The Premiere Ceremony of the 57th Grammy Awards was held live ahead of the CBS telecast and hosted by country music artist Hunter Hayes.
Some of the night’s winners included Weird Al Yankovic, who won Best Comedy Album for “Mandatory Fun,” and gospel singer Erica Campbell, who had her first win outside of her popular group, Mary Mary for her solo effort “Help.”
“It feels different winning alone,” Campbell said backstage. “When I was recording the album I was really missing my sister, Tina. I had to find my own confidence. We both complement other really well.” The singer also mentioned that her sister would be releasing a solo album as well.
Joan Rivers received a Grammy posthumously for her Spoken Word Album, “Diary of a Mad Diva.” Rivers’ daughter, Melissa Rivers, was on-hand to accept the award on behalf of her mother.
Beyonce took home two Grammys for her album “Beyonce.” Another big winner was Eminem who took home the Grammy for Best Rap Album for “The Marshall Mathers LP2,” his first album after a long break. The Oscar-winning rapper also took home a Grammy for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for “The Monster” featuring Rihanna.
The night’s most memorable award went to Best Music Film winner, “20 Feet From Stardom.” One of the recipients of the award, Gil Friesen, passed away after a long battle with leukemia. Friesen’s teenage son, Theo, accepted the award on his father’s behalf. The speech he gave received the night’s standing ovation. “20 Feet From Stardom” also won the Academy Award last year for Outstanding Documentary.
“The idea for the project came from Gil,” said singer Lisa Fischer, who was one of the background singers featured in the film. “It feels like he was still here.” Fischer, who sings background for The Rolling Stones, also thanked Friesen for giving her and her fellow background singers, Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Judith Hill and Darlene Love, a second chance with the making of the film.
Performances in the Premiere Ceremony included Cheyenne Jackson, Alexandra Silber, Ana Tijoux, Nathan East, Robert Glasper, Billy Hart, Joe Lovan, Angie Fisher and Old Crow Medicine Show.
Below is a list of early winners:
BEST POP DUO/GROUP PERFORMANCE – A Great Big World With Christina Aguilera, “Say Something”
BEST TRADITIONAL POP VOCAL ALBUM – Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga, Cheek To Cheek
BEST COUNTRY SOLO PERFORMANCE – Carrie Underwood, “Something In The Water”
BEST COUNTRY DUO/GROUP PERFORMANCE – The Band Perry, “Gentle On My Mind
BEST COUNTRY SONG – Glen Campbell & Julian Raymond, songwriters (Glen Campbell), “I’m Not Gonna Miss You”
BEST RAP PERFORMANCE – Kendrick Lamar, “I”
BEST RAP ALBUM – Eminem, The Marshall Mathers LP2
BEST TRADITIONAL R&B PERFORMANCE – Robert Glasper Experiment Featuring Lalah Hathaway & Malcolm-Jamal Warner, “Jesus Children”
BEST R&B SONG – Shawn Carter, Rasool Diaz, Noel Fisher, Jerome Harmon, Beyoncé Knowles, Timothy Mosely, Andre Eric Proctor & Brian Soko, songwriters (Beyoncé Featuring Jay Z), “Drunk In Love”
BEST R&B ALBUM – Toni Braxton & Babyface, Love, Marriage & Divorce
BEST URBAN CONTEMPORARY ALBUM – Pharrell Williams, G I R L
BEST ROCK PERFORMANCE – Jack White, “Lazaretto”
BEST ROCK SONG – Hayley Williams & Taylor York, songwriters (Paramore), “Ain’t It Fun”
BEST ALTERNATIVE MUSIC ALBUM – St. Vincent, St. Vincent
BEST METAL PERFORMANCE – Tenacious D, “The Last In Line”
BEST COMEDY ALBUM – “Weird Al” Yankovic, Mandatory Fun
BEST BLUES ALBUM – Johnny Winter, Step Back
BEST BLUEGRASS ALBUM – The Earls Of Leicester, The Earls Of Leicester
BEST MUSIC VIDEO – Pharrell Williams, “Happy”
BEST MUSIC FILM – Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer & Judith Hill, 20 Feet From Stardom
BEST DANCE RECORDING – Clean Bandit Featuring Jess Glynne, “Rather Be”
BEST DANCE/ELECTRONIC ALBUM – Aphex Twin, Syro
BEST SPOKEN WORD ALBUM (INCLUDES POETRY, AUDIO BOOKS & STORYTELLING) – Joan Rivers, Diary Of A Mad Diva
BEST CONTEMPORARY INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM – Chris Thile & Edgar Meyer, Bass & Mandolin
BEST IMPROVISED JAZZ SOLO – Chick Corea, soloist, “Fingerprints”
BEST JAZZ VOCAL ALBUM – Dianne Reeves, Beautiful Life
BEST JAZZ INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM – Chick Corea Trio, Trilogy
BEST LARGE JAZZ ENSEMBLE ALBUM – Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band, Life In The Bubble
BEST LATIN JAZZ ALBUM – Arturo O’Farrill & The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, The Offense Of The Drum
BEST LATIN POP ALBUM – Rubén Blades, Tangos
BEST LATIN ROCK, URBAN OR ALTERNATIVE ALBUM – Calle 13, Multiviral
BEST REGIONAL MEXICAN MUSIC ALBUM (INCLUDING TEJANO) – Vicente Fernández, Mano A Mano – Tangos A La Manera De Vicente Fernández
BEST TROPICAL LATIN ALBUM – Carlos Vives, Más + Corazón Profundo
BEST GOSPEL PERFORMANCE/SONG – Smokie Norful, “No Greater Love”
BEST CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN MUSIC PERFORMANCE/SONG – Lecrae Featuring For King & Country, “Messengers”
BEST GOSPEL ALBUM – Erica Campbell, Help
BEST CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN MUSIC ALBUM – For King & Country, Run Wild. Live Free. Love Strong.
BEST ROOTS GOSPEL ALBUM – Mike Farris, Shine For All The People
BEST NEW AGE ALBUM – Ricky Kej & Wouter Kellerman, Winds Of Samsara
BEST REGIONAL ROOTS MUSIC ALBUM – Jo-El Sonnier, The Legacy
BEST AMERICAN ROOTS PERFORMANCE – Rosanne Cash, “A Feather’s Not A Bird”
BEST AMERICAN ROOTS SONG – Rosanne Cash, “A Feather’s Not A Bird”
BEST AMERICANA ALBUM – Rosanne Cash, The River & The Thread
BEST FOLK ALBUM – Old Crow Medicine Show, The Remedy
BEST REGGAE ALBUM – Ziggy Marley, Fly Rasta
BEST WORLD MUSIC ALBUM – Angelique Kidjo, Eve
BEST MUSICAL THEATER ALBUM – Jessie Mueller, principal soloist; Jason Howland, Steve Sidwell & Billy Jay Stein, producers (Carole King, composer & lyricist) (Original Broadway Cast), Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
BEST COMPILATION SOUNDTRACK FOR VISUAL MEDIA – Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez, Tom MacDougall & Chris Montan, compilation producers, Frozen
BEST SCORE SOUNDTRACK FOR VISUAL MEDIA – Alexandre Desplat, composer, The Grand Budapest Hotel
BEST SONG WRITTEN FOR VISUAL MEDIA – Kristen Anderson-Lopez & Robert Lopez, songwriters (Idina Menzel), “Let It Go”
BEST CHILDREN’S ALBUM – Neela Vaswani, I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up For Education And Changed The World (Malala Yousafzai)
BEST SURROUND SOUND ALBUM – Elliot Scheiner, surround mix engineer; Bob Ludwig, surround mastering engineer; Beyoncé Knowles, surround producer (Beyoncé), Beyoncé
BEST REMIXED RECORDING, NON-CLASSICAL – Tijs Michiel Verwest, remixer (John Legend), “All Of Me (Tiesto’s Birthday Treatment Remix)”
BEST INSTRUMENTAL COMPOSITION – John Williams, composer, The Book Thief
BEST ARRANGEMENT, INSTRUMENTAL OR A CAPPELLA – Ben Bram, Mitch Grassi, Scott Hoying, Avi Kaplan, Kirstin Maldonado & Kevin Olusola, arrangers (Pentatonix), ”Daft Punk”
BEST ARRANGEMENT, INSTRUMENTS AND VOCALS – Billy Childs, arranger (Billy Childs Featuring Renée Fleming & Yo-Yo Ma), “New York Tendaberry”
BEST RECORDING PACKAGE – Jeff Ament, Don Pendleton, Joe Spix & Jerome Turner, art directors (Pearl Jam), Lightning Bolt
BEST ALBUM NOTES – Ashley Kahn, album notes writer (John Coltrane), Offering: Live At Temple University
BEST HISTORICAL ALBUM – Colin Escott & Cheryl Pawelski, compilation producers; Michael Graves, mastering engineer (Hank Williams), The Garden Spot Programs, 1950
BEST ENGINEERED ALBUM, NON-CLASSICAL – Tom Elmhirst, David Greenbaum, Florian Lagatta, Cole Marsden Greif-Neill, Robbie Nelson, Darrell Thorp, Cassidy Turbin & Joe Visciano, engineers; Bob Ludwig, mastering engineer (Beck), Morning Phase
BEST ENGINEERED ALBUM, CLASSICAL – Michael Bishop, engineer; Michael Bishop, mastering engineer (Robert Spano, Norman Mackenzie, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chorus), Vaughan Williams: Dona Nobis Pacem; Symphony No. 4; The Lark Ascending
PRODUCER OF THE YEAR, NON-CLASSICAL – Max Martin
PRODUCER OF THE YEAR, CLASSICAL – Judith Sherman
BEST OPERA RECORDING – Paul O’Dette & Stephen Stubbs, conductors; Aaron Sheehan; Renate Wolter-Seevers, producer (Boston Early Music Festival Chamber Ensemble; Boston Early Music Festival Vocal Ensemble), “Charpentier: La Descente D’Orphée Aux Enfers”
BEST ORCHESTRAL PERFORMANCE – David Robertson, conductor (St. Louis Symphony), “Adams, John: City Noir”
BEST CHORAL PERFORMANCE – Craig Hella Johnson, conductor (Conspirare), “The Sacred Spirit Of Russia”
BEST CHAMBER MUSIC/SMALL ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE – Hilary Hahn & Cory Smythe, “In 27 Pieces – The Hilary Hahn Encores”
BEST CLASSICAL INSTRUMENTAL SOLO – Jason Vieaux, “Play”
BEST CLASSICAL SOLO VOCAL ALBUM – Anne Sofie Von Otter; Bengt Forsberg, accompanist (Carl Bagge, Margareta Bengston, Mats Bergström, Per Ekdahl, Bengan Janson, Olle Linder & Antoine Tamestit), Douce France
BEST CLASSICAL COMPENDIUM – Partch; John Schneider, producer, Partch: Plectra & Percussion Dances
BEST CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL COMPOSITION – John Luther Adams, composer (Ludovic Morlot & Seattle Symphony), “Adams, John Luther: Become Ocean”
The remaining categories will be announced on the live telecast tonight beginning at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. Keep up with the latest Grammy news on TVMusicNetwork.net
