Strong O.C. Pack in Hunt for Grammys

Orange County musicians--current, former and soon-to-be--brought the county its strongest showing in years in the Grammy Award nominations, announced Tuesday.

Anaheim’s No Doubt landed two more nominations, the most prestigious coming in the best song category. “Don’t Speak,” the break-up ballad written by siblings Eric and Gwen Stefani, will vie for the award with “How Do I Live” by Diane Warren, R. Kelly’s “I Believe I Can Fly,” Shawn Colvin and John Leventhal’s “Sunny Came Home” and Paula Cole’s “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?”

No Doubt’s other nomination is in the group vocal category, also for “Don’t Speak,” which pits the ska-pop band against such veteran rock heavyweights as Fleetwood Mac (“Silver Springs”) and the Rolling Stones (“Anybody Seen My Baby?”) as well as teen-pop idols Hanson (“MMMBop”) and British soul-pop band Jamiroquai (“Virtual Insanity”).

No Doubt was nominated last year for best new artist and rock album but won neither.

Huntington Beach metal band Korn also makes a repeat showing as a Grammy finalist, nominated for metal performance for the “No Place to Hide” track from its “Life Is Peachy” album. It’s the same category in which the group lost last year to Rage Against the Machine--whose singer, Zack de la Rocha, and bassist, Tim Bob, grew up in Orange County. Rage, which relocated to Los Angeles before finding commercial success in 1993, is back in Grammy competition for hard-rock performance with “People of the Sun,” a track from its 1996 “Evil Empire” album.

Santa Ana resident-turned-Nashville songwriter Bob Carlisle’s sentimental ballad “Butterfly Kisses,” which he wrote with Randy Thomas, is up for country song of the year.

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Big-band leader, composer and arranger Bill Holman, an Orange County native who now lives in Los Angeles, won Grammys in 1987 and 1996 for best instrumental arrangement and is nominated again in that category for “Straight, No Chaser.” He’s also nominated for large ensemble jazz performance for his album “Brilliant Corners,” a tribute to the work of Thelonious Monk.

The Pacific Symphony’s newly named composer-in-residence, Richard Danielpour, is nominated in the classical contemporary composition category for his Concerto for Orchestra, which the Pittsburgh Symphony recorded. He also figures into Yo-Yo Ma’s nomination for an album of three contemporary cello concertos, including one by Danielpour.

A Pacific Symphony spokeswoman said the orchestra will play Danielpour’s Concerto for Orchestra as well as one other of his works in its 1998-99 season, though dates haven’t been fixed.