Aaron Thornton/Getty Images for ASCAPBefore the 60th Annual Grammy Awards kicked off on Sunday night, ASCAP musicians and producers came together at the top of the Standard Hotel in New York for the performance-rights organization’s annual Grammy reception.
In addition to a room full music greats, like Oscar and Grammy Award-winning songwriter Paul Williams, the afternoon’s guests also included some of this year’s nominees.
Ledisi is nominated for three Grammys: Best R&B Album for Let Love Rule, Best R&B Performance for “High” and Best Traditional R&B Performance for “All the Way.” She says winning a Grammy after 12 years of nominations would mean a lot to her.
“It would finally mean.. this chase… is over,” Ledisi tells ABC Radio. “I can finally say I am a Grammy-Award winning artist. That feels good. I would like to say that I would like for that to happen. And then I can breathe a little bit.”
For others like JJ Hairston, who with his choir Youthful Praise, is up for Best Gospel Performance/Song, being nominated wasn’t something they expected.
“I wasn’t even looking for it…you know we’ve been doing this for over 15 years. I didn’t event think about a nomination,” he explains. “So we were really humbled and so honored by it.”
When it comes to the producing side of things, the Stereotypes, who are nominated in three Grammy categories, including Song of the Year for their work on the Bruno Mars hit “That’s What I Like,” say they’re simply excited to see their friend perform on the Grammy telecast.
“He’s a legend, like a living legend,” says Jeremy Reeves of the Stereotypes. “I think [Bruno] might be the first living legend I’ve gotten to work with. He’s like modern-day Michael Jackson— that’s all I can say.”
Copyright © 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
