Alicia Keys, Andra Day, Joseph Lorge and Saweetie are this year’s Grammy nominees with San Diego ties
How many former and current San Diegans have won Grammys? The list ranges from Tom Waits, Gregory Porter and Heart’s Ann Wilson to Julieta Venegas, Eddie Vedder and Poway Mayor Steve Vaus
How many current and former San Diegans have won Grammy Awards since the event’s inception 64 years ago?
It’s an intriguing question that, for several reasons, should stump even the most knowledgeable music fans.
So far as can be determined, there is no official source that maintains a tally of the winners with San Diego ties. Even if there was, the lines blur so quickly that determining an accurate answer would be as challenging as correctly predicting this year’s biggest winners.
Will 19-year-old Olivia Rodrigo match Billie Eilish’s 2020 feat of winning Best New Artist and Album, Record and Song of the Year honors at the music world’s most prestigious annual awards fete?
There are Grammy-winners who were born in San Diego and later moved away, including Heart’s Nancy Wilson, Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine and Nickel Creek’s Chris Thile, Sara Watkins and Sean Watkins.
The 59th annual Grammy Awards opened on a winning note for three former San Diego musicians.
There are Grammy-winners born elsewhere who moved here as kids or adults, including University of California San Diego music professors Susan Narucki and Kamau Kenyatta, Poway Mayor Steve Vaus, Chris Goldsmith, Mark O’Connor and — all now deceased — Ravi Shankar, Ike Turner, Patti Page and Frank Zappa.
A nominee in the Best Classical Solo Vocal Album category, for her performance on ‘The Edge of Silence — Works For Voice By György Kurtág,’ Narucki will perform Feb. 5 at UC San Diego, where she is a music professor
This, in turn, leads to the category of Grammy-winners born elsewhere who came of musical age in San Diego and then moved elsewhere, including Tom Waits, Gregory Porter, Julieta Venegas and Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder.
Music transformed the Grammy-winning vocal star after an injury abruptly ended his college football career at San Diego State University
And there are Grammy-winners who were born here and still reside here, including a majority of the members of Switchfoot.
The Grammy Award-winning San Diego band drew a sold-out audience to its uplifting concert, which was hosted by the San Diego Padres
This year, there are at least four Grammy nominees with San Diego ties. They include:
Andra Day
Category: Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media for her superb vocal performances in the film “The United States Vs. Billie Holiday,” in which she played the title role.
With Oscar buzz growing, the three-time Grammy-nominated singer discusses her breakout film role — in ‘The United States vs. Billie Holiday’ — after finding her destiny as a San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts student
Track record: Day, a San Diego School of Creative & Performing Arts graduate, had two nominations in 2016.
Alicia Keys
Category: Song of the Year for her duet with Brandi Carlile on “A Beautiful Noise.”
Track record: Keys, a La Jolla resident, has won 15 Grammys. She memorably hosted the Grammy telecast in 2019 and 2020.
It was a night of major intrigue and drama, as host Alicia Keys expertly walked a tightrope
Joseph Lorge
Categories: Album of the Year (for Jon Batiste’s “We Are”) and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical (for guitarist Blake Mills and bassist Pino Palladino’s “Notes With Attachments”).
Track record: Lorge, who studied music at Coronado School of the Arts, was previously nominated in 2018.
Saweetie
Categories: Best New Artist, Best Rap Song (for “Best Friend,” her collaboration with Doja Cat).
Track record: Saweetie, who attended SDSU for her freshman year of college, has not been nominated for a Grammy before.
The 64th annual Grammy Awards
Hosted by: Trevor Noah
With performances by: Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, Lil Nas X, BTS, Brandi Carlile & Brothers Osborne, Jack Harlow, Jon Batiste, Foo Fighters, H.E.R., Nas, Chris Stapleton, Cynthia Erivo, Leslie Odom Jr., Ben Platt and Rachel Zegler
When: 5 p.m. next Sunday, April 3
Where: KFMB Channel 8, airing live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and on the Paramount Plus subscription streaming service
Grammy Awards Premiere Ceremony
Hosted by: LeVar Burton
With performances by: Jimmie Allen, Ledisi, Mon Laferte, Allison Russell, Curtis Stewart, Madison Cunningham, Falu, Nnenna Freelon, Kalani Pe’a, John Popper, and The Isaacs
When: 12:30 p.m. next Sunday (awards will be presented in more than 70 of the 84 Grammy categories)
Where: Online at live.grammy.com and youtube.com/grammy
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