The Grammys are on Sunday night and the music superstars are waiting to see if they are winning music’s highest honor. The Grammys don’t typically include any shockers. The most well known performers tend to get awarded and there aren’t any shockers.
But, sometimes there are surprising people that win awards. There is a one-hit wonder band that gets the trophy. There are politicians that hold Nobel Peace Prizes and Grammys. It is funny to see who does and does not hold those honors.
The Grammys currently 30 fields (General, Pop, Gospel, Classical, etc.) to vote in and 82 categories within those fields. With so many options to choose from, there are a wide variety of winners. Because of that, some of the winners are hidden in the fact that they don’t make award speeches or publically get their trophy. But publicized or not, these people are still winners.
Instead of discussing the people who were snubbed of awards, I am celebrating the people that received them. Here are ten people you may not know have a Grammy.
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10. Zach Braff
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Braff, who is well known for his role in Scrubs, won a Grammy award in 2005. In 2004, Braff made a directorial debut in Garden State. He not only starred and directed it, but he also created the soundtrack for it. He won the “Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media” Grammy. The soundtrack had tracks such as Coldplay’s “Don’t Panic” and Remy Zero’s “Fair.” Below is the trailer for Garden State. It features a few of the songs that are on the soundtrack.
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9. Patrick Stewart
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Patrick Stewart won “Best spoken Word Album for Children” in 1996. He was a contributor to the recording of Peter And The Wolf. Stewart is known, of course, for his roles as Dr. Xavier in X-Men and as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the Star Trek films.
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8. Barack Obama
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The current President of the United States, Barack Obama, won a Grammy in 2006. He won in the category “Best Spoken Word Album” for his audiobook Dreams From My Father. A small section of the audiobook is below.
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7. Orson Welles
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Legendary actor and Grammy winner? Yes. Welles won the “Best Spoken Word Album” Grammy in 1979, 1982 and 1992. He won for his audiobook versions of This is Orson Welles, Great American Documents and Donovan’s Brain.
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6. Betty White
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Ms. Golden Girl herself has won a Grammy. She won in 2012 in the category of Best Spoken Word Album. She did the narration for her biography If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won’t) and beat out Tina Fey and Val Kilmer for the award. If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won’t) is Betty’s sixth book.
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5. Elmo
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Elmo is basically the Meryl Streep of Grammys. Elmo has won three Grammys. He won them in 1999, 2000 and 2002. Elmo, who is a character on Sesame Street
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4. Bill Clinton
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The former president has won not one but two Grammys. He won “Best Spoken Word Album” for his reading of his book, My Life: The Audiobook, in 2005. He also won the Grammy for “Best Spoken Word Album for Children” for narrating Peter and the Wolf. He shared the Peter and the Wolf Grammy with Soviet Union Leader Mikhail Gorbachev and Sophia Loran.
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3. The Baha Men
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The boy band won a Grammy in 2000 for Best Dance Recording. If you are unfamiliar with the band, you may be familiar with their mega one-hit-wonder “Who Let the Dogs Out?” Since releasing “Who Let the Dogs Out?” the band has not had any other hits at all. They will go down in history for a band that made letting dogs out a thing.
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2. Joaquin Phoenix
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Before Scarlet Johansson’s voice was charming in Her, people fell for Joaquin Phoenix’s voice. He won a Grammy. After playing Johnny Cash in Walk the Line, Phoenix recorded the album covering the singer’s songs. He won the “Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media.” Not only did Phoenix win a Grammy for performing as Johnny Cash but his film also received Oscars. Listen to a sample of his work below.
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1. Shaggy
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This time, it was him.
In 1996, He won a “Best Reggae Album” Grammy for Boombastic. Boombastic was a commercial success. It was used in the films Barnyard, Mr. Bean’s Holiday, George of the Jungle and The Wild Thornberry’s Movie. The song was also remixed with Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get it On” and used in a national Levi’s campaign.