Just a few weeks after finally being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Cher could receive a Grammy nomination for best traditional pop vocal album for her first holiday album, Christmas. The nominations will be announced on Friday Nov. 8.
The worlds of rock and roll and traditional pop were once far apart, but those worlds been coming together in recent years as genre lines blur across the board. Six artists who are in the Rock Hall have won Grammys in this category – Joni Mitchell (for Both Sides Now), Rod Stewart (Stardust: The Great American Songbook, Volume III), Paul McCartney (Kisses on the Bottom), Willie Nelson (Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin and My Way, a tribute to Frank Sinatra), Elvis Costello (Look Now, with the Imposters) and James Taylor (American Standard).
Should Cher’s album win when the Grammy Awards are announced on Feb. 2, it would be the first holiday album ever to win in this category, though many have been nominated.
Cher has won just one Grammy over the course of her six-decade career – best dance recording for her 1999 megahit, “Believe.” Her nominations stretch back to 1965, when Sonny & Cher were nominated for best new artist.
Cher is vying for a nomination in the traditional pop category with Stephanie J. Block, who portrayed the icon in The Cher Show on Broadway in 2019, winning a Tony Award for best actress in a musical. Block is represented with her own Christmas album, Merry Christmas, Darling. (The title track is a cover version of the ballad made famous by the Carpenters in 1970.)
Several other Christmas albums are vying for nominations, including Brandy’s Christmas With Brandy, Johnny Mathis’ Christmas Time Is Here, Seth MacFarlane & Liz Gillies’ We Wish You the Merriest, Gregory Porter’s Christmas Wish and Jim Brickman’s Brickman Sings Christmas. Brandy has received 12 Grammy nominations over the years, winning for “The Boy Is Mine,” her Billboard Hot 100-topping collab with Monica. This would be her first nomination in this category.
Mathis is a four-time nominee in this category. He was nominated in 1991, the year the category was introduced. But Mathis’ history with the Grammys goes back much further than that. He received his first nomination in 1960, the third year of the Grammys, for his exquisite recording of “Misty.” Shockingly, Mathis, 89, has yet to win a Grammy in competition. He received a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy in 2003.
MacFarlane is a three-time nominee in this category. This is his second collab with Gillies.
Stewart is vying for a nomination with Swing Fever, a collab with Jools Holland. Stewart is a five-time nominee in this category, winning once.
Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends: A Celebration (Live at the Sondheim Theatre) is a strong contender. Last year, two of the nominees in this category were salutes to the legendary Broadway composer, who died in 2021 at age 91. Liz Callaway was nominated for To Steve With Love: Liz Callaway Celebrates Sondheim. A Various Artists collection, Sondheim Unplugged (The New York City Sessions), Vol. 3, was also nominated last year. “Old Friends,” which is part of the title of the new collection, is a highlight of Sondheim’s 1981 show Merrily We Roll Along, which won a Tony for best revival of a musical in June.
Another celebration of legendary Broadway composers is on the entry list — My Favorite Things: The Rodgers & Hammerstein 80th Anniversary Concert (Live from Theatre Royal Drury Lane/ 2023.
Broadway legend Patti LuPone is entered with A Life in Notes. LuPone has won Tonys for her performances in Evita, Gypsy and Company. Ben Platt, who won a Tony, Daytime Emmy and Grammy for Dear Evan Hansen and related projects, is entered with Honeymind. Nine-time Grammy winner Dave Cobb was one of the album’s producers.
Raye & the Heritage Orchestra are entered with My 21st Century Symphony (Live at Royal Albert Hall). Raye has a good chance to receive a best new artist nomination next week. She took home six Brit Awards in March.
Two albums by past Grammy winners for best new artist are vying for nominations — Norah Jones’ Visions and Paula Cole’s Lo. Jones has received two nods in this category.
Janis Siegel and Yaron Gershovsky are entered with The Colors of My Life. Siegel is a nine-time Grammy winner for her work with Manhattan Transfer. Straight No Chaser has two albums on the entry list – 90s Proof and Stocking Stuffer.
Other notable albums on the entry list of 78 albums include Crowded House’s Gravity Stairs, Toby Gad’s Piano Diaries – The Hits, Gaither Vocal Band’s Let Me Be There, Il Divo’s XX: 20th Anniversary Album, Joe Jackson’s Mr. Joe Jackson Presents Max Champion in ‘What a Racket!,’ Ingrid Michaelson’s For the Dreamers, Steven Pasquale with John Pizzarelli’s Some Other Time and The Sound of Rusic by the cast of Rupaul’s Drag Race.
Our Fearless Forecast
Brandy, Christmas With Brandy
Cher, Christmas
Ben Platt, Honeymind
Stephen Sondheim, Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends: A Celebration (Live at the Sondheim Theatre)
Rod Stewart & Jools Holland, Swing Fever
