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The annual Grammy ceremony ought to move to the Sunshine State what with all the nominees who have connections here.
By GINA VIVINETTO, Times Pop Music Critic
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 23, 2000
Music lovers around the globe surely had the same thought upon hearing the nominations for the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards, which airs tonight at 8 p.m. on CBS.
Are all the nominees this year from Florida?
Don't be surprised. The Sunshine State has a rich history of Grammy winners. This year we've got real contenders.
(1) Limp Bizkit from Jacksonville is nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance and Best Rock Album.
(2) They duke it out with Gainesville good ol' boy Tom Petty.
Multiple nominees include:
(3) Orlando's Backstreet Boys, 'N Sync and Rob Thomas (of Matchbox 20).
(4) Backstreet Boy Nick Carter is from Tampa. Backstreet and Thomas (with Santana) compete for Record of the Year. Against whom?
(5) Ricky Martin, who owns a home in Miami Beach. Desmond Child, nominated for co-writing Ricky Martin's hit Livin' La Vida Loca, also lives in Miami.
(6) As does Madonna, nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
(7) Gloria Estefan, also from Miami, is a contender for Best Dance Record and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, for Music of My Heart with 'N Sync.
(8) Chick Corea is nominated in several jazz categories. Corea, a Scientologist, is a Clearwater resident.
But there's even more Florida on the list, once you dig deeper. Plenty of other nominees want to be Floridians, have close ties with Floridians, or have had memorable Florida experiences.
(9) For instance, Jennifer Lopez, who challenges Estefan for Best Dance Record, told In Style magazine last June she dreams of settling down in Miami.
Think about it, Grammy even rhymes with Miami. Is this some kind of conspiracy? Are larger forces at work?
To pass time tonight during the notoriously long broadcast, see if you can find more artists linked to our great state.
We'll get you started.
(10) Whitney Houston, nominated for, among other things, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Album, has a home with hubby Bobby Brown, nominated for nothing, on Williams Island in Miami. Brown's other Florida connections include a conviction in Fort Lauderdale on drunken driving charges. Oh yeah, he was also accused of beating up a patron at Walt Disney World. But, he's not the nominee, so we won't go there.
(11) Will Smith, nominated for Best Rap Solo Performance, had that hit song Miami. Smith doesn't live there, but you figure he likes it if he wrote a whole song about it. Right?
(12) Blues singer Susan Tedeschi is nominated for Best New Artist. Um, Tedeschi's boyfriend is from Jacksonville. And she's headlining at the Tampa Bay Blues festival in St. Petersburg next month.
(13) Other Best New Artist contenders: Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears (both also nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance) were on the Mickey Mouse Club, which is filmed in Orlando.
(14) Tony Bennett, nominated for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance, has a brother, John, who lives in Juno Beach. Bennett told the Times last month he frequently visits John, who is a chef.
(15) Courtney Love's band, Hole, is nominated for Best Rock Performance By a Duo or Group with Vocal. Remember when Love got arrested on misdemeanor battery charges in Orlando 1995? It was for punching two teenagers at a Hole concert.
(16) Nine Inch Nails is nominated for Best Metal Performance, which makes no sense. But, Starf--kers, Inc, the song NIN is nominated for, is rumored to be about Marilyn Manson, who is from Fort Lauderdale.
(17) Oh, the Dixie Chicks! Martie Seidel and Emily Erwin frequently visited their grandmother Ruth Erwin in Dunedin, until she passed away last fall. The Chicks are multiple nominees.
(18) Former Times reporter Rick Bragg, nominated for Best Album Notes, currently lives in Miami.
(19) Lauryn Hill, nominated in several categories including Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, has a son and daughter with Bob Marley's son, Rohan Marley, who lived in Miami and played football for the University of Miami.
(20) Country artist Alison Krauss, nominated in three categories, told fans at Ruth Eckerd Hall last month that Ricky Winter, her friend in the fourth-grade, moved to Florida. Not good enough? Krauss' bassist, Barry Bales, had a heat stroke in Florida during a previous tour.
Times researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this story.