51st Grammy Awards

51st Grammy Awards

Date	February 8, 2009
Venue	Staples Center, Los Angeles, California
Host	none
Network:	Global TV
← 2008 2010 →

The 51st Annual Grammy Awards will take place on February 8, 2009. It will be broadcasted on Global and will air at 8PM EST. Nominations are to be announced on December 3, 2008. The nominations will be announced on a special concert airing on Global. For the sixth year in a row, the ceremony will be held in the Staples Center.

To be eligible for an award a recording must have been commercially released between October 1, 2007 and September 30, 2008. This is for all recordings released in the 2008 recording year. After the nominees are announced on December 4, 2008 final voting ballots will be sent to the academy members. This is when they will vote for one of the nominees to win the award. Each category has five nominees. More than five is the result of a tie in the nominating process. Members are allowed to vote in the General field and up to nine other fields on their final voting ballots. All ballots are tabulated by the independent accounting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. There are about 7,000 people who vote in the nominating and final voting process. These people are artists, producers, engineers, mixers and mastering engineers. Academy members are to vote based upon quality alone. They are not to be influenced by mass sales or personal friendships. The acceptance of gifts is prohibited and can result in termination of membership.

After the nominations are announced the recipients of all special awards such as lifetime achievement awards will be announced. In addition performers and presenters will be announced. Neil Diamond will be the recipient of the MusiCares Person of the Year award.

The nominees were announced on a live 1-hour TV special on December 3rd, 2008, and were posted on the official website afterwards.[1]

[edit] Changes with some of the Awards in 2009

Like 2008's GRAMMYs 2009's show will have a total of 110 awards handed out.

• The Award for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance now includes any single or track with smooth Jazz Vocals to be eligible

• The Award for "Best Mexican/Mexican American Album" has been renamed "Best Regional Mexican Album".

• Recordings that are compilations or excerpts of previously recorded radio or TV shows are no longer eligible for Best Spoken Word Album

• Soundtracks to live or filmed stage shows are no longer eligible for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album or Best Score Soundtrack Album

• In The Classical Field an Orchestra is defined as any large ensemble containing 25 or more musicians excluding the conductor.

• DVD-Only releases are now eligible for Best Opera Recording.

• The Award for Best Contemporary Composition now include newly composed Operas. If an Opera is awarded the award it will go to the composer and librettist.

The nominees were announced on a live TV special on December 3rd, 2008, and were posted on the official website afterwards.[2]

[edit] Nominations

[edit] General Field

[edit] Record of the Year

(Award to the Artist and to the Producer(s), Recording Engineer(s) and/or Mixer(s), if other than the artist.)

• Chasing Pavements

     Adele
     Eg White, producer; Tom Elmhirst & Steve Price; engineers/mixers
     Track from: 19
     XL Recordings/Columbia

• Viva la Vida

     Coldplay
     Markus Dravs, Brian Eno & Rik Simpson, producers; Michael Brauer & Rik Simpson, engineers/mixers
     Track from: Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends
     Capitol Records

• Bleeding Love

     Leona Lewis
     Simon Cowell, Clive Davis & Ryan "Alias" Tedder, producers; Craig Durrance, Phil Tan & Ryan "Alias" Tedder, engineers/mixers
     [J Records/SYCO Music]

• Paper Planes

     M.I.A
     Diplo, producer; Switch, engineer/mixer
     Track from: Kala
     [Interscope]

• Please Read the Letter

     Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
     T Bone Burnett, producer; Mike Piersante, engineer/mixer
     Track from: Raising Sand
     [Rounder]

[edit] Album of the Year

(Award to the Artist(s) and to the Album Producer(s), Recording Engineer(s)/Mixer(s) & Mastering Engineer(s), if other than the artist.)

• Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends

     Coldplay
     Markus Dravs, Brian Eno & Rik Simpson, producers; Michael H. Brauer, Markus Dravs, John O'Mahoney, Rik Simpson & Andy Wallace, engineers/mixers; Bob Ludwig, mastering engineer
     [Capitol Records]

• Tha Carter III

     Lil Wayne
     Babyface, Brisco, Fabolous, Jay-Z, Kidd Kidd, Busta Rhymes, Juelz Santana, D. Smith, Static Major, T-Pain & Bobby Valentino, featured artists; Alchemist, David Banner, Vaushaun "Maestro" Brooks, Cool & Dre, Andrews "Drew" Correa, Shondrae "Mr. Bangladesh" Crawford, Darius "Deezle" Harrison, Jim Jonsin, Mousa, Pro Jay, Rodnae, Skillz & Play, D. Smith, Swizz Beatz, Robin Thicke, T-Pain & Kanye West, producers; Angel Aponte, Joshua Berkman, Andrew Dawson, Joe G, Darius "Deezle" Harrison, Fabian Marasciullo, Miguel Scott, Robin Thicke, Julian Vasquez & Gina Victoria, engineers/mixers; Vlado Meller, mastering engineer
     [Universal Motown/Cash Money]

• Year of the Gentleman

     Ne-Yo
     Chuck Harmony, Ne-Yo, Polow Da Don, StarGate, Stereotypes, Syience, Shea Taylor & Shomari "Sho" Wilson, producers; Kirven Arrington, Jeff Chestek, Kevin "KD" Davis, Mikkel Eriksen, Jaymz Hardy Martin, III, Geno Regist, Phil Tan & Tony Terrebonne, engineers/mixers; Herb Powers, Jr., mastering engineer
     [Def Jam/Compound]

• Raising Sand

     Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
     T Bone Burnett, producer; Mike Piersante, engineer/mixer; Gavin Lurssen, mastering engineer
     [Rounder]

• In Rainbows

     Radiohead
     Nigel Godrich, producer; Nigel Godrich, Dan Grech-Marguerat, Hugo Nicolson & Richard Woodcraft, engineers/mixers; Bob Ludwig, mastering engineer
     [TBD Records]

[edit] Song of the Year

(A Songwriter(s) Award. A song is eligible if it was first released or if it first achieved prominence during the Eligibility Year. (Artist names appear in parentheses.) Singles or Tracks only.)

• American Boy

     William Adams, Keith Harris, Josh Lopez, Caleb Speir, John Stephens, Estelle Swaray & Kanye West, songwriters (Estelle Featuring Kanye West)
     Track from: Shine
     [Atlantic/Homeschool; Publishers: Will.I.Am Music/Cherry River Music/Chrysalis Publishing/John Legend Publishing/Cherry River Music/Please Gimme My Publishing/EMI Blackwood Music/Larry Leron Music/Speir Music/Broke, Spoke and Gone Publishing]

• Chasing Pavements

     Adele Adkins & Eg White, songwriters (Adele)
     Track from: 19
     [XL Recordings/Columbia; Publishers: Universal-Songs of Polygram Int.]

• I'm Yours

     Jason Mraz, songwriter (Jason Mraz)
     Track from: We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.
     [Atlantic; Publisher: Goo Eyed Music]

• Love Song

     Sara Bareilles, songwriter (Sara Bareilles)
     Track from: Little Voice
     [Epic; Publisher: Tiny Bear Music]

• Viva la Vida

     Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion & Chris Martin, songwriters (Coldplay)
     Track from: Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends
     [Capitol Records; Publishers: Universal Music-MGB Songs]

[edit] Best New Artist

(For a new artist who releases, during the Eligibility Year, the first recording which establishes the public identity of that artist.)

   * Adele

   * Duffy

   * Jonas Brothers

   * Lady Antebellum

   * Jazmine Sullivan