Right about now, the people who are producing the 64th annual Grammy Awards are “making a list and checking it twice.” The list has nothing to do with holiday gifts, and everything to do with making sure they don’t miss anybody significant in prepping the In Memoriam package for the show that will air on Jan. 31, 2022.
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For the 63rd annual Grammy Awards in March 2021, executive producer Ben Winston and his team started with a master list of 800 names. Most years, the on-air package includes about 50 to 65 people, so a great deal of pruning is needed. (A much longer list appears on the Grammys website and in the printed program book that is distributed at the event. Here is the one from March.)
You may be surprised to learn that the Grammys didn’t start airing an In Memoriam package until 2003, years after most other major award shows. (Ken Ehrlich, the show’s former executive producer, resisted the idea, arguing that it would crowd out a performance segment. Then he realized he could combine the two concepts. That first In Memoriam package was anchored by an all-star tribute to Joe Strummer of The Clash, which featured Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Dave Grohl and Steven Van Zandt.
The In Memoriam segment has been a mainstay of the Grammy Awards ever since.
When you watch an awards show at a gathering, you’ll notice that no one leaves the room during the In Memoriam spot – partly out of respect and partly out of fear of missing something. Inevitably, someone will say, “I didn’t know they died” or “When did they die?”
Looking ahead to the next ceremony, legendary Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim and members of two famed groups — Don Everly of The Everly Brothers and Charlie Watts of The Rolling Stones — are certain to be honored, either in the In Memoriam spot or in breakout segments. Both of those groups received lifetime achievement awards from the Recording Academy. Sondheim received a trustees award – the equivalent of a lifetime achievement award for non-performers.
In addition, Sondheim and The Stones each won multiple competitive Grammys. Other multiple Grammy winners who are likely to at least wind up in the In Memoriam spot are Paddy Moloney of The Chieftains, B.J. Thomas, Vicente Fernandez, Christa Ludwig and Robbie Shakespeare.
Thomas is best known for singing “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” the 1969 Oscar winner for best original song. Samuel E. Wright sang “Under the Sea,” the Oscar winner in that category 20 years later.
Fernández, dubbed “the king of ranchera music,” was the Latin Recording Academy’s person of the year in 2002. Singer-songwriter Johnny Ventura received a lifetime achievement award from the Latin Recording Academy in 2006.
Rapper DMX had five consecutive No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200. Michael Nesmith was known both for The Monkees, which had four consecutive No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200, and for winning the first Grammy ever awarded for a music video for his solo project Michael Nesmith in Elephant Parts.
As a member of War, B.B. Dickerson had a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 in 1973, The World Is a Ghetto. With Bad Company, Mike Howe hit No. 1 in 1974 with Bad Company. As a member of Il Divo, Carlos Marin hit No. 1 in 2006 with Ancora. With Slipknot, Joey Jordison hit No. 1 in 2008 with All Hope Is Gone.
Ralph Tavares of the R&B family group Tavares and writer-producer Jim Steinman both won Grammys for album of the year. Tavares was featured on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack (1978). Steinman was one of the producers of Celine Dion’s Falling into You (1996).
Wanda Young and Sarah Dash were both part of all-female groups that had classic No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. Young scored in 1961 with The Marvelettes’ “Please Mr. Postman” (Motown’s first No. 1 on Billboard’s flagship chart). Dash reached the top in 1975 with LaBelle’s “Lady Marmalade.”
Lloyd Price topped the Hot 100 in 1959 with “Stagger Lee.” Tom T. Hall wrote Jeannie C. Riley’s “Harper Valley, P.T.A.,” a No. 1 hit in 1968. Tommy West co-produced a pair of No. 1 hits for Jim Croce in 1973, “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” and “Time in a Bottle.”
Les McKeown, with Bay City Rollers, hit No. 1 in 1976 with “Saturday Night.” Dennis “Dee Tee” Thomas, with Kool & the Gang, hit No. 1 in 1981 with “Celebration.” Terence “Astro” Wilson, with UB40, had a pair of No. 1 hits in the ‘80s and ‘90s with remakes of “Red Red Wine” and “Can’t Help Falling in Love.”
Dusty Hill was a member of ZZ Top, which reached its peak in the 1980s with a series of hit singles and iconic videos.
Two stand-up comedians, Mort Sahl and Jackie Mason, each received two Grammy nominations for comedy albums. In addition, Sahl also hosted the first Grammy Awards ceremony on May 4, 1959.
Biz Markie had just one Hot 100 hit, “Just a Friend,” but it made a big impact. The song was featured prominently on the Emmy Awards in September, two months after the rapper’s death.
Here’s a list of some of the music notables who have died since the 63rd annual Grammy Awards, which aired on March 14. And here’s a list of Billboard obituaries in 2021.
- Byron Berline
- Black Rob
- Steve Bronski (Bronski Beat)
- Kevin Clark
- Sarah Dash (LaBelle)
- John Davis
- Morris “B.B. Dickerson” (War)
- DMX
- Drakeo the Ruler
- Don Everly
- Vicente Fernandez
- Tom T. Hall
- Sarah Harding (Girls Aloud)
- Larry Harlow
- Dusty Hill (Z.Z. Top)
- Mike Howe (Bad Company)
- Leonard “Hub” Hubbard (The Roots)
- Stonewall Jackson
- Joey Jordison (Slipknot)
- Kangol Kid (UTFO)
- Tawny Kitaen (music video star)
- David Lasley
- Christa Ludwig
- Biz Markie
- Jackie Mason
- Les McKeown (Bay City Rollers)
- Robin McNamara
- Carlos Marin (Il Divo)
- Paddy Moloney (The Chieftains)
- Michael Nesmith (The Monkees)
- Sonny Osborne
- Timothy “Gift of Gab” Parker (Blackalicious)
- Lee “Scratch” Perry
- Jane Powell
- Lloyd Price
- Ray Reyes (Menudo)
- Mort Sahl
- Robbie Shakespear
- Shock G
- Joe Simon
- Stephen Sondheim
- Robby Steinhardt (Kansas)
- Jim Steinman
- Ralph Tavares (Tavares)
- Mikis Theodorakis
- B.J. Thomas
- Dennis “Dee Tee” Thomas (Kool & the Gang)
- Chucky Thompson
- Brian Travers
- Johnny Ventura
- Charlie Watts (The Rolling Stones)
- Tommy West
- Ronnie Wilson (The Gap Band)
- Terence ‘Astro’ Wilson (UB40)
- Samuel E. Wright
- Wanda Young (The Marvelettes)