Dec 2, 2017
Artists of color become the faces of the Grammys
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There are no white male artists nominated in any capacity for the most prestigious "Album of the Year" award for the first time in the history of the Grammy awards.
Here's a look at how white men have dominated the award category since the inception of the Grammys.
Key takeaways:
- Out of the 59 times that the Grammy "Album of the Year" has been awarded, female solo artists have only won 15 times. Of those wins, just 4 have gone to women of color. Taylor Swift and Adele have both won "Album of the Year" twice.
- The inaugural Grammy Award ceremony included a black female solo artist nominee for "Album of the Year" — famous jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald.
- The first woman to win the honor was Judy Garland in 1962.
- The first woman of color to take home the award was Yoko Ono. She won as a duo with her husband John Lennon in 1982.
- The first black male solo artist to win "Album of the Year" was Stevie Wonder in 1974 for Innervisions.
- The first black female solo artist to win was Natalie Cole, daughter of two-time nominee Nat King Cole, in 1992 for her album Unforgettable... With Love.
- This year, the nominees include a woman — Lorde — and four men of color — Jay-Z, Childish Gambino, Bruno Mars and Kendrick Lamar.
Worth noting: The Grammys allowed online voting for the first time this year, allowing its 13,000 voting members to weigh in on each award without mailing in ballots, the Washington Post reports. The change led to a larger number of total ballots cast by voters representing a wide range of backgrounds.
