WOMEN LEAD GRAMMY AWARD NOMINATIONS
| UNIVERSAL CITY, CALIF.
The young Canadian singer Alanis Morissette and pop diva Mariah Carey received six Grammy nominations each on Thursday and will face off for the album of the year award.
Morissette's acclaimed "Jagged Little Pill" was also nominated for best rock album. Her brutally raw song about a relationship gone bad, "You Oughta Know," will compete for song of the year, best rock song, and best female rocker performance.
The Ottawa, Ontario, native, who sings with an intensity reminiscent of Janis Joplin, was also nominated for best new artist.
Carey's song "Fantasy" was nominated for best female pop vocal performance. Her song, "Always Be My Baby," will compete for best female rhythm-and-blues vocal performance. And "One Sweet Day," a duet with Boyz II Men, was nominated for record of the year and best pop collaboration with vocals. Carey's album "Daydream" was nominated for album of the year and best pop album.
Rounding out the album-of-the-year category are Michael Jackson's "HIStory Past, Present and Future Book I," newcomer Joan Osborne's "Relish," and Pearl Jam's "Vitalogy."
Osborne got five nominations, including best female pop vocal performance for "One of Us" and best female rock vocal performance for "St. Teresa." Also with five nominations, singer-songwriter Babyface and songwriter Glenn Ballard, who co-wrote "You Oughta Know" and other songs on Morissette's album.
Others in the best new artist category were teen R&B singer Brandy, pop-rock band Hootie & the Blowfish, and country singer Shania Twain. Hootie & the Blowfish, whose debut album "Cracked Rear View" was 1995's biggest seller at 10 million copies, received only one other nomination - best pop performance by a duo or group with vocal.
The nominations were announced by the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences. Winners will be chosen by its 7,000 voting members, consisting of singers, musicians, conductors, producers, composers, engineers, and others. Winners in 88 categories will be announced in a CBS television broadcast from Los Angeles on Feb. 28.
