Grammys 'In Memoriam': GWAR Singer & More Left Out, Jimmy Scott Widow 'Heartbroken' Over Snub
by Billboard Staff
Count Tangerine Dream's Edgar Froese, Stooges drummer Scott Asheton, Memphis guitarist Teenie Hodges and former Grateful Dead manager Rock Scully among the many music luminaries omitted from the Grammys' “in memoriam” segment Sunday.
The omissions that rattled fans the most on Twitter were Dave Brockie, a.k.a. Oderus Urungus, the lead singer from multiple-Grammy-nominated GWAR, and Survivor lead singer Jimi Jamison.
Another was jazz singer and Grammy nominee Little Jimmy Scott, who died June 12 at the age of 88. His widow, Jeanie, tells Billboard she’s “heartbroken and distraught” over the snub. “To say I was disappointed in the Grammy board is putting it mildly,” she says. “I was crushed for Jimmy, a man who was cheated in life by industry slicksters. … Now to be cheated in death still by not getting the recognition he earned. How could the Grammy’s forget him?”
The artists whose names appear on Grammy.com but did not make it on air included Grammy winner Joan Rivers; Grammy nominees Gerald Wilson, a trumpeter and bandleader, and Broadway actress-singer Elaine Stritch, bassist Tim Drummond, reggae singer John Holt, vocal ensemble leader Johnny Mann and folk singer Jean Redpath.
Grammys 2015: Joan Rivers Left Out of ‘In Memoriam’ Tribute
Musicians who made their careers in jazz were largely overlooked, chiefly Jackie Cain of Jackie & Roy, trumpeter Roy Campbell Jr., percussionist Milton Cardona, saxophonist Med Flory, guitarist Ronny Jordan, trumpeter/educator Charles Moore, drummer Idris Muhammad and trumpeter Kenny Wheeler.
Also not making the cut were blues singer Alberta Adams, clarinetist Acker Bilk, legendary L.A. blues singer Micky Champion, Cuban bandleader and bassist Juan Formell, guitarist Jeff Golub, singing cowboy Herb Jeffries and soul singer Wendy Rene.
The Recording Academy did post a list of music-related people who had died since the 2014 ceremony.
