New York, NY (Top40 Charts) At the 64th annual GRAMMY Awards ceremony,
Verve Label Group, its affiliate partners and their roster of artists walked away with several wins across a variety of categories. Grammy winners include the genre-busting Jon Batiste, who took home five awards Including Album Of The Year for WE ARE (Verve Records), Best
Music Video for "FREEDOM," Best American
Roots Song for "CRY," and Best American
Roots Performance for "CRY;" first time GRAMMY nominee Arooj Aftab nabs her first award for Best Global
Music Performance for "Mohabbat" (Verve Records); the inimitable songstress Angélique Kidjo takes home Best Global
Music Album for Mother Nature (Decca Records France); renown conductor Gustavo Dudamel wins Best Choral Performance for Mahler: Symphony No. 8, "Symphony Of A Thousand" (Deutsche Grammophon) and conductor extraordinaire Yannick Nézet Séguin wins his first Grammy for Best Orchestral Performance for Florence Price: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3 (Deutsche Grammophon).
Tonight, celebrated musician and composer
Jon Batiste capped off an incredible day by electrifying the MGM Grand with a captivating performance of his hit single "FREEDOM" and then garnering the much-coveted Album of the Year Award for his latest studio album, WE ARE. In total the gifted musician won five awards including Best
Music Video ("FREEDOM"), Best American
Roots Song ("CRY"), Best American
Roots Performance ("CRY"), and Best Score
Soundtrack for Visual Media (Soul). WE ARE represents a body of work characterized by consciousness, rooted in catharsis, and grounded in optimism. The captivating album is a true love letter to Batiste's southern roots and the heritage of
Black music.
Garnering their first ever GRAMMY® wins are recent signee Arooj Aftab for Best Global
Music Performance for the intensely emotional "Mohabbat" from her album Vulture
Prince (who also makes history by being the first ever Pakistani woman to win a GRAMMY®), and Yannick Nézet Séguin with the Philadelphia Orchestra for Best Orchestral Performance for Florence Price: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3.
Additionally, four-time GRAMMY® winner Angélique Kidjo garnered a win for Best Global
Music Album for her Pan-African collaborative effort Mother Nature, and conductor Gustavo Dudamel along with the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Pacific Chorale, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic takes home the award for Best Choral Performance for his thrilling rendition of Mahler: Symphony No. 8, "Symphony of a Thousand."
Dickon Stainer, President and CEO of Global Classics and Jazz and
Verve Label Group says, "This was an incredible night for
Verve Label Group, and for our amazing artists and label partners worldwide. And most of all for
Jon Batiste whose Album of the Year Grammy is a landmark achievement for this year's most nominated artist."
On "Music's Biggest Night"
Jon Batiste Is The Big Winner With 5 Grammy Wins Including:
Album Of The Year (WE ARE)
Best
Music Video ("FREEDOM")
Best American
Roots Song ("CRY")
Best American
Roots Performance ("CRY")
Arooj Aftab Wins Her First Ever Grammy For Best Global
Music Performance ("Mohabbat")
Angelique Kidjo Scores For Best Global
Music Album (Mother Nature)
Gustavo Dudamel Wins Best Choral Performance
(Mahler: Symphony No. 8, "Symphony Of A Thousand")
Yannick Nézet Séguin Takes Home Best Orchestral Performance
(Florence Price: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3)
The
Verve Label Group (VLG), a division of Universal
Music Group, comprises some of the greatest label imprints in jazz, classical, and beyond including Decca Records US, Decca Classics, Deutsche Grammophon, Impulse! Records,
Verve Records, and
Verve Forecast, among others. VLG's current roster includes Kurt Vile, Max Richter, Jon Batiste, Diana Krall, Ólafur Arnalds, Ludovico Einaudi, Tank and the Bangas, Lang Lang, Ondara, S.G. Goodman,
Blake Mills, Shabaka Hutchings, Madison Cunningham and many more.