Alumni and Faculty Garner 30 Grammy Nominations for 2012
The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences nominated 25 Berklee alumni and faculty for a total of 30 Grammy Awards. The nominees were recognized for their outstanding contributions across the spectrum of music, including pop, rock, hip-hop, alternative, jazz, and Latin. Producers, engineers, and arrangers were also nominated. To date, Berklee alumni have won 205 Grammy Awards. The 54th Annual Grammy Awards will be held on Sunday, February 12, 2012, and broadcast on CBS at 8:00 P.M. EST.
Alumni and faculty members Terri Lyne Carrington '83, percussion professor and artistic director for the Berklee BeanTown Jazz Festival, and Joe Lovano '72, Berklee, who occupies the Gary Burton Jazz Chair in Jazz Performance, are each nominated for an award. Carrington's new album, The Mosaic Project, is nominated in the Best Jazz Vocal Album category. If Carrington wins, it will be her first Grammy award. Lovano's album, Bird Songs, is nominated in the Best Jazz Instrumental Album category. If Lovano wins, it will be his second Grammy.
Berklee alumni boast prestigious nominations in the top three categories this year. Engineer Miles Walker '04 is nominated for his work on Katy Perry's Firework album, which is up for the top award, record of the year. Walker is also nominated for his work on Rihanna's Loud album, which is vying for album of the year. Fellow engineer Jeffrey Villanueva '07 and producer Makeba Riddick '99 are also nominees in the Album of the Year category for their work on Loud. A fourth Berklee alumnus, engineer Thomas Ware '91, is also nominated in the same category for his work on Lady Gaga's Born This Way. Two Berklee alumni are nominated in the Song of the Year category. Songwriter Claude Kelly '02 is cited for his work on the Bruno Mars hit "Grenade," while songwriter Jeff Bhasker '99 is nominated for writing "All of the Lights," a hit song performed by Kanye West, Rihanna, Kid Cudi, and Fergie. Kelly and Bhasker are each nominated for additional awards in the Best R&B Song and Best Rap Song categories, respectively.
Several Berklee alumni are up for prestigious performance-based awards spanning a range of genres. John Petrucci '86, John Myung '86, and Mike Portnoy '86 of the group Dream Theater are nominated in the Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance category for their album On the Backs of Angels.
Gillian Welch '92 received a nomination in the Best Folk Album category, and Susan Tedeschi '91 and Mark Rivers '89, members of the Tedeschi Trucks Band, are nominated in the Best Blues Album category. Bassist Mark Kelley '03, a member of the Roots, is nominated in the Best Traditional R&B Performance category.
Other nominees include vocalist Tierney Sutton '87 and pianist Christian Jacob '86, each of whom were nominated twice in the Best Jazz Vocal Album and Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) categories. Composer Ryan Shore '96 is nominated in the Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media category, and Nicky Sanders '02 of the Steep Canyon Rangers is in contention in the Best Bluegrass Album category. Byeong-Joon Hwang '99 and Jesse Lewis are nominated for separate entries in the Best Engineered Album, Classical category. Trey Parker '88 and Stephen Oremus '92 are nominated in the Best Musical Theater Album category for their contributions to Broadway show The Book of Mormon. Saxophonist Miguel Zen?n is nominated in the Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album category.
Berklee alumni and faculty who are not nominees themselves contributed to some nominated items as well. They include Debbie Cavalier '87, who is the dean of continuing education, and Michael Carrera '91, Berklee's faculty technology services manager, whose song is part of a compilation album nominated in the Best Children's Album category. Seth Glier '08 performed on The Next Right Thing, which is nominated in the Best Engineered Album, Nonclassical category.
Good luck to all on February 12!