2014 GRAMMY AWARD NOMINATIONS

December 5th was Grammy Friday as all throughout the day, the nominations for the 57th Grammy Awards were announced. It all culminated with a holiday-themed televised concert, "A Very Grammy Christmas" which presented the Album of The Year nominees. I'm thrilled that the amazing Sam Smith tied with Beyoncé and Pharrell Williams with the most nominations with six. The British singer received a nod in all of the four major categories as well as Best New Artist.

Beyoncé set a Grammy record by becoming the female artist with the most nominations. At fifty-two, she moved past Dolly Parton, who she was tied with at forty-six before the announcement and now is tied with Kanye West as the sixth artist with the most overall nominations.

The awards will be handed out once again at the Staples Center in L.A. on February 8th. Here is a partial list of this year's Grammy nominations. For the complete list in all categories, please click below:

Grammy.com

Album of The Year:

"Morning Phase" - Beck
"Beyoncé" - Beyoncé
"X"- Ed Sheeran
"In The Lonely Hour" - Sam Smith
"Girl" - Pharrell Williams

Record of the Year

"All About That Bass" - Meghan Trainor
"Fancy" - Iggy Azalea Featuring Charli XCX
"Chandelier" - Sia
"Stay With Me (Darkchild Version)" - Sam Smith
"Shake It Off" - Taylor Swift

Song of the Year

"All About That Bass" - Meghan Trainor
"Chandelier" - Sia
"Shake It Off" - Taylor Swift
"Stay With Me (Darkchild Version)" - Sam Smith
"Take Me to Church" - Hozier

Best New Artist

Iggy Azalea
Bastille
Brandy Clarke
Haim
Sam Smith

Best Pop Solo Performance

"All of Me" - John Legend
"Chandelier" - Sia
"Stay With Me" - Sam Smith
"Shake It Off" - Taylor Swift
"Happy" - Pharrell Williams

Best Pop Duo/Performance

"Fancy" - Iggy Azalea featuring Charli XCX
"A Sky Full of Stars" - Coldplay
"Say Something" - A Great Big World with Christina Aguilera
"Bang Bang" - Jessie J, Ariana Grande & Nicki Minaj
"Dark Horse" - Katy Perry featuring Juicy J

Best Pop Vocal Album

"Ghost Stories" - Coldplay
"Bangerz" - Miley Cyrus
"My Everything" - Ariana Grande
'Prism" - Katy Perry
"X" - Ed Sheeran
"In the Lonely Hour" - Sam Smith

Best Urban Contemporary Album

"Sail Out" - Jhene Aiko
"Beyoncé" - Beyoncé
"X" - Chris Brown
"Mali Is ..." - Mali Music
"Girl" - Pharrell Williams

Best Rap Album

"Because the Internet" - Childish Gambino
"The New Classic" - Iggy Azalea
"Nobody's Smiling" - Common
"Marshall Mathers LP 2" - Eminem
"Oxymoron" - ScHoolboy Q
"Blacc Hollywood" - Wiz Khalifa

Best Country Album

"Riser" - Dierks Bentley
"The Outsiders" - Eric Church
"12 Stories" - Brandy Clark
"Platinum" - Miranda Lambert
"The Way I'm Livin'" - Lee Ann Womack

Best Alternative Music Album

"This Is All Yours" - Alt J
"Reflector" - Arcade Fire
"Melophobia" - Cage the Elephant
"St. Vincent" - St. Vincent
"Lazaretto" - Jack White

Best Dance Recording

"Never Say Never" - Basement Jaxx
"Rather Be" - Clean Bandit featuring Jess Glynne
"F for You" - Disclosure featuring Mary J. Blige
"I Got U" - Duke Dumont featuring Jax Jones
"Faded" - Zhu

TAKE TWO: KIM CARNES

With sunny California girl looks but a singing voice like sandpaper, Kim Carnes didn't come across how you would expect. Her music career didn't travel down an obvious path either. Carnes first became noticed as a songwriter and wrote music in all genres that brought her great acclaim. When she achieved fame as a singer, it was with an unusual, new-wave sounding song about a deceptive woman with eyes like a movie star.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Kim Carnes wrote songs and performed locally as a teen before eventually deciding to get in to music professionally. In the early 1970's, Carnes, along with her musician husband, Dave Ellingson, got her first break with teen heartthrob, David Cassidy, star of the hit television show, "The Partridge Family". In addition to writing songs for his albums, Carnes and Ellingson opened for Cassidy during his world tour. This exposure lead to Carnes getting her own record deal and releasing her debut album, "Rest On Me" in 1972.

Although Carnes didn't have much initial success as a recording artist, her work as a songwriter continued to open doors for the fledgling musician. Some of her compositions won a few prizes which lead to them being recorded by none other than Barbra Streisand. "Love Comes from Unexpected Places" was on "Streisand Superman" in 1977 and "Stay Away" appeared on "Songbird" the following year. In 1980, country music star, Kenny Rogers had Carnes and Ellingson write a concept record for him. That album, "Gideon" featured "Don't Fall In Love With a Dreamer", a duet with Kim, that reached the top ten on the pop and country charts. Also that year, Carnes released a remake of the Smokey Robinson and The Miracles classic, "More Love" from her album, "Romance Dance". This became her first solo top ten pop hit.

For her next album, "Mistaken Identity", Carnes's first single was a cover of an obscure song co-written by 60's pop singer, Jackie DeShannon ("What The World Needs Now"). "Bette Davis Eyes" became a massive smash, spending nine weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song went on to win two Grammy Awards for Song of The Year and Record of The Year and became the biggest single of 1981.

Kim Carnes never reached these heights again but continued to make music with varied success. She released her last studio album, "Chasin' Wild Trains" in 2004. Carnes is still married to Dave Ellingson and have been together for forty-seven years. They have two sons, Collin and Ry who have followed in the family business as musicians.

These are two of my favorite tunes from Kim Carnes:





As a bonus, here is the very 1980's music video for "Bette Davis Eyes". This eerie clip is notable for being directed by future filmmaker, Russell Mulcahy, best known for "Highlander" and currently directing episodes of the MTV series, "Teen Wolf":

IT'S THE GIRLS

Bette Midler is back with new music and for her twenty-fifth studio album, "It's The Girls", she pays tribute to girl groups. After popular albums featuring the music of Rosemary Clooney and Peggy Lee, Midler has taken on the songs of some of her favorite all-female performers. Some of these range from classic tunes made famous by The Ronettes ("Be My Baby"), The Chiffons ("One Fine Day"), The Supremes ("You Can't Hurry Love"), Martha & The Vandellas ("Come And Get These Memories") and most surprisingly, TLC with her version of their hit, "Waterfalls". While none of these recordings will make you forget the originals, Midler injects each of these songs with her signature style and sass.

Bette Midler plans on touring next year to support the album and I've already got my tickets for her L.A. stop. Here's a clip that previews some of the songs off the album:

LORDE OVERSEES "HUNGER GAMES"

While the world has to anxiously await the third installment of the "Hunger Games" franchise until tomorrow, you can hear some of the music from the film right now. The eighteen year-old New Zealand artist, Lorde was approached to once again contribute a song but this time she wanted to have a bigger role in creating the soundtrack. She was given the reins to curate the music for "Mockingjay, Part One" and assembled an impressive list of artists to participate.

Lorde brought together veteran cutting-edge musicians (Chemical Brothers, Bat For Lashes, CHVRCHΞS) and offbeat rising stars (Charli XCX, Tinashe, Tove Lo) to create a moody, hard-hitting collection that will enhance and work perfectly with the dark themes of the film. There are also some inventive musical pairings including EDM outfit, Major Lazer with Ariana Grande, Simon LeBon of Duran Duran joins Charli XCX on "Kingdom" and Lorde herself with a crazy team featuring rap artists, Q-Tip and Pusha T and the rock group, Haim on Belgian hip-hop artist, Stromae's song, "Meltdown".

She even got Kanye West involved to remix her track, "Yellow Flicker Beat" and re-titled the tune as "Flicker". My favorite part of this whole enterprise is the inclusion of the legendary Grace Jones with the song, "Original Beast". The idea that Lorde was aware who she is, let alone, wise enough to have this incredible performer a part of this project makes me love her even more.

Listen to a few of the tracks from the soundtrack:



"All My Love" - Major Lazer featuring Ariana Grande (2014)



"The Leap" - Tinashe (2014)



"Flicker (Kanye West Re-work)" - Lorde (2014)



"Meltdown" - Stromae featuring Q-Tip, Pusha T, Haim and Lorde (2014)

JIMMY RUFFIN (1936 - 2014)

Jimmy Ruffin, the legendary soul vocalist on the Motown label, passed away today at the age of seventy-eight. The older brother of David Ruffin (who died in 1991), the lead singer of The Temptations, is best known for the top-ten hit, "What Becomes of The Brokenhearted" in 1966 but he achieved other hits including "I've Passed This Way Before" and "Gonna Give Her All the Love I've Got".

Born in Collinsville, Mississippi, Jimmy began his musical career as a young child with his brother in the gospel group, The Dixie Nightingales. Ruffin joined Motown as a session singer in 1961 but left after being drafted in the army. He later returned to the label and was offered a position in the Temptations but after hearing his brother, David, Berry Gordy hired him instead. Ruffin stayed with Motown as a solo performer but didn't have much success until "Brokenhearted" charted. His last hit single was the disco tune, "Hold On (To My Love)" (co-written by the late Robin Gibb) in 1980 peaking at number ten on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.

"What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted" - Jimmy Ruffin (1966)

MY TUNE OF THE DAY

Here's a song that I love that takes me back to my childhood. "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" by Paul McCartney and featuring his wife, Linda is a tune that mashes up some wacky sound effects and nonsensical lyrics to create one of the strangest pop songs ever. I didn't have any clue what this song was actually about as a nine year old and now being much older, I still couldn't tell you.

Apparently, McCartney pieced together fragments of several different songs he had been working on to build this one and he did actually have a beloved uncle named Albert. Rumor has it that this song was a veiled attack on his former band mates, particularly John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono but who really knows?

Taken from his second solo release, "Ram","Uncle Albert" was McCartney's first U.S. number one hit since he left The Beatles and before he went on to form his new band, Wings later in 1971.

HOT AND FRESH OUT THE KITCHEN

TAYLOR SWIFT - "1989"

Country superstar, Taylor Swift has made a risky move by making her fifth album, "1989" a pure pop record. This could potentially be career suicide as country music fans are notoriously unforgiving when a beloved artist abandons their loving arms. I don't think Ms Swift has much to fear as the album looks poised to becoming one of the biggest sellers of the year.

For her official foray in to pop music, Swift has wisely decided against relying on current trends and looks back to the sounds of the 1980's for inspiration. The title of this record comes from the year of her birth and with production assistance from pop-hit makers, Max Martin, Ryan Tedder and Shellback as well as Jack Antonoff of the indie band, Fun and alt-rocker, Imogen Heap, she has crafted a collection that evokes a feeling of the past but remains quite modern. And considering she hasn't done much living at only twenty-four, Swift also shows great maturity as a songwriter.

"Blank Space", the latest single from the album looks sure to be another smash:

"Blank Space" - Taylor Swift (2014)

STEVIE NICKS - "24 KARAT GOLD: SONGS FROM THE VAULT"

One of Taylor Swift's idols, Stevie Nicks has also looked to the past for her latest release, "24 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault". Nicks had a large collection of unrecorded songs she had written that went as far back as when she was dating Lindsey Buckingham before they joined Fleetwood Mac in 1975. They are now seeing the light of day as Nicks went to Nashville with producers, Waddy Wachtel and Dave Stewart (formerly of The Eurythmics) to record these lost treasures. The majority of the songs are by the singer but there are a few covers including "Carousel" by Vanessa Carlton which was one of her mother's favorites.

This is one of the tracks I really like:

"Starshine" - Stevie Nicks (2014)

PRINCE - "ART OFFICIAL AGE"

After being musically silent for far too long, the iconic Prince has returned with not one but two new releases. "Plectrumelectrum" and "Art Official Age" are being released by his former label, Warner Bros Records which he claimed at one time that they treated him like nothing more than a slave but clearly time has healed those old wounds. The former CD is an avant-garde, hard-edged rock album with his all-female backing band, 3rdeyegirl but I'm going to focus on the later which delivers more of the funky sound that I love. Prince seems to be in a more playful, sensual mood these days which is reflected in this new music. Along with the expected idiosyncratic touches scattered throughout, this is one of his most accessible albums in years.

"Clouds" - Prince (2014)

ANNIE LENNOX - "NOSTALGIA"

As is the trend these days for record labels to have veteran artists travel down a musical memory lane, Annie Lennox has just released her version with the appropriately titled, "Nostalgia". Ms Lennox had previously recorded a covers album of pop songs that inspired her back in 1995 with "Medusa" but this time the dynamic vocalist has gone back even further. This collection features songs from the Great American Songbook and some jazz tunes. She has taken on such classics ranging from Billie Holiday's "God Bless The Child" and "Strange Fruit", "Summertime" from Gershwin and "Georgia On My Mind" made famous by Ray Charles. Ms Lennox convincingly performs each song with warmth, style and class. "Nostalgia" has even made it to the top of the Billboard jazz chart.

Here is a clip of the singer performing "Summertime":


TINASHE - "AQUARIUS"

One of my favorite songs of the year is "2 On" by the twenty-one year old Tinashe and after releasing several popular mixtapes, her debut, "Aquarius" is now out. Although this singer/actress brings to mind the late Aaliyah, the Zimbabwe born, L.A. raised artist moves further out of the realm of traditional r&b or hip-hop. Tinashe had a hand on the writing of most of the songs along with top producers DJ Mustard, Mike Will Made-It and Stargate to help expand her sound and together they created a work that is sexy, experimental and highly innovative.

Enjoy this sample of the sounds of Tinashe:

"Cold Sweat" - Tinashe (2014)

Dawn Richard, a former member of the female pop singing group formed by Sean "P.Diddy" Combs, Danity Kane, has dropped the music video for her new single, "Blow". Richard is part of the alt-r&b movement and this pulsating clip is equally offbeat: