Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 26, 1992 TAG: 9202260292
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
COLE, RAITT TOP THE POPS
Natalie Cole's sentimental, high-tech tribute to her late father dominated Tuesday night's Grammy Awards, getting the honors for record, song and album of the year and accumulating seven prizes in all."I was really not expecting this. . . . When people start telling you you're going to win something you get totally paranoid," a beaming Cole said after a standing ovation when the record of the year award for "Unforgettable" was announced.
"I thank my dad for leaving me such a wonderful, wonderful heritage," she said, referring to the late Nat "King" Cole. She finished by exclaiming: "And we're trying to be cool but we love it!"
The winning song is a spliced-together duet with Cole's father, who died of lung cancer in 1965. The chart-topping album of standards capped a comeback; her career had stalled after she received a Grammy for best new artist in 1975.
Former underground darlings R.E.M. also were warmly embraced by the music industry. The group picked up three prizes, as did Bonnie Raitt, who swept the 1990 Grammys to rejuvenate her career.
Raitt won for best pop female vocal ("Something to Talk About"), best solo rock vocal performance (for the album "Luck of the Draw"), and for her duet with Delbert McClinton on "Good Man, Good Woman."
The Judds, the country mother-daughter team that has announced its breakup, won two Grammys for the song "Love Can Build a Bridge." Michael Bolton won the best pop male vocal award for "When a Man Loves a Woman."
Song of the year, a writer's prize, went to Irving Gordon for "Unforgettable."
"It's nice to have a song come out that doesn't scream, yell, [or] have a nervous breakdown while it talks about tenderness," said Gordon, who wrote the song in the early 1950s. "Also, it's nice to have a song accepted that you don't get a hernia when you sing it."
Before the telecast, which ran nearly four hours, Cole won a Grammy for best traditional pop performance, and the album, also titled "Unforgettable," won awards for arranger and engineer. The album later received best producer honors for David Foster.
R.E.M. - which topped the field with seven nominations - won three Grammys: best pop duo or vocal group; best alternative music album, "Out of Time;" and best music video-short form, "Losing My Religion."
Bryan Adams had six nominations, mostly for the romantic "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" from the film "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves." But its only award came for best song written specifically for a motion picture or for television.
Grammy voters avoided controversy in the best new artist category by passing over C + C Music Factory, who have been accused of lip-synching their concerts, and giving the award instead to singer-songwriter Marc Cohn.
The best new artist winners from two years ago, Milli Vanilli, later admitted they didn't sing on their record or onstage and their award was revoked.
In a classical music category, Sir Georg Solti added to his record number of Grammys by winning his 29th - this time for conducting the Chicago Symphony Chorus and Orchestra in "Bach: Mass in B Minor."
Barbra Streisand, James Brown, Muddy Waters, the late jazz artist John Coltrane and the late guitarist Jimi Hendrix received special awards for their careers in music.
"In all honesty, I don't feel like a legend. I feel like a work in progress," Streisand said after being honored for her career achievements in music.
A group of inmates at a New Jersey prison made Grammy history by being nominated in the long-form video category for a rap mini-album "The Lifers' Group." The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences wouldn't allow a representative to attend because he wasn't a nominee as the rules require.
It was the 34th annual Grammys presentation.