VARIOUS: R&B queen Mary J. Blige leads Grammy nominees with eight nods.

Record ID: 342836

  • Title: VARIOUS: R&B queen Mary J. Blige leads Grammy nominees with eight nods.
  • Date: 14th December 2006
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHRIS BROWN, NOMINATED FOR TWO GRAMMY AWARDS, SAYING: "Not at all, if I win this, if I win any one of them I will be happy."
  • Embargoed: 29th December 2006 12:00
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  • Reuters ID: LVA24RFWP8ZM2GU0G9RXOMBU3OEX
  • Story Text: R&B singer Mary J. Blige, dubbed the "Queen of Hip-Hop/Soul" for her impassioned style, led the contenders for the Grammy Awards with eight nominations, organizers said on Thursday (December 7).
    "Today is amazing because it's eight nominations. I mean we are nominated for an album that I put so much work into in every way, you know, personally and business-wise, and this album is receiving all this critical acclaim and everything it deserves because I turned everything around. I think really positive about myself and my career and these are the results of it," Blige told Reuters.
    Los Angeles rock band the Red Hot Chili Peppers landed six nominations for the music industry's biggest awards, including the coveted album of the year award.
    Among the acts with five nominations each were English singer/songwriter James Blunt, country trio the Dixie Chicks, pop singer John Mayer, funk veteran Prince, producer Rick Rubin, Black Eyed Peas singer Will.i.am, producer Danger Mouse of the duo Gnarls Barkley, and composer John Williams.
    "It's been an amazing year really you know to come out here and be on a world tour. I think I have spent I probably five months in the States -- it's been great fun it really has been the time of my life," Blunt said of his five nominations. Blige, 35, is riding high on the strength of her current album, "The Breakthrough," which has sold more than six million copies worldwide. Curiously, it was not nominated for album of the year. But the three-time Grammy-winner was cited in such key categories as record and song of the year.
    Rock veterans the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who won their solitary Grammy in 1993, will compete for album of the year ("Stadium Arcadium") alongside the Dixie Chicks ("Taking the Long Way"), Mayer ("Continuum"), and a pair of four-time nominees, Gnarls Barkley ("St. Elsewhere") and Justin Timberlake ("FutureSex/LoveSounds").
    The attention for the Dixie Chicks comes after a downturn in popularity stemming from disparaging remarks singer Natalie Maines made about U.S. President George W. Bush during a London concert in March 2003, shortly before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Their Grammy-nominated release contains the unrepentant single, "Not Ready to Make Nice."
    Other acts with four nominations each included R&B singer Beyonce, producer Bryan Michael Cox, gospel artist Israel Houghton, and rapper T.I.
    "Not at all, if I win this, if I win any one of them I will be happy," said 17- year- old Chris Brown of his two nominations.
    Contenders for best new artist were Blunt and fellow British singers Imogen Heap and Corinne Bailey Rae, "American Idol" winner Carrie Underwood and R&B singer Chris Brown.
    "I am just feeling amazed, I am feeling really excited about it, I didn't realize I didn't have a clue that I would be nominated so to be nominated for best new comer (Best New Artist) and then to hear my name again twice it's just weird. It's brilliant you know I have been nominated for best song (Song of the Year) and 'Record of the Year' I don't know if it's all a lie. I was asking Justin Timberlake to see who else is in the category. It was all a bit of a dream really," Rae said after the nominations were announced.
    The artists nominated for record of the year -- an award that goes to the performer and producers -- were Blige ("Be Without You"), Blunt ("You're Beautiful"), the Dixie Chicks ("Not Ready to Make Nice"), Gnarls Barkley ("Crazy"), and Corinne Bailey Rae ("Put Your Records On").
    The Blige, Blunt, Dixie Chicks and Rae songs will compete for song of the year -- a songwriters award -- alongside Underwood's "Jesus, Take the Wheel."
    The 49th annual Grammy Awards will take place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Feb. 11. The event is organized by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
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