In 2014, John Mellencamp signed a lifetime recording agreement with Republic Records. He demonstrated why that was a smart investment on Republic’s part with a winning performance at the second annual Grammy Hall of Fame Gala. The event was held on Friday night (May 16) at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. — the site of the first Grammy ceremony in 1959.
Mellencamp performed as part of a salute to Republic Records, which was this year’s record company honoree. Conan Gray performed his 2020 hit “Heather” as part of that salute, though Muni Long, who had been announced as a third performer in the segment, did not appear. (Atlantic Records was the label honoree at last year’s inaugural Grammy Hall of Fame Gala, which was held at the Novo Theater at L.A. Live.)
The Grammy Hall of Fame Gala, presented jointly by the Recording Academy and the Grammy Museum, was conceived as a way to elevate the stature of the annual Hall of Fame inductions, which had long announced with little more than a press release. The Grammy Hall of Fame was established by the Recording Academy’s national trustees in 1973, initially to honor recordings that were released prior to the inception of the Grammy Awards in 1959. The selection criteria was long ago changed to include any recording that is at least 25 years old.
The Grammy Hall of Fame used to be the only major institutional award to honor classic recordings, but the arrival in 2002 of the National Recording Registry, administered by the Library of Congress, means the Grammy Hall of Fame no longer has this field all to itself.
Though it’s not their stated purpose, the Grammy Hall of Fame serves as a second chance for the Grammys to honor recordings they may have missed when they were first released. Of this year’s 13 honorees, 11 were released since the inception of the Grammy Awards. Of those 11, only two — Santana’s Supernatural (1999) and Emmylou Harris’ Wrecking Ball (1995) — had won Grammys when they were eligible. Only one other — Luther Vandross’ Never Too Much (1981) — had even been nominated.
Inducted recordings are selected annually by a member committee, with final ratification by the academy’s national board of trustees. Counting these 13 new titles, the Grammy Hall of Fame has 1,165 inducted recordings. The full list of past inducted recordings can be found here.
The artists could have as much or as little involvement in the Grammy Hall of Fame Gala as they wanted. Harris performed two songs from Wrecking Ball. R&B veteran Eddie Floyd performed his 1966 hit “Knock on Wood.”
Carlos Santana, honored for Supernatural, and Yusuf, the former Cat Stevens, honored for his 1970 album Tea for the Tillerman, accepted their awards with remarks on video. Santana thanked Clive Davis, who signed the band to both Columbia Records and, 30 years later, Arista Records. Of the Arista deal, which kicked off with Supernatural, he thanked Davis “and his belief that we could rock the world. Together we created a masterpiece of joy.”
JAY-Z, who is tied with Ye (formerly Kanye West), for the most Grammy wins by a rapper (25), didn’t even send in a video to acknowledge his Hall of Fame induction for his 1996 album, Reasonable Doubt.
The event attempted to serve multiple agendas. At one point, the proceedings were interrupted by a fund-raising drive for the Grammy Museum. That’s a worthy endeavor, but it undermined the program’s momentum.
Anthony Mason of CBS News hosted the event, with production led by Ken Ehrlich, who produced or executive produced the Grammy telecast for 40 years. Ron Basile, Lindsay Saunders Carl and Lynne Sheridan were also on the production team. Grammy and Latin Grammy winner Cheche Alara served as music director.
Here are eight highlights of the second annual Grammy Hall of Fame Gala.
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John Mellencamp Honors Republic Records
John Mellencamp performed two of his biggest hits, “Small Town” and “Jack & Diane,” as well as his 2008 song “Longest Days,” which he said was inspired by a conversation with his grandmother.
Mellencamp noted, “You may think it’s odd that I’m going to present an award to record company presidents because I don’t imagine anyone has had worse relations with record company presidents than me. I shoved one once and I’ve cussed them out. I’ve hard a hard time with them.”
But he said Monte and Avery Lipman of Republic are different. “They’re in the music business — they like music, and they also like the business. But they like music first. … I usually don’t do these things, but I’ve never had a cross word with either of these guys.”
Mellencamp said that the Lipman brothers grew up with hippie parents, and led a nomadic lifestyle, which Monte Lipman confirmed when he accepted the award. “We did grow up in the back of a van. We didn’t have a TV — our only form of entertainment was the radio. We’d sing songs to each other, and grade and rate them.” He said those experiences were good training for their current positions.
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Jon Batiste Receives Inaugural Ray Charles Architect of Sound Award
Batiste performed two Charles classics, “Georgia on My Mind” and “Let the Good Times Roll.” To say that Ray Charles is a hard act to follow is an understatement, but Batiste acquitted himself well.
Batiste said that his first exposure to Charles was in a Pepsi commercial that aired when Batiste was 11. (This would have been about 1997.) Even in that context, he could hear Charles’ greatness.
Leslie Odom Jr. didn’t fare as well in paying tribute to Luther Vandross, whose 1981 debut album, Never Too Much, was also honored. Odom had Vandross’ smooth and silky sound, but not his power and passion.
Odom noted that he was six days old when Never Too Much was released, suggesting that he was a fan “from the cradle.”
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Emmylou Harris on How ‘Wrecking Ball’ Broke Her Career ‘Logjam’
Emmylou Harris, with producer Daniel Lanois and jazz drummer Brian Blade, played two songs from her 1995 album, Wrecking Ball. The album, which won a Grammy for best contemporary folk album, has been credited as creating a blueprint for the emerging Americana genre.
Harris explained that the album, her 18th studio collection, gave her a new lease on life. “I was at a point in my career [where] I had had a pretty good run. My record company [Elektra] said we don’t know what to do with you.”
She said that she felt her career was in a logjam, but had admired Daniel Lanois’ work with Bob Dylan, so she enlisted him to produce her next album. “I’m so grateful he took a wrecking ball to my logjam and gave me another 30 years of making music that I love.”
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‘Smooth’ Still Sizzles Without Santana or Rob Thomas
Longtime Santana band member Andy Vargas (on lead vocals), alongside percussionist Cindy Blackman Santana (Carlos’ wife) and guitar ace Orianthi performed Santana’s “Smooth.” The track, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 12 weeks and won Grammys for record and song of the year, as well as best pop collaboration with vocals, retains its propulsive power, even without the stars who introduced it being present in the room.
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Ledisi & Susanna Hoffs Perform Cover Versions of Inducted Recordings
Ledisi scored on a rousing rendition of Clara Ward’s 1951 gospel classic “How I Got Over,” as did Susanna Hoffs on a version of Cat Stevens’ “Wild World” from his 1970 album, Tea for the Tillerman. They began the latter spot by screening a TV clip of Stevens performing his song at the time. He proudly introduced the song by saying, “It’s called ‘Wild World’ and it’s a hit,” before segueing into Hoffs’ live version.
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Gloria Estefan Mentions Surprising Influences
Latin Grammy nominee Leslie Grace (one of the stars of the 2021 film adaptation of In the Heights) performed Miami Sound Machine’s 1985 breakthrough hit “Conga.” It basically came across as karaoke, and it was odd to have her perform the song when Gloria and Emilio Estefan were in the house. Grace ventured into the audience and got Gloria Estefan to sing a line or two from the song near the end.
Gloria made it to the stage and made it more personal by talking about how she started listening to records from a stereo cabinet when she was five. She said “Conga” draws from some of those diverse influences — harmonies from The Andrews Sisters and an exuberant yelp from James Brown.
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Artists Salute Artists Who Influenced Them
On video, Mike Mills, formerly of R.E.M., paid tribute to power pop progenitors Big Star, whose 1972 album, #1 Record, was inducted. “Big Star achieved something R.E.M. always tried to do — a sense of timelessness,” Mills said. The award was accepted by Jody Stephens, Big Star’s last surviving member. Stephens didn’t perform a song from #1 Record without his former bandmates, but he did back Floyd during his performance of “Knock on Wood.”
Rhiannon Giddens saluted Delta blues singer Geeshie Wiley, whose 1930 release “Last Kind Words Blues” was honored. Wiley died in 1950, longer ago than any of this year’s other honorees.
Linda Martell, whose 1969 cover version of The Winstons’ “Color Him Father” was honored, was saluted not by another artist, but by her granddaughter.
Jerry Douglas, who played dobro and guitar in J.D. Crowe & the New South, spoke on video. That progressive bluegrass band’s eponymous 1975 album was honored.
Fela Kuti & Africa 70, whose album Zombie was honored, was saluted with a video package which hailed it for the paving the way to Afrobeats.
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Vintage Clip of Petula Clark Singing ‘Downtown.’ Why? Why Not!
Early in the program, they announced that they would “revisit a few performances” from the 1965 Grammy “Best on Record” show — a forerunner to the live Grammy telecast (which began in 1971). As it turned out, they screened only one performance from that show — Petula Clark performing her classic “Downtown,” which won that year for best rock & roll recording. The smash, which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, isn’t rock & roll, but it remains one of the dynamic and exciting pop singles of its era. It was great to see it again, even though its presence here was unexpected. (The track was voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2003.) Woody Allen introduced Clark on the 60-year-old clip.