LONGER WAIT FOR GRAMMY
REGGAE acts nominated in this year’s virtual staging of the Grammy Awards will have to wait two months longer to know their fate.
Initially scheduled for January 31, the date has been rescheduled to March 14, due to the skyrocketing number of COVID-19 deaths in Los Angeles, California. On Thursday, health authorities reported a record two-day total of 1,042 novel coronavirus deaths as many hospitals strain under unprecedented caseloads.
So far, the state has recorded close to 30,000 deaths, while 2.6 million people have tested positive for the virus.
“Nothing is more important than the health and safety of those in our music community and the hundreds of people who work tirelessly on producing the show,” read a statement from the Recording Academy, which stages the annual Grammy Awards.
Nominated for this year’s Best Reggae Album Grammy are: Buju Banton — Upside Down 2020; Skip Marley — Higher Place; Maxi Priest — It All Comes Back to Love; The Wailers — One World; and Toots and
The Maytals — Got to be Love.
Toots and The Maytals won the category in 2005 with True Love, while Buju Banton secured his lien on the trophy in 2011 with Before the Dawn.
According to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the new date clashes with the previously announced Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards. The actors union said it was “extremely disappointed” by the scheduling conflict.
“We announced the same date for the SAG Awards last July with the intent to give the greatest possible scheduling consideration for other awards shows,” it said in a statement, reported in the BBC. “We expect the same consideration from sister organisations throughout the industry.”
First held on May 4, 1959, the Grammy Awards recognises achievements in the music industry. Other previous winners in the Best Reggae Album category include Beenie Man — Art and Life (2001); Shaggy — Boombastic (1996) and 44/876 with Sting (2019); Sean Paul — Dutty Rock (2004); Bunny Wailer — Time Will Tell: A Tribute to Bob Marley (1991), Crucial! Classic Roots (1995), and Hall of Fame: A Tribute to Bob Marley’s 50th Anniversary (1997); and Koffee — Toast (2020).