Paul Simon’s ‘Graceland’ Wins Album of the Year

Paul Simon’s critically acclaimed but controversial “Graceland” album was named Album of the Year Tuesday night in the 29th annual Grammy Awards ceremony at the Shrine Auditorium.

During a night when most of the key awards went to veteran artists past the age of 30, the victory made Simon the third performer ever to win the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences’ most-prized award three times.

Simon, 45, won best-album honors for “Bridge Over Troubled Water” in 1970 (with Art Garfunkel) and “Still Crazy After All These Years” in 1975. The other three-time winners are Frank Sinatra and Stevie Wonder.

Accepting the award for “Graceland,” Simon expressed his appreciation and admiration for the South African musicians who accompanied him on the album. “They live with other South African artists and their countrymen under one of the most oppressive regimes on Earth today and still they are able to produce music of great power, nuance and joy, and they have my respect for that,” Simon said.

Simon has been criticized in recent weeks for violating a United Nations cultural boycott by recording part of the album in South Africa, but he was subsequently cleared by the U.N.’s Special Committee on Apartheid.

Record of the Year

In the other major award during the nationally televised program, Steve Winwood’s seductive ballad, “Higher Love,” was named Record of the Year.

Winwood, a veteran British rocker who started his career in the mid-’60s with the Spencer Davis Group, was also honored for best pop vocal.

“It’s just wonderful,” Winwood, 38, said backstage as he held the prize aloft after winning the first of the two awards.

These were the first Grammy Awards for the singer, who was a member of the highly successful rock groups Traffic and Blind Faith before launching a solo career in the early ‘70s.

Winwood’s victory in the best-record category blocked a bid by “That’s What Friends Are For” to become the second charity-related record in a row to take the coveted Grammy. 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.

Grammys for ‘Friends’

However, “Friends,” which has raised more than $750,000 for AIDS research, did win Grammys for the song’s composers, Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager, and for the record’s vocalists, Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder.

Backstage, Bacharach said he believes that the most important aspect of the song is that it addresses the public conscience, which goes far beyond money.

“Every time that song is played, it calls attention to the problem,” he told reporters.

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

Other winners Tuesday included Barbra Streisand, who was saluted for best female pop vocal in connection with her “The Broadway Album.” It was the eighth Grammy of her career.

Tina Turner, another pop veteran, won her fifth Grammy in three years--this time in the female rock vocal competition. Robert Palmer was declared best in the male rock vocal field, while the British duo Eurythmics was named top rock duo.

Bruce Hornsby and the Range was declared the best new act.

James Brown and Anita Baker captured best rhythm-and-blues male and female vocal honors, while Prince and the Revolution were cited for best R&B; group vocal. Reba McEntire and Ronnie Milsap were honored as best female and male country singers, while the mother-and-daughter team of the Judds won their third straight country duo vocal Grammy.

Fourth Grammy for Davis

In the jazz competition, Wynton Marsalis won for the best group instrumental for the second straight year, while Miles Davis picked up the fourth Grammy of his career with a victory in the instrumental solo category.

“Follies in Concert” was declared the top Broadway cast album, while John Berry’s “Out of Africa” was judged the best instrumental composition. Video honors went to Dire Straits (short form) and Sting’s “Bring on the Night” (long form).

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