‘Friends’ Effort Wins a Grammy for Vocal Group

Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder were honored Tuesday for the year’s best vocal group performance for their collaboration on “That’s What Friends Are For” during the early portion of the 29th annual Grammy Awards ceremony at the Shrine Auditorium.

That got “Friends,” which was recorded to raise money for AIDS research, off to a promising start in its bid to become the second charity-related recording in a row to win a Grammy for best record of the year.

“That’s What Friends Are For,” written and produced by Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager, has raised more than $750,000. Last year’s best-record Grammy went to “We Are the World,” part of the U.S.A. for Africa campaign that generated $52 million for famine relief in Africa.

The only other charity-connected record ever to win a top Grammy was George Harrison’s “Concert for Bangladesh,” which was named best album in 1972.

Prince and the Revolution (R&B; group vocal), Wynton Marsalis (jazz group instrumental), Miles Davis (jazz solo instrumental), Tina Turner (female rock vocal), the Judds (country vocal by duo), Dire Straits (short-form video) and Bill Cosby (comedy) were among the other winners in 54 categories announced during the pre-telecast activities.

The 14 main awards--including record of the year--were scheduled to be announced later, during the formal segment of the program televised nationally by CBS.

Paul Simon Albums

Sharing the spotlight with “Friends” was Paul Simon’s bid to join Frank Sinatra and Stevie Wonder as the only artists ever to win three best album awards. Simon, whose previous Grammys were for “Bridge Over Troubled Water” in 1970 and “Still Crazy After All These Years” in 1975, was nominated this year for “Graceland,” the acclaimed but controversial album recorded in part with black musicians in South Africa.

Two of Simon’s competitors for best album--Barbra Streisand and Steve Winwood, a veteran British rocker--were awarded Grammys for best female and male vocals.

The Grammys, the record industry’s version of the motion picture industry’s Oscars, are determined by a vote of the 6,000 members of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

Other winners in the pre-telecast segment included the British rock duo Eurythmics (rock group vocal), the team of British art-rockers The Art of Noise and veteran American rock guitarist Duane Eddy (rock instrumental), and the Yellowjackets (R&B; instrumental).

Jazz Fusion

In jazz categories, Bob James and David Sanborn were honored for best jazz fusion performance, while Dianne Schuur was cited for female vocal. The Tonight Show Band with Doc Severinsen won in the big-band performance competition.

Reba McEntire was named best female country singer, while Ricky Skaggs was declared top country instrumentalist. Philip Bailey captured the male gospel vocal award, while Sandi Patti and Deniece Williams shared best gospel duo vocal honors. Williams was also honored for top female soul/gospel vocal. Al Green finished first in the male soul/gospel vocal category.

Jose Feliciano was judged the best Latin pop performance, while Ruben Blades was named best tropical Latin performance and Flaco Jimenez was declared best Mexican-American performance.

Albert Collins, Robert Cray and Johnny Copeland were saluted for best traditional blues recording, while Doc Watson won in the traditional folk category. “Tribute to Steve Goodman” was cited as the top contemporary folk recording.

Steel Pulse won the reggae award, while “Follies in Concert” was named best cast show album. John Berry captured best instrumental composition, while “Atlantic Rhythm and Blues, 1947-1974” was judged best historical LP.

Other stories in Calendar