That is a riot!

So, a friend of mine and I were discussing, as the lead singer of Men at Work called it, "The Best New Artist/Kiss of Death Award" and I decided to see how many people who won the award actually deserved it. I found it fascinating.

This Wiki Entry tells you the nominees and the winners.

I hope y'all find it as fascinating as I did.

GE, verrry interesting. Looking at the list I would say the winners have a very high rate of going on to be big stars, not even just working performers.

The ones I found interesting, based on what actually happened with their careers (in other words, the people who won and you never heard from them again, winning over someone/a group that had a long career and/or became a legend:

1970's:

A Taste of Honey over Elvis Costello
Debby Boone over Foreigner
STARLAND VOCAL BAND (they sang "Afternoon Delight") over Boston

These are just interesting in that both had long careers, but the loser surpassed the winner:

Bette Midler over Barry White
America over The Eagles
The Carpenters over ELTON JOHN

1980's

Rickie Lee Jones over Dire Straits
Christopher Cross over THE PRETENDERS!!!
Sheena Easton over Luther Vandross (!)

1990's
What the HELL was "Andrea Bocelli" doing in a category with Lauryn Hill???

Some interesting stuff! Hey, I loved Sheena Easton! I used to go see her in concert with my first hubby She had an amazing voice and put on a great show!

Anyone beating out Elton is just wrong

(but Karen did have a gorgeous voice!)

Oh, I adored Sheena too, but C'MON.

The Carpenter's "Superstar" is one of the most beautiful haunting songs ever. I think Karen was an amazing talent. I just think it's bizarre looking at all this stuff in retrospect.

I know. I wonder where the heck she is now?

You mean Sheena, not Karen, right?

Elton John was around for a long time before he found his voice and manner of presenting himself. He performed many times at the rock joint I worked at in college, and he wore denim overalls and a t-shirt, was very low key, and had none of the fabulous flamboyance he later showed. People liked him (that is why he was there several times) but there really wasn't a hint that he would later become the kind of showman he became, so I can understand that.

I love it that he eventually did find his way, but I do not think it is stupid that his future self was not recognized from his earlier self.

And Bette Midler was extremely important as a woman who had sass and brass for us baby boomers at the time. I mean, really, she was the coolest thing my friends and I dad ever encountered in a female performer for her first few albums!

You can find out about Sheena here.

Oh, don't get me wrong. I think Bette Midler is amazing and an awesome performer (I've seen her live and it's really a show. Even if you don't like her, you can't help but like her). I just mean that in terms of a singing career, that really wasn't her bread and butter. Movies and performing on-stage is.

As for Elton, again I guess what I mean is that when they were a "new artist" they may not have been at the top of their game when they came up for their grammy, but later wound up FAR surpassing the person who won.

I just think it's funny to look back in retrospect and see two promising artists, one person/group won the grammy, the other didn't and sometimes the person/group who won just disappears like five minutes after they won the grammy and the "loser" winds up having a huge career and becoming a legend.

This sort of thing has always been fascinating to me. You know, like when you have a decision to make, it would be great to see into the future what would happen as a result. I guess that's why I love the movies "Sliding Doors" and "Back to the Future" so much.

Thanks GE! I guess she ended up recording some standards and oldies.

But I am tellin ya, for a few years Bette really was the hottest thing on records, radio, tv, newspapers, really, really, hot. Everybody around my age can sing songs from her first two hit albums, just as much as they can sing Beatle songs.

Just saying that it did make sense at the time to vote her the super big star nobody had ever heard of before because, briefly, she WAS a super big star. No longevity as a recording star, but blazing hot while it lasted.

Actually, her career was kind of similar to Cyndi Lauper's, later. SMASH hit with the first album, big success with the second, and then thy wandered off into other things.

Oh, I loved Cyndi!! I went to see her in concert too! She was so talented and funny! We had a blast at her concert. At the time I was sure she was the one who was going to be bigger than Madonna. They came out about the same time. Boy, I was sure wrong about that one!

Me too. I was asked, at the time, to develop a script, as a writer for whichever one of them (Cindi and Madonnna) I thought would be the big star. I chose Cindi. Wrong choice.

But I would still much rather do something for Cindi.