Shortly after the Latin Grammy Awards nominations ceremony in Hollywood, Natalie Cole declared that she was “floored” by the news that her first Spanish-language project, “En Espanol,” was nominated in three categories. She is the first non-Hispanic American artist to be up for album of the year.
Cole will compete in the field of 10 with Latin artists including Colombia’s Carlos Vives, a leading contender with five nominations; Spanish pop singer Miguel Bosé, who is the Latin Grammy Person of the Year; superstar singer/songwriter Alejandro Sanz; and rock iconoclast Draco Rosa.
Cole gave credit for her nominations to her father, Nat “King” Cole, whose pioneering “Cole Espanol” albums featured some of the same classic ballads as her chart-topping Latin album. “The Latin audience is steeped in tradition, and the parents of this generation listened to my dad’s Spanish albums,” Cole tells Billboard. “They may not have known who Natalie Cole was, but they remember the music.”
Engineer Javier Garza and Argentine hip-hop/rock duo Illya Kuryaki & the Valderramas also earned five nods. The latter act (which swept Argentina’s recent Gardel Awards), venerable Venezuelan dance band Guaco and Spanish singer/songwriter Pablo Alboran, a three-time nominee who is massively popular in his native country but not as well-known in the United States, were among the acts whose nominations highlighted the international nature of the Latin Grammy selection process.
“One of our main differences from the Grammys is that we are international,” Latin Recording Academy president/CEO Gabriel Abaroa Jr. says. “[Nominees] can be from the biggest Latin-American country or from the smallest. It can be a Latin artist from Canada or from Europe. All that matters is the music.”
Rosa, whose “Vida” marked a triumphant return for the artist from his battle with cancer, took three nominations including record of the year and best contemporary pop vocal album.
The Latin Grammys will take place Nov. 21 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas and air live on Univision.