Oye Como Va, Carlos?

By GEOFF BOUCHER

Jan. 5, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

The “Supernatural” career revival of Carlos Santana cast a spell over the 42nd annual Grammy nominations on Tuesday with the guitar rock hero and the band that shares his name combining for 10 nominations, including best album and record.

Santana and his group had previously combined for only five Grammy nominations in their storied 30-year career, but the 10 nominations Tuesday trail only Michael Jackson and Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds for most nods in a single year. Jackson and Edmonds racked up a dozen each in 1983 and 1994, respectively.

Santana’s Grammy success also ties into a major music industry theme of 1999: the success and recognition of Latin music and Latino artists. The Mexican-born, 52-year-old Santana--who said in 1998 that his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction made him feel like baseball’s Jackie Robinson--is poised to have the biggest Grammy success of any Latino artist ever, with the possibility of winning nine trophies (he was nominated twice in the pop collaboration category).

Other leaders among the nominees were the Atlanta hip-hop and R&B; trio TLC and classical conductor-composer Pierre Boulez with six each, and country-swing revival group Asleep at the Wheel with five.

Santana’s “Supernatural” and TLC’s “FanMail” led an especially eclectic field in the prestigious best album category, joining a teen pop juggernaut, a female country trio and a jazz vocalist-pianist--the Backstreet Boys for “Millennium,” the Dixie Chicks for “Fly” and Diana Krall for “When I Look in Your Eyes,” respectively.

The album nomination for Krall marked the first for a jazz artist in that category since Bobby McFerrin’s “Simple Pleasures” in 1988. In a rarity, none of this year’s nominees for best album have ever been nominated in the category before.

For Santana, the shower of Grammy attention caps a sparkling year. “Supernatural” has sold more than 4 million copies and hit No. 1 on the nation’s album charts on the power of “Smooth,” a pairing with Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20 that was one of the biggest radio hits of the year. The album tapped into a new, younger audience for Santana by teaming the band with other such contemporary stars as Dave Matthews, Everlast and Lauryn Hill, whose “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” won last year’s Grammy for best album.

“Things come when they come,” Santana said. “I always felt my reward was for Miles Davis to call my house, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Buddy Guy, B.B. King. When people like these call my house, those are my Grammys, my Oscars, my Emmys, my Tonys. I know I’m connected with some of the very, very important people on the planet.”

“We began together so this is, creatively, very exciting for us,” said Arista Records President-CEO Clive Davis, who signed Santana to the band’s first record deal in the late ‘60s on Columbia and recently brought him to Arista.

Indeed, Davis was a big winner as well Tuesday. Besides his own first Grammy nomination (for co-producing “Supernatural”), he saw another longtime signee, Whitney Houston, rack up four nominations, as well as Arista-affiliated TLC’s nominations. He also will be honored with a lifetime achievement award at the Grammy ceremony on Feb. 23 at Staples Center.

All this combines for a very public boost for the mogul, who is currently locked in a corporate battle for control of the label he founded.

Women dominated in the best new artist category, where teen pop singers Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears square off with R&B; vocalist Macy Gray, bluesy singer-songwriter Susan Tedeschi and the lone male nominee, bombastic rap-rocker Kid Rock.

The last nomination was the only acknowledgment of rap-rock in the four major categories. While the hybrid of hip-hop beats and the aggressive guitar crunch of hard rock was a major commercial force in 1999, groups such as Limp Bizkit and Korn had to settle for nominations in secondary categories such as best hard rock performance.

Likewise, hip-hop was noticeably absent from the top categories. Except for TLC’s stylish weave of hip-hop and R&B;, other leading offerings from the genre were shut out of the album, record and song categories.

In the field of song of the year--which recognizes songwriters, not the performers--the nominees represented some of the biggest hits of the year: Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way” by Andreas Carlsson and Max Martin; Ricky Martin’s “Livin’ La Vida Loca” by Desmond Child and Robi Rosa; “Smooth” by Itaal Shur and Rob Thomas; TLC’s “Unpretty” by Dallas Austin and Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins; and Shania Twain’s “You’ve Got a Way” by Robert John “Mutt” Lange and Twain. The nod for “Smooth” marked an 11th nomination for Santana’s music in 1999.

Three of those songs also popped up in the record of the year category, where the nominees are “I Want It That Way,” “Believe” by Cher, “Livin’ La Vida Loca,” “Smooth” and “No Scrubs” by TLC.

In the best dance recording category, three pop stalwarts--Cher, Donna Summer and Gloria Estefan--will contend with British turntable star Fatboy Slim and actress-singer Jennifer Lopez.

Commercial success was not the sole litmus in the category of best country album, where the best-selling Dixie Chicks will vie with Alison Krauss, Asleep at the Wheel, veteran George Jones and the all-star trio of Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt and Dolly Parton.

The eligibility period for the 42nd annual Grammy Awards was Oct. 1, 1998, through Sept. 30, 1999, and almost 500 nominations in 98 categories were announced. The more than 10,000 members of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences vote for the winners.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Record of the Year

* “I Want It That Way,” Backstreet Boys

* “Believe,” Cher

* “Livin’ La Vida Loca,” Ricky Martin

* “Smooth,” Santana featuring Rob Thomas

* “No Scrubs,” TLC

Best New Artist

* Christina Aguilera

* Macy Gray

* Kid Rock

* Britney Spears