Eighth day of the year – and the first set of award nominations are out already. Yep, yesterday at a press conference in Madison Square Garden the contenders were confirmed for the main event in the US music calendar, the Grammys. Newcomer wise Ashanti, Norah Jones and Avril Lavigne are most hotly tipped for success – though Sheryl Crow, Eminem, Nelly and / or Bruce Springsteen will probably dominate the evening.
Unlike the Brit Awards – where non-British artists are only eligible for any award with ‘international’ in its title, anyone from around the world is eligible for any Grammy category. And, given the limited commercial success of British music in the US just now, we fair quite well – especially in the dance category where three of the five nominees are British - Daniel Bedingfield, Dirty Vegas and Groove Armada – and if you count Kylie as an honorary Brit we take four of the five nominations. Those Amercians might not like our rock music, but we’re in when they want to dance. Other Brits with nominations include Craig David, Elton John, Sting, Robbie Williams and Coldplay.
The awards, back in New York after four years in LA, take place on 23 Feb. There’s feckin hundreds of categories, so we’ve put the full nominations list at the bottom of the Daily.