Handful of Grammys for Blige
2007-02-12 07:18
Los Angeles - Mary J Blige, the Dixie Chicks and the Red Hot Chili Peppers each won three trophies at the Grammys amid a slew of blast-from-the-past performances.
Blige, the overall nominations leader with eight, won best R&B album for The Breakthrough, her double-platinum triumph, plus best female R&B performance and R&B song for Be Without You.
A tearful Blige said her album "has not only shown that I am a musician and an artist and a writer, it also shows I am growing into a better human being".
"For so many years, I've been talked about negatively," said Blige, who during her 15-year career has often discussed her past substance and self-esteem problems. "But this time I've been talked about positively by so many people."
The Dixie Chicks know about negative talk: The country superstars turned into red-state pariahs after lead singer Natalie Maines criticized President George W Bush during a 2003 concert in London, on the eve of the Iraq invasion.
Not Ready to Make Nice, their defiant anthem about the backlash, won the trio song of the year honours. They also won, ironically, country album of the year, despite distancing themselves from the genre with their album Taking the Long Way.
'We have no regrets'
Group member Emily Robison noted, "We wouldn't have done this album without everything we went through, so we have no regrets. I thank everyone who voted for us."
The Chili Peppers' double album, Stadium Arcadium, was a triple winner, including best rock song and rock performance by a duo or group for Dani California. Like the Dixie Chicks and Blige, the Chili Peppers delivered a critically acclaimed, commercially successful album as their careers hit the veteran stage.
Country singer and former American Idol winner Carrie Underwood won in the best new artist category, beating out teenage R&B singer Chris Brown, and British perfomers Corinne Bailey Rae, James Blunt and Imogen Heap.
The Grammys, often derided as The Grannys, embraced its baby boomer status as in its 49th year. Though the show featured a medley with some bright new stars, including John Mayer, John Legend and Bailey Rae, it relied heavily on the classics. Nominee Lionel Richie sang his '80s hit Hello and Smokey Robinson sang the Motown classic The Tracks of My Tears in a tribute to R&B.
The Police, Rock and Roll Hall of Famers who split in 1984, reunited to kick off the show with Roxanne - even though they weren't nominated for anything.
Soon afterward, Tony Bennett and Stevie Wonder, who dueted on a remake of Wonder's For Once In My Life, beat out two of the year's biggest songs, Nelly Furtado and Timbaland's Promiscuous and Shakira and Wyclef Jean's Hips Don't Lie, for best pop vocal collaboration.
Even some of the more contemporary artists were relegated to singing songs that weren't their own - Christina Aguilera sang the late James Brown's It's A Man's Man's Man's World instead of her own nominated songs, while Carrie Underwood, the newcomer who had one of last year's most successful albums, crooned The Eagles' Desperado and Bob Wills' San Antonio Rose - not her signature tune Jesus, Take the Wheel, which was nominated for song of the year. For a while, it seemed as if VH1 Classics had taken over the production.
Among the double winners were John Mayer, TI and Ludacris.
On the net:
www.grammys.com
- AP