‘LOVE’ FROM THE GRAMMY AWARDS

The Grammy Awards have all been given out for another year. The awards sweep of Adele, performances by The Beach Boys (with Brian Wilson and Al Jardine, both of whom haven’t performed together in many years), Bruce Springsteen, Glen Campbell and the double performances from Paul McCartney plus the poignant tributes to the late Whitney Houston are now history. For the next couple of weeks, we’ll be looking back at previous Grammy Award winners...and since this week also has Valentine’s Day in it, all of our questions have to do with Grammy Award winning ‘Love’ songs. So put on your tux, rent a super stretch limousine and let’s go to the Grammies.

QUESTIONS:

1. The 1982 Grammy Award for ‘Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male’ went to a singer/ songwriter who had LOST 7 times the previous year. He almost didn’t attend the ceremony as he didn’t want to face another loss. After his first solo Grammy win in ‘82, he was truly dancing on the ceiling. This singer/songwriter was one of Motown’s top stars of the 1980’s as well as a former member of a ‘70’s Motown hit machine. Can you name this performer?

2. It was a move theme ‘love’ song that won the 1977 Grammy Award for ‘Song Of The Year’. It was number one on the Billboard singles chart for 3 weeks and was co-written by Paul Williams, the man who also co-wrote “We’ve Only Just Begun”, “Rainy Days & Mondays” that The Carpenters recorded as well as Three Dog Night’s Top 5 hit, “An Old Fashioned Love Song”. The co-author was the female star of this movie – which is also part of the title of the Grammy Award winning number one hit. What’s the name of the song?

3. In 1975, a song written (and originally recorded) by one of the most successful singer/songwriters of the 1960’s and ‘70’s, who liked to sing about calendar girls, breaking up being hard to do and stairways to heaven long before Led Zeppelin ever did, went to number one and stayed there for 4 weeks. This song won the Grammy for ‘Record Of The Year’ and was nominated for ‘Best Pop Vocal Performance By A Duo, Group or Chorus’, but lost out to The Eagles song “Lyin’ Eyes”. The duo who had the Grammy Award winning song also recorded a Spanish language version of this same number one and released it a few months after the English language version first came out, although that one didn’t fare as well on the charts. Can you name this duo and their first number one hit?

4. The Beatles are no stranger to winning Grammy Awards. They won ‘Best New Artist’ in 1964 and their number one hit, “A Hard Day’s Night’ took the Grammy that year for ‘Best Performance By A Vocal Group”, but lost to Petula Clark’s “Downtown” for ‘Best Rock & Roll Recording’. Can you believe that? At the 1966 Grammy Awards, John Lennon & Paul McCartney (as songwriters) took home the ‘Song Of The Year’ statuette. It was a true Beatles love song. In fact the phrase ‘I love you, I love you, I love you’ is sung fairly early on in the lyrics. Can you name this Grammy Award winning Beatles ‘love’ song?

5. By the early 1990’s, this performer had already had a handful of chart hits, including one number one. He was the former lead singer of a group called Blackjack in the 1970’s and received a lot of comments about his hair. For many years, he dated one of the actresses on the hit TV series “Desperate Housewives”. Several of his ‘love’ songs made the Billboard Hot 100 Top 10, including “Time, Love & Tenderness”, ”Love Is A Wonderful Thing” and “Said I Love You...But I Lied”. In 1991, he had a number one hit with a remake of a previous number one from 1966 that won the Grammy Award for ‘Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male’. Can you name this ‘man’ and his song?

ANSWERS

1. Lionel Richie took home the 1982 Grammy for his love song “Truly”, beating out nominees Donald Fagen, Joe Jackson, Elton John, Michael McDonald and Rick Springfield. It was Lionel’s second solo number one after his 1981 duet with Diana Ross, “Endless Love”, which was nominated for 3 Grammy Awards, but did not win.

2. The song was “Love Theme From A Star Is Born (Evergreen)”, co-written by Barbra Streisand and Paul Williams. It won “Song Of The Year” and ‘Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female’ for Barbra at the 20th annual Grammy Awards held in Los Angeles on February 23, 1978

3. Captain & Tennille was the duo we were looking for. The song, written by ‘60’s pop icon Neil Sedaka, was “Love Will Keep Us Together”.

4. The Grammy Award for ‘Song Of The Year’ for 1966 went to John Lennon and Paul McCartney for “Michelle”. It beat out “Born Free”, “The Impossible Dream”, “Somewhere My Love” and “Strangers In The Night”. Ironically, “Michelle” never charted as a single but was included on The Beatles December 1965 album release, “Rubber Soul”.

5. That man is Michael Bolton. His cover version of the 1966 Percy Sledge hit, “When A Man Loves A Woman” won the 1991 Grammy for ‘Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male’. That was the same year that Natalie Cole won a handful of Grammy Awards for her “Unforgettable” duet with her late father, Nat Cole.