| “ | We got two of the five Grammys - one was Best New Artist. So that was basically the kiss of death and I feel sorry for everyone who's gotten it since. | ” |
—Taffy Danoff, 2002 | ||
was from a group (Starland Vocal Band) that had an amazing debut album but still weren't the Best New Artist. They never could match that early success.
Here is a history of the award presented since 1959:
1959--Bobby Darin
1961--Bob Newhart (Huh?), beat out the Brothers Four, among others
1962--Peter Nero
1963--Robert Goulet....beat out groups called the Four Seasons and Peter, Paul and Mary. Are you kidding? Bob Dylan was not nominated.
1964: The Swingle Sisters, Vicki Carr was probably the best of the nominees. Barbra Streisand was not nominated.
1965: The Beatles
1966: Tom Jones, beat out the Byrds and Sonny & Cher. The Doors were not even nominate.
1968: Bobby Gentry...I mean she had a good song and all but "Best New Artist" over the 5th Dimension and Jefferson Airplane?
1969: Jose Feliciano, beat out Cream and Gary Puckett & the Union Gap. Can you believe CCR was not even nominated?
1970: Crosby, Stills & Nash--well-deserved at the time and one of the few great choices. But also consider the other nominees--Chicago and Led Zeppelin
1971: Carpenters, again well-deserved at the time. Other nominees were Elton John and Anne Murray. Santana was not nominated.
1972: Carly Simon
1973: America, another well-deserved award at the time but who knew how huge the Eagles would be?
1974: Bette Midler, beat out Barry White, and Aerosmith was not nominated.
1975: Marvin Hamlisch (I don't know where they come up with stuff like this...) Hamlisch instead of Bad Company; that's just plain Bad.
1976: Natalie Cole--Little River Band was not even nominated.
1977: Starland Vocal Band (and I loved this group), but they beat out Boston? Great insight by the Academy, which did not even nominate Tom Petty.
1978: Debby Boone--beat out Foreigner and Andy Gibb, both of whom would go on to have immeasureably better careers. Journey, with Steve Perry aboard, wasn't even nominated.
1979: This is my favorite--A Taste of Honey beat the Cars and Toto. Van Halen, which had a hot debut album, wasn't even nominated.
1980: Ricky Lee Jones, beat out Dire Straits. John Mellencamp was not nominated.
1981: Christopher Cross, probably the best choice since Natalie Cole. Although the Pretenders and Air Supply (who wasn't even nominated) probably deserved it as well.
1982: Sheena Easton, beat the Go-Go's, Luther Vandross and James Ingram in a good year
1983: Men at Work, one of the best moves in this category
1984: Culture Club, beat the Eurythmics. Metallica was not even nominated.
1985: Cyndi Lauper, beat out Madonna. Cyndi's cool but what a joke.
1986: Sade won the award and she's been a great artist. Whitney Houston, however, wasn't even nominated.
1987: Bruce Hornsby
1988: Jody Watley
1989: Tracy Chapman
1990: Milli Vanilli (award stripped after the lip-synching scandal)--Garth Brooks wasn't even nominated.
1991: Mariah Carey
1992: Mark Cohn, beat Boyz II Men and Seal. Again, I liked his debut, but nowhere near the others.
1993: Arrested Development
1994: Toni Braxton
1995: Sheryl Crow--also in the competition Green Day
1996: Hootie & the Blowfish, a good year that also had Brandy, Alanis Morissette and Shania Twain
1997: LeAnn Rimes, over Jewel and No Doubt
1998: Paula Cole
1999: Lauryn Hill, beat the Backstreet Boys and Dixie Chicks
2000: Christina Aguilera, another of the excellent choices
2001: Shelby Lynne, beat Papa Roach
2002: Alicia Keys
2003: Norah Jones, another that deserved the award, but also in the running: John Mayer
2004: Evanescence, beat 50 Cent and Sean Paul
2005: Maroon 5
2006: John Legend, beat Fall Out Boy and Ciara
2007: Carrie Underwood
2008: Amy Winehouse, beat Taylor Swift. Good grief.
2009: Adele
2010: Zac Brown Band
2011: Esperanza Spalding, beat Justin Bieber
As if I needed further evidence--these all-time great acts were never even nominated for Best New Artist:
Journey
Garth Brooks
Air Supply
Barbra Streisand
AC/DC
Aerosmith
CCR
Bruce Springsteen
Metallica
Van Halen
Whitney Houston
U2
Kenny Rogers
Celine Dion
Neil Diamond
Santana
Prince
Simon & Garfunkel
Bob Dylan
Def Leppard
James Taylor
John Denver
Pink Floyd
Doors
Queen
Linda Ronstady
Tom Petty
John Mellencamp