Special Event

Recording Academy Announces Grammy Nominations

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The music world is waiting for this one, the Grammy nominations.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get right to it. Jim Moret standing by this morning in Los Angeles -- Jim.

JIM MORET, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon, Daryn.

Right behind me is Michael Greene, the chairman and president of the Records Academy. He is introducing various artists behind me. You see Sisqo with Nelly and Shelby Lynne. He is going to be introducing a number of artists because, in just a couple of minutes, the nominations for 100 categories are going to be announced for this 43rd annual Grammy Awards.

The Grammys this year in the words of president and CEO of the Recording Academy, very unusual. Last year, you might recall, Santana dominated the awards; a couple of years ago, Eric Clapton dominated the awards. This year, he says, diversity is really the headline, diversity in that record of the year and album of the year, all of them are different artists. You just heard Sheryl Crow was introduced. She is coming up to the stage, 7-time Grammy winner.

It is interesting. They are going to have all of these various artists announce the various categories, which will take about 10 minutes, and we are going to be, obviously, showing that to you live in a moment.

Let's show you a couple of videos now. First, let's go to Eminem, if it's available. Eminem is an artist who has commercially and critically tremendous success this year, a very controversial however because of his lyrics. Michael Greene, the president of the Recording Academy, likened him more to Lenny Bruce.

And the question is: Will he be embraced by the academy and the various peers? He has sold in excess of 100 million dollars in record sales and ticket sales for his concert.

Another big potential nominee is Britney Spears. She has one of the leaders of the teen brigade, basically leading the revolution of very young artists who have been dominating the charts, you see her here. The question is whether she'll be embraced by the academy on a critical note. Very seldom does the academy follow record sales as an indication of whether or not they will receive nominations. Prior to the -- prior to the awards themselves, which are the 21st of February, and they will be broadcast live on CBS at 8:00, we are going to be originating here in Los Angeles at Staples Center as they did last year. Prior to that, there are some 100 events that are scheduled for the month of February. And the most notable among them is on February 19th. Music Person of the Year will be Paul Simon. Each year the academy honors one person for their contribution to the arts and this year Paul Simon; last year it was Elton John.

Let's now go to the stage behind me, Michael Greene, president of the Recording Academy, is introducing the panel who will introduce the nominees.

MICHAEL GREENE, CEO, RECORDING ACADEMY: Turning up the heat with the new album that has put her back into the spotlight. Please welcome Miss Toni Braxton.

And finally, this next presenter is a 14-time Grammy-award- winning producer and recording artist, who has worked with pretty much everybody from Celine Dion, Monica, Maria Carey, Whitney Houston, Toni Braxton, just to name a few. He is president of 143 Records. He is a gentleman who is very interested in getting music, not necessarily just big popular music out, but music of all kinds out to the public, with a new company called Tonos.com. Good friend. He is also on the Grammy Foundation's board.

Welcome Mr. David Foster.

Good morning, Dave.

All right, Nelly, start off with you. Bring it on.

NELLY: For best R&B; Album, the nominees are: Boyz II Men for "Nathan, Michael, Sean and Monie (ph)"; Toni Braxton for "The Heat"; D'angelo for "Voodoo"; Joe for "My Name is Joe": Jill Scott for "Who is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Volume I; and Sisqo for "Unleash the Dragon."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For Best Rap Album the nominees are: DMX, "And Then There Was X"; Dr. Dre, "Dr. Dre 2001."; Eminem, "The Marshall Mathers LP"; JZ, "Volume III, Life and Times of Sean S. Carter; and Nelly, "Country Grammar."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For Best Female Rock Performance the nominees are: Fiona Apple for "Paperbag"; Sheryl Crow for "There Goes the Neighborhood"; Melissa Etheridge for "Enough of Me"; Alanis Morissette, "So Pure"; Patty Smith, "Glitter in Their Eyes."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, the nominees are: Bon Jovi for "It's My Life; Creed for "Arms Wide Open"; Foo Fighters for "Learn to Fly"; Red Hot Chili Peppers for "Californication"; and U2 for "Beautiful Day."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For Best Jazz Vocal Album, the nominees are: Dee Dee Bridgewater for "Live at Yoshi's":Freddie Cole for "Merry-Go- Round"; Curt Eling (ph) for "Live in Chicago"; Nina Freeland (ph) for "Soul Call"; and Diane Reeves for "In the Moment, Live in Concert."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For Best Country Album, the nominees are: Vince Gill, for "Let's Make Sure We Kiss Good-Bye"; Faith Hill for "Breathe"; Alan Jackson for "Under the Influence"; Lee Ann Womack for "I Hope You Dance"; Trisha Yearwood for "Real Live Woman."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, the nominees are: Marc Anthony for "You Sang to Me"; Don Henley for "Taking you Home"; Ricky Martin for "She Bangs"; Brian McKnight for "6-8-12"; and 'N Sync for "She Walks this Earth."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, the nominees are: Christina Aguilera for "What a Girl Wants"; Macy Gray for "I Try"; Madonna for "Music"; Aimee Mann for "Save Me"; Joni Mitchell for "Both Sides Now"; Britney Spears for "Oops!...I Did It Again."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For Best New Artist, the nominees are Shelby Lynne, Brad Paisley, Papa Roach, Jill Scott, and Sisqo.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For Record of the Year the nominees are: Destiny's Child for "Say My Name"; Macy Gray for "I try"; Madonna for "Music"; 'N Sync for "Bye Bye Bye"; and U2 for "Beautiful Day."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For Song of the Year, the nominations are "Beautiful Day by U2, songwriters U2; "Breathe" by Faith Hill, songwriters Stephanie Bentley and Holly Lamar; "I Hope You Dance" by Lee Ann Womack, songwriters Mark D. Sanders and Tia Sellers; "I Try" by Macy Gray, songwriters Macy Gray, Jinsoo Lim, Jeremy Ruzumna and David Wilder; "Say My Name" by Destiny's Child, songwriters LaShawn Daniels, Fred Jerkins III, Rodney Jerkins, Beyonce Knowles, LeToya Luckett, LaTavia Roberson and Kelendria Rowland.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For Album of the Year, nominees are: Beck, for "Midnight Vultures"; Eminem for "The Marshall Mathers LP"; Radiohead for "Kid A"; Paul Simon for "You're the One; and Steely Dan for "Two Against Nature.

Folks, do me one big favor, give these folks a huge round of applause for getting up this morning.

GREENE: All right, appreciate you coming, the nominations are on the back, we're going to get this out of the way, and we will give you some straight shots here. Back up so we can move this.

MORET: Well, there you heard some of the key announcements of the 100 categories, and just as Michael Greene, the president of the Recording Academy promised, there is diversity.

Just reviewing Record of the Year: Destiny's Child, Macy Gray, Madonna, 'N Sync and U2. And in a departure from the past, the Record of the Year and Album of the Year, no resemblance to one another. The Best Album of the Year nominees: Beck, Eminem, Radiohead, Paul Simon, who is going to be the Music Care Person of the Year on Feburary 19th, and Steely Dan, We also saw that many of the nominees, in fact, were represented on the stage behind us, and we're hoping to have, well, they're taking pictures of them right now, hoping to have a couple of them over here live in just a second.

Let me just review, if I could, for Female Pop Performance, Best Female Pop Performance: Christina Aguilera, Macy Gray, Madonna, Aimee Mann, Britney Spears, and Joni Mitchell. So the old and the new represented there, the teen brigade, Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears, along with some of the veterans, Madonna, Joni Mitchell, Macy Gray, a previous winner.

Best Male Pop Performance, Marc Anthony, Don Henley, Ricky Martin, Sting.

Best new Artist, we saw Shelby Lynne and Sisqo both on the stage, both of them among the nominees.

And Record of the Year, Destiny's Child represented up there on the stage, Macy Gray, Madonna, 'N Sync and U2.

HARRIS: Hey, Jim, one of the things I would like you to clear up for us, if you can, because Daryn and I were trying to figure this out, we figure folks at home might be asking the same question, what is the difference between Record of the Year and Album of the Year?

MORET: You have three categories that might confuse people, you have Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Album of the Year. Song of the Year is a songwriter's award. Record of the Year is a performance award. So even though you have a song written so, and then Album of the Year is not just a song, but the entire album itself.

So generally what you have, Leon and Daryn, is you have a Record of the Year, and an Album of the Year, and generally they mirror each other, because you have one or two tracks on the album that dominate both in the marketplace and among the peers. This year, as Michael Greene had mentioned, you have total diversity. No -- no -- none of the Album of the Year nominees are on the Record of the Year, that's the difference in the two categories.

HARRIS: Very interesting.

KAGAN: What about Record of the Year and Song of the Year? Just off the cuff, did you notice a lot of overplay -- overlapping with that between Record of the Year and Song of the Year?

MORET: Let me take a quick look, no, as a matter of fact, there wasn't. None at all. But as I mentioned, Song of the Year is a songwriter's award.

We have Sheryl Crow here.

SHERYL CROW: Hey, Jim, how are you?

MORET: Congratulations, you have been nominated. You've won seven times haven't you?

CROW: I have!

MORET: You are up on the stage, you are reading your fellow nominees, and then you hear your name up there. How does it feel?

CROW: It's great. This was an off year for me, I was shocked.

MORET: Talk about an off year, you just finished producing Stevie Nicks' record. You are writing now.

CROW: It was not totally an off year. I got nominated for the live album and I was not expecting that. So it was very nice.

MORET: Well, you're now a veteran, you won the Best New Artist some years back, didn't you?

CROW: Uh-huh.

MORET: And I guess it is vindication when you not only win Best New Artist, but then you go on to win six Grammys after that and now you are nominated yet again.

CROW: Well, there's a myth about the Best New Artist. I don't know if you have ever heard this. The history of Best New Artist was that, if you were ever nominated and won, you kind of disappeared off the face of the earth. So the morning after I won, Don Henley sent me a printout of all of the "Where Are They Nows" like Afternoon Delight and Jody Watley. I mean, just like a whole list of names that seemingly disappeared. Of course, they didn't really. It was kind of funny. I was really happy the next year to be nominated.

MORET: You mentioned, Don Henley, we heard his name announced up there. He is a friend of yours as well?

CROW: Yeah, that's great. There were lots of great people nominated that I didn't expect like Steely Dan, and so happy to hear that Radiohead was nominated, and it was really diverse this year.

MORET: Michael Greene called it diversity really is the head line this year; do you agree with that?

CROW: I think he said "eclectic," which I think is definitely accurate. Yeah, absolutely, I mean, you had Lee Ann Womack up against Eminem I think for Best Song.

MORET: What do you think of Eminem? He is critically and commercially a success. Obviously, very controversial, he has been called the Lenny Bruce of modern music?

CROW: Well, if he's the Lenny Bruce, I remember when Lenny Bruce was very controversial, now when I look back on what he did, and I hear his albums, I think, wow, they were so tame. I'm hoping that what Eminem is saying now will never be considered tame.

MORET: Do you consider yourself a role model? I have to tell you that I brought my daughter to meet you some months ago, she was playing electric guitar, and because of you she has now switched to electric bass.

CROW: That's great. MORET: You write on the bass, don't you?

CROW: I write on the bass. Yeah, the role model thing, I don't think about it a lot. I always kind of aspire to live my life the way I think is best for me, and hopefully people don't feel the need to criticize that. It is a different time now, and for kids to look up to Eminem, I guess that is really a statement about the times. And I did think that the album that he made was really interesting. If you listen to it, it's definitely a well-made, interesting sounding album. It's a -- you know, I have real dilemma about it.

MORET: Sheryl Crow, congratulations.

CROW: Thank you.

MORET: Sheryl Crow, nominated how many times?

CROW: Three, but I don't know.

MORET: They haven't all been announced yet. She's hearing three. We had her here live, and we are going to back to Leon and Daryn. The nomination just announced, the awards themselves, we will have to wait until February 21st.

HARRIS: All right. The real question was how does she look that good that early in the morning out there.

KAGAN: Makeup my friend, makeup. I met her in person, she is pretty without no makeup at all.

HARRIS: Congratulations to the all.

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