Highs, lows of the Portnow years
When Neil Portnow was appointed to lead the Recording Academy in 2002, the organization was in crisis mode.
Its former chief, Michael Greene, resigned amid numerous controversies and allegations of sexual misconduct. Over the next decade and a half Portnow would work to restore respect to the institution and expand its mission, along the way transforming the Grammy from an award that was often an after-thought in the altrock ‘90s to one coveted by the industry’s top artists.
What follows is a look at the highs, the lows, the oddities and controversies over the past decade and a half of Portnow’s run.
2003
In one of his first interviews with The Times, Portnow says he has inherited many issues when taking on the job: “It was troubling to realize that so many people in our business have never set foot inside the Recording Academy — a building they bought and paid for with their own membership dues.”
2004
Janet Jackson, who had been scheduled to participate in a Grammy tribute to Luther Vandross, has her invitation revoked after the previous Sunday’s Super Bowl, when pop star Justin Timberlake pulled at her top to reveal one of her breasts. Jackson declined a CBS invitation to apologize during the awards broadcast, which would have allowed her to perform. Timberlake performed twice — but wasn’t asked to apologize.
OutKast won album of the year for its “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below,” becoming only the second hip-hop act to take the top prize.
2008
Herbie Hancock won album of the year for “River: The Joni Letters” over competition from West and Amy Winehouse. The latter, then 24, dominated the marquee categories, winning best new artist, song and record of the year. She performed “Rehab” and “You Know I’m No Good” via satellite from England where she had been in drug rehab.
2009
Chris Brown would serve five years’ probation after pleading guilty to a felony count of assault of Rihanna on the eve of the telecast. The stars’ absence from the ceremony sparked a dramatic last-minute change in the production, for which veteran soul singer Al Green came to the rescue.
Later that year, the 30,000square-foot $34-million Grammy Museum opens in downtown next to the Staples Center.
2010
In a pop-focused, female-centric year, Taylor Swift won album of the year and bested works from Beyoncé and Lady Gaga. Swift today is one of only two female solo artists, along with Adele, to win album of the year twice for solo recordings.
2011
vocal performance and best male pop vocal performance were now a thing of the past.
2012
Barely 24 hours before the Grammy telecast, Whitney Houston died in her room at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The academy and the telecast’s producers faced the difficult task of paying tasteful tribute to Houston without draping its annual showcase in gloom. “There is no way around this. We had a death in our family,” LL Cool J, the ceremony’s host, acknowledged in his opening monologue before leading the attendees in a prayer for “our sister Whitney.”
“I’m pretty much the head of the family and when disaster strikes you have to pull it together and make some decisions, creative decisions,” Portnow said.
Controversially, Brown was invited to perform on the Grammys only three years after he pleaded guilty to assaulting Rihanna. “I just believe people deserve a second chance,” the show’s executive producer, Ken Ehrlich, told CBS at the time.
2014
Kendrick Lamar is nominated for album of the year with his major-label debut, “good kid, m.A.A.d city.” He was snubbed and white rapper Macklemore won that year for rap album.
“You got robbed,” Macklemore wrote on Instagram. “I wanted you to win. You should have.”
2016
In a politically tinged show, racial issues were central to two of the telecast’s most powerful performances: the remote braodcast from the Richard Rodgers Theatre in New York, where the cast of the acclaimed hip-hop musical “Hamilton” delivered the opening number live, and Lamar’s powerhouse treatment of two songs from his nominated “To Pimp a Butterfly” album.
During his performance, Lamar made his entrance at the front of a line of dancers and singers, all outfitted in prison blues and shackled in chains on a set built like jail cells.
Chance the Rapper’s seven nominations, including for new artist, in part resulted from a rule change that opened the door for music not available in more traditional forms.
His debut album, “Coloring Book,” which was issued in May only as a music stream rather than as a physical CD, old-school mixtape or digital download, would not have been eligible for a Grammy in previous years.
“We never want to be in position where music that deserves to be in the mix is usurped by some technicality in the process, ”Portnow said.
2017
Adele sweeps album, record and song of the year — and calls for a rare televised do-over when she flubs her initial crack at singing George Michael’s “Fastlove.”
Accepting the album of the year award for “25,” her blockbuster set of personal, old-fashioned pop ballads, Adele said she couldn’t rightfully take the Grammy knowing that it came at the expense of “Lemonade,” Beyoncé’s album connecting one woman’s marital troubles to the wider cultural struggle faced by women of color.
“You are our light,” Adele told Beyoncé, who looked on with an expression of queenly gratitude.
2018
The industry had been roundly congratulated for providing some diversity among those in the running for pop’s most prestigious honor. Rappers Jay-Z and Kendrick Lamar led the field.
But even a casual look at the nominations revealed a woeful shortage of women up for the most coveted Grammys.
Portnow, in his post-show response to a question about the male-centric results, said the time had come for women to “step up.” That unleashed a firestorm of blowback on social media and elsewhere, with many calling for Portnow to step down. About four months later, the academy announced that he would do just that, but not until his current contract expires at the end of July of this year — almost 18 months after the remark.