Thread by @naima

Happy Saturday, family. A notice that tomorrow’s #MusicSermon will be EARLY, due to the Grammy’s.
I’ll give ya’ll an estimated time later. Please govern yourselves accordingly.
Amen. ⛪️

Happy Sunday ya’ll! As I mentioned yesterday, we’re doing an EARLY service today in observation of the Grammy’s. Doors of the church will open around 4. ⛪️

Be with ya’ll in a few. In the middle of my *own* Grammy prep 😬
I’ll be settled in a bit.

*Rushes to pulpit*
*Clears throat*
*Opens text*

So church, today is a very auspicious occasion in the world of Music. It is Grammy Sunday. The 60th anniversary of the Grammy’s at that. And your pastor is going, so my time is tight but it’ll be right. Amen?

Today is a special #GrammyAwards Edition of #MusicSermon; we’re going to spend some time going through moments of the artists we’ve discussed over the yeats. It won’t be as lengthy as usual, but I’ll probably get through most of it now and come back after the awards and finish.

But of course, a few quick church announcements:
1. This is a kind of random representation, not a “best of”. Finding quality Grammy clips can be hit or miss. Also, 60 years.
2. It’s not over until you see the benediction. Don’t @ me (somebody’s gonna @ me).

3. I’m starting somewhere with no wifi, so it might be a little slow going. Forgive me.

Let’s start with some Michael Jackson moments.
Things to peep: Emmanuel Lewis as an accessory, the potentially shady shout out to Jermaine, Joe’s hair.

MJ won 19 career Grammy’s (4 for Thriller, 2 with The Jackson 5) and had a *few* moments spanning the years.

With his brothers...

With his collaborators... (“We are the World” won both Song of the Year and Album of the year in 86)

With his sister (being honored with the Grammy Legend Award in 93)

Please see Brooke Shields (rumored one-time paramour, but sideeye.gif) pull a whole 35mm camera out to take a pic 😂

I meant RECORD of the Year here. Doing too much

And of course just on his own, with his magic (Opening “The Way You Make Me Feel” 1988)

“Man in the Mirror” (back end of the previous clip) 1988
Shoutout to Siedah Garrett on BGV (and co-writer of the song. Respect her royalty checks)

Let’s talk about Auntie Re.
20 time Grammy winner (3 of those being “special awards” including Lifetime Achievement). 5 songs in the Grammy Hall of Fame. First artist to ever win Best R&B Female Performance in 1968 for “Respect”. She won the award the next 8 years straight.

Other churches have Easter Speeches, #MusicSermon has Grammy Acceptance Speeches. 😆

With all of Aretha’s awards, we of course have performances.
1970, “Bridge Over Troubled Water” wins Album Of The Year, the title track wins Record Of The Year and Best Contemporary Song. She’s owning Simon & Garfunkle’s song while they’re in the audience watching.

“Ever Changin’ Times” with Michael McDonald 1992 (the year she received the Legend award)

“Can’t Turn You Loose” 1980 (won Best R&B Female Vocal. Otis Redding cover)

Brief intermission because I gotta be out the door in a few.

Ok. I’m wide awake and I’m home, so I’m going to finish tonight’s Grammy #MusicSermon, or post until I’m too tired. Let’s see which happens first...

And I’m gonna watch the actual Grammy telecast while I’m doing this to see if I spot myself on tv

So I stopped on Auntie Re...
Mariah seems like an appropriate direction to go in next.
“Vision of Love” 1991

In 1991, Mariah takes home Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal for “Vision of Love”
And Mimi might really have had the mosr “Oh, this old thing?” demeanor I’ve EVER seen in a Best New Artist win.

Mariah’s had something like 35 Grammy nominations, but only 5 wins. Which may explain this moment last year...

But in between 1991 and last year there were some moments.
Like “One Sweet Day” w/ Boyz II Men in 96. Nominated for Best Pop Collaboration & Record of the Year

And “We Belong Together” in 2006, winner for Best R&B Song and Best Female R&B Performance

I also gotta throw in “Fly Like a Bird”, which she did on the back end of the song, because I love her performances of this song... love when she lets the spirit in.

Moving on to Auntie Patti. There's not a lot of Grammy footage for her, but there is a clip of what - to my knowledge - is the only win of its kind.
In 1992, Patti and Lisa Fischer TIED for Best Female R&B Performance.

Speaking of Patti/Labelle...
Pink, Christina, Mya, Missy and Kim...And Patti
"Lady Marmalade", 2002

I'll run the beginning of that performance for ya'll, too.

A quick break to remind everyone about JLo & THE DRESS. 2000.
Apparently, people were looking for pictures of Jennifer in this dress in such volume after the Grammy's, it prompted the idea for Google image search, which launched the following year (I have to confirm that)

JLo wasn't the only one with a jaw dropping dress moment at the Grammy's. The following year, in 2001, Toni Braxton had "The Dress"

I'm not sure why this wasn't a full performance, but here's Toni with Kenny G (remember R&B sax, ya'll? Let's bring that back). "Breathe Again" 1992

One of the things I love about the BIG Grammy wins for people: Best New Artist, Album of the Year, etc, is noting who presented the award to them. Whitney (and Sting) present Album of the Year to Lauryn Hill 1999

*Deep breath*
OK,
Let's get into Whitney.
"Saving All My Love For You" beats out Madonna, Pat Benatar & Linda Ronstat for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. 1986

"Saving All My Love For You" 1986

ET followed Whitney for her first big night

In 1988, Whitney was nominated for Album of the Year, and opened the 30th Grammy Awards with "I Wanna Dance With Somebody", which took home Best Female Pop Vocal

Whitney had 25 career nominations and won 6 awards, including Album of the Year for The Bodyguard, plus Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal for "I Will Always Love You" 1994

Remember I told ya'll I like to note who presents awards to artists during their first big Grammy moments.
Whitney presents Best R&B Album to Jennifer Hudson. 2009
(I'm so man Jennifer took her purse with her on stage like she Aretha! LOL)

And of course the Grammy's are bittersweet when it comes to Whitney, because she died the night before the awards, just hours before Clive Davis' annual gala, in 2012.
The next night, Jennifer sang in tribute to Whitney.

Let's talk about Stevie.
With 25, Stevie is tied for 4th place for the most Grammy wins. He, Paul Simon, and Frank Sinatra are the only artists to win Album of the Year 3 times. Stevie won in 75, 75 and 77.

Little Richard and Chuck Berry, though 😂😂

I do have to make one quick detour to Richard Wayne Penniman, or Little Richard.
It's true Richard never won - or was even nominated for - a competitive Grammy, but he now has 4 Hall of Fame awards and a Life Achievement Award. 1988

Ok, back to Stevie...
"That's What Friends Are For": Song of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group 1987

Being honored as the Grammy's Man of the Year, 2015

With Daft Punk, Nile Rogers & Pharrell for "Get Lucky" 2014

With Alicia Keys & Lenny Kravitz for "Higher Ground" 2004

With Usher, "If It's Magic" 2015

I used to be the main one complaining that Stevie was out here entirely too much, we needed to make him special (especially when I saw him do "Think I Invited Sex 😠) . But I know now that he genuinely loves and enjoys doing it.

Alright. I gotta go to sleep.
The rest tomorrow.
And I promise that #MusicSermons carrying over to Mondays won’t be a regular thing.

74*, 75 and 77

Ok, ya'll. Let's wrap up the Grammy #MusicSermon.
I left off at Stevie and Usher, right?
Another Usher collaboration: with the Godfather himself, James Brown. "Caught Up" into "Sex Machine" 2005

And I we also looked at Alicia and Stevie, so let's talk about young AK...
2002's Song of the Year, "Fallin'"

In 2002, Alicia took home Best Female R&B Vocal, Best R&B Album, Best R&B Song, Song of the Year & Best New Artist, proving Clive Davis, who'd recently launched J Records, still had the touch.
Best R&B Album win (w/ Jamie Foxx, Pamela Anderson and Ja Rule...the 00's were crazy)

Fun fact: Originally, Olivia (yes, LHHNY Olivia) was positioned as a prime artist at J Records. Clive showing her off everywhere. And then "Fallin'"broke. Poor thing.

Alicia has 15 career Grammy's to date. Including Best Female R&B Performance for "If I Ain't Got You" 2005

What you maybe could't tell... Jamie Foxx was on the other side of that piano. "Georgia" 2005

While we're on Jamie Foxx...
Jamie, Kanye, the FAMU Marching 100 (ya'll go head and post snakes in my mentions, Rattlers) "Gold Digger" 2006
(I tried to find a better quality clip ya'll! Sorry)

"Jesus Walks" ((with a then semi-unknown John Legend & the Blind Boys of Alabama) 2005.
I miss Kanye's BIG performances.
(Sorry about the sound quality.. again, Grammy clips can be hit or miss)

Kanye's tied with Jay for most Grammy wins for a hip hop artist @ 21.
(I said this earlier, but if you want to know if 21 is substantial, Stevie has 25)
But Ye has been ranting against the Grammy's pretty much since Graduation. He ain't for the play off music either. 2008

Ye did "Stronger" with Daft Punk at that show and it was SO DOPE but I can't find a full clip. Ugh.

Anyway, Kanye has said he'll boycott the Grammy's unless he's nominated for ROTY. Stay tuned.
But if he is there...we know he'll vigilantly protect the honor of the award. 2015

And here's how that scene looked from the other side.
You see Kanye go by @ about :08
Tata: Oh sh*t...
Bey: No, Kanye, no...

Let's do some more Best New Artist moments. Like I said, other churches have Easter Speeches, #MusicSermon has Grammy acceptance speeches.

John Legend 2006 (and Mama Stephens has me in TEARS)

I should probably disclose, for those that don't already know, I work with John. It's part of the reason I don't feature him in relevant threads; I'm not objective.

Anyway...

And #yall were BRUTAL when this child won Best New Artist. "Who is that?!?!"
Smh..
Esperanza Spalding 2011

And a not quite new artist...
We talked about Auntie Tina the other week, how her solo career broke in 1985 when she was 41.
Being presented with Record of the Year by Diana Ross (who surprisingly doesn't have ANY competitive Grammys)

Tina took home Record of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, and Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. At 41.
1985

Also at the 1985 Grammys...
The year of Purple Rain.

Best R&B Song (for "I Feel For You", actually, not for Purple Rain)
Best Score
Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group

"Baby I'm a Star"

When I was a kid, Prince barely did public tv appearances and almost never spoke in public or gave interviews, so seeing him on tv or out and about just chillin' at the BET Awards and even the Grammy's later on bugged me out.

"Purple Rain" w/ Beyonce 2004

Even seeing Prince presenting was like.. Yo, Prince is just...talking...like a normal person...and still throwing some sh*t in the mix.
Presenting Album of the Year in 2015.
#LikeBooksandBlackPeople

I tried to find footage from last year's Grammy Prince tributes, but no bueno.
I did find rehearsal footage of Bruno and the band in rehearsals for "Let's Go Crazy" (puts Pete Hernandez vs Everybody shirt back on).
2017

Right. Snatched her right on up for tour.

Let's talk about Mary...
"No More Drama" 2002

Mary won her first Grammy for "You're All I Need" with Meth, but she went on to win Best Female R&B Vocal Performance (originally called the Aretha Franklin award because she won it the first 8 years it was awarded) twice, best R&B Album twice, Best R&B Song and some others.

"Be Without You" 2007 (same year as last clip, sorry).

SHAKE BREAK.

Shakira & Wyclef "Hips Don't Lie" 2007

Ya'll younger hive members know Shakira taught Bey her moves for "Baby Boy", right?

This clip an outlier, but Elton & Em are both familiar folks here. This was a HUGE performance, because Eminem had been vocally anti-gay, and this was considered a public apology/reform of sorts.

Also, yes "stan" for superfans comes from "Stan" the song.

Oh wait.. I haven't done Beyoncè yet!
My bad...

"Dangerously in Love" 2004

I love this performance, still.

Accepting Best Contemporary R&B Album 2004

"If I Were a Boy" 2010

"Baby I'm a Star" (with "Crazy in Love" mixed in) 2004

Imagine...your first year performing on the Grammy's (as a solo artist, anyway), and you're performing with Prince

And the performance that got Auntie Re riled up...
With Tina Turner doing "Proud Mary" in 2008

Ok, I'm rounding for home. The problem with letting this one be random is that I could just keep going until I ran out of clips, but nawl... A couple more people...

Young Rih...

Winning her first Grammy, Best Rap/Sung Collab for "Umbrella" 2007

"Love the Way You Lie" 2011

I didn't realize how much her voice had strengthened/matured.

With Sting, Bruno and Ziggy Marley "Could You Be Love" 2013

And with Mikky Ekko, "Stay" 2013

We saw Janet and Michael earlier.
Janet's first outing on her own,. "What Have You Done for Me Lately" 1987
(Shout out to Paula Abdul on choreo)

Surprisingly, Janet only has 5 career Grammy's to date. There's not a lot of footage on her.

And here's a random super-90's Grammy moment with Color Me Band & Boyz II Men 1992

Let's stay in the 90's to close this out.
Babyface performing winner for Best Male R&B Performance "When Can I See You Again" 1995
I was at school in 94 fighting with my bf (I don't even remember what I'd done, but he was petty) and playing this song on repeat like a suka.

With Eric Clapton, "Change the World"
1997's Record of the Year

I always forget that I love this song until I hear it (it's great for singing along)

And to close: In 1998, Luciano Pavarotti was scheduled to sing his signature "Nessun Dorma", but bowed out due to a throat issue. Auntie Re had just performed it for MusiCares (Grammy's annual pre-awards event) a couple of nights prior, so she stepped in, and put some soul on it.

Whew. That was a nice little journey.

Ok, if all hearts and minds are FULL ✋🏾

May the joy and beauty of music keep you.
May music wash over you, and be healing unto you.
May the warmth of music envelope you, and bring you peace.

And all the people said...

And if you are moved to support #MusicSermon’s building fund (for a full website) or streaming fund, or just show love, the ushers are coming forth with the collection plate.
Cash.me/$Naimacochrane

Sigh... ONE day I won’t break the thread
The rest is here: