight nominations and leading the pack of BMI Grammy Award nominees. The ceremony will broadcast live on February 10 from Los Angeles in the Staples Center.

West, a previous six-time Grammy winner, garnered the most nods including Album of the Year, Best Rap Album and Best Rap Solo Performance. His songwriting expertise is being recognized twice in the Best Rap Song category for “Good Life” and “Can’t Tell Me Nothing”.

Amy Winehouse, up for six, goes head-to-head with Kanye in the Album of the Year category. Winehouse received nominations including Song of the Year for “Rehab” and the coveted Best New Artist, which she’ll compete with BMI newcomer Taylor Swift.

BMI singer/songwriters dominated the Album of the Year category obtaining all five nominations with the Foo Fighters Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace; Vince Gill’s These Days; Herbie Hancock’s River: The Joni Letters; Kanye West’s Graduation; and Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black.

In addition, T-Pain received his first-ever Grammy recognition garnering five nods in categories including Best R&B Performance By A Duo or Group With Vocals and Best Rap Song. Ne-Yo also scored five nominations, including Best Contemporary R&B Album mention for Because of You.

Daughtry, Tim McGraw, Rihanna and Feist scored four nominations each. Daughtry’s explosive self-titled album is up for Best Rock Album; McGraw’s Let It Go received a Best Country Album nod; Rihanna’s “Umbrella” earned a Record of the Year nomination; and Feist scored a Best New Artist nod.

Producer Mark Ronson received three nominations including Producer of the Year, Non-Classical and Record of the Year for his contributions to Winehouse’s Back to Black. Jack White of the White Stripes and Casting Crown’s Mark Hall were also cited three times, as were Herbie Hancock, DJ Toomp and Common.

The Recording Academy will also honor Max Roach, The Band and Earl Scruggs with Lifetime Achievement Awards, as well as Jac Holzman and Willie Mitchell with Trustee Awards.

BMI attained a sizable percentage of the rock field achieving four-of-five nominations in the Best Rock Song and the Best Rock Album categories. The domination continued with BMI’s traditional strength in the Latin, Rap & R&B, Gospel, Jazz categories, and sweeps in the New Age and Traditional Blues categories.

SOURCENews TAGS Country Pop R&B R&B / Hip-Hop Rock Daughtry Foo Fighters Vince Gill Mark Hall Herbie Hancock Tim McGraw Willie Mitchell Ne-Yo Rihanna Mark Ronson Earl Scruggs Taylor Swift T-Pain Kanye West The White Stripes Jack White Amy Winehouse