South African Grammy Victors

by Sheldon Rocha Leal

The first-ever Grammy Award ceremony was hosted in 1959, when a sub-committee established by the Hollywood Walk of Fame, consisting of music industry executives, was tasked with establishing a list of possible music leaders who may be inducted onto the walk. The sub-committee soon came to the conclusion that the individuals they wanted to nominate, whilst having made major contributions to the music industry, were not necessarily eligible for induction. They, therefore, decided to break away from the Hollywood Walk of Fame and start their own organization (NARAS), which would be created, predominantly, to recognize the major contributors of the identified individuals.

South Africans are once again nominated at this year’s ceremony.

Since the first awards ceremony in 1959, the Grammy Award has become one of the most sought-after music accolades in the world. Any kid thinking of pursuing a career in the music industry aspires to possess a Grammy award, regardless of nationality, geographic location, or genre of music. The Grammy is awarded to music released in the USA, regardless of country of origin or genre, between the 1st of October of a particular year to the 30th of September the following year. People wanting to be considered for an award need to apply to NARAS (the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences), the agency tasked with running the awards. Awards are voted for by thousands of NARAS members, who are all musicians, music technicians, producers, or music industry leaders (managers or agents).

The Grammies grew out of a need identified by a sub-committee of musicians doing research for the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The awards are handed out in 84 fields, which include the General field, but do not include the Special Awards: Lifetime Achievement; Trustees Award; Technical Achievement; Legend Award; Grammy Hall Of Fame, or MusiCares Person of the Year (these awards are not limited to a time period or genre). The 84 fields encompass different genres (eg. R&B, Rock, Jazz, Pop, World Music, Classical, etc.) and categories (eg. Best R&B Song, Album, etc.), except the General Field which is not limited to a genre, meaning anyone from any genre can be nominated to win in this field. The General Field comprises what is known as the Big 4 Grammy Awards: Album of the Year; Record of the Year (awarded to a song’s performer and songwriter); Song of the Year (awarded exclusively to the songwriter of a song) and Best New Artist.

South Africans have a history with the Grammies that dates back to the early history of the awards

The Grammy Awards are a global phenomenon, which has touched many artists from various countries, including some of our homegrown talent, who have an association with the ceremony dating back to 1961 when Miriam Makeba was nominated for 3 awards. The field in which SA artists have mostly been successful is World Music, but we have won in more prestigious categories like Album and Record of the Year which forms part of the General Field, the most hotly contested field at the awards. In this article, I will be exploring some of South Africa’s wins at the Grammies over the years. So here we go…

Ladysmith Black Mambazo (5)

Ladysmith Black Mambazo is one of the most iconic South African bands of all time

Ladysmith Black Mambazo (LBM) are a national treasure in South Africa and have been leaders in their field for the past 59 years. The foundation of the band was based on a series of dreams Joseph Shabalala (the leader of LBM) had in 1964 in which he heard the melodies that would one day constitute the sound of the band. LBM attained international stardom after featuring on Paul Simon’s 2-time Grammy Award-winning album “Graceland” in 1986. The band has a 4-decade long history with the Grammy Awards, having been nominated 17 times and ultimately winning 5 statuettes:

• Best Traditional Folk Recording: “Shaka Zulu” (1987)
• Best Traditional World Music Album: “Raise Your Spirit Higher” (2004); “Illembe: Honoring Shaka Zulu” (2008)
• Best World Music World Album: “Live: Singing For Peace Around the World” (2013); “Shaka Zulu Revisited: 30th Anniversary Celebration” (2017)

LBM’s nominations were as follows:

• Best Traditional Folk Recording: “Journey” (1988); “Classic Tracks” (1990)
• Best Recording For Children: “How The Leopard Got His Spots” (1990)
• Best Traditional Folk Album: “Liph’ Iqinido” (1994); “Thuthukani Ngoxolo- Let’s Develop In Peace” (1996); “Live At The Royal Albert Hall” (2000)

There are the Grammies LBM won for “Shaka Zulu”

• Best Contemporary World Music Album: “No Boundaries” (2005); “Long Walk To Freedom” (2006)
• Best World Music Album: “Songs From A Zulu Farm” (2011); “Music From Inala” (2015); “Walking In The Footsteps Of Our Fathers” (2016)
• Best Children’s Album: “Songs Of Peace & Love For Kids & Parents Around The World” (2017)

Soweto Gospel Choir (3)

The Soweto Gospel Choir was nominated for another Grammy in 2019.

The Soweto Gospel Choir was formed by two choir directors (David Mulovhedzi and Beverly Bryer) at the turn of the millennium in the Soweto township, which is situated in Johannesburg, South Africa. The ensemble consists of more than 30 members and attained international recognition after performing at the first 46664 Concert for Nelson Mandela in 2003. At that point, the relatively unknown band shared the stage with The Eurythmics, The Corrs, LBM, Bono, Beyoncé, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, and Sir Bob Geldof. Since then the ensemble has been nominated for 6 Grammy Awards and won 3:

• Best Traditional World Music Album: “Blessed” (2006); “African Spirit” (2007).
• Best Classical Crossover Album: “Tin, Christopher: Calling All Dawns” (2010)

These are the remaining nominations:

• Best Contemporary World Music Album: “Live At The Nelson Mandela Theatre” (2008)
• Best Traditional World Music Album: “Grace” (2010)
• Best World Music Album: “Freedom” (2018)

Wouter Kellerman (2), Zakes Bantwini (1) and Nomcebo Zikode (1)

Wouter Kellerman, Nomcebo and Zakes Bantwini winning a Grammy at the 65th annual Grammy Awards in 2023.

Wouter Kellerman is a South African flautist, composer, and producer from Johannesburg, who specializes in World and Roots music. He, however, explores different genres in his music: Jazz, Classical, and South African ethnic and urban music. He has been active in the music industry since 1981 and has released 10 solo studio albums. His album “Winds of Samsara” (2014) was No1 on the Billboard New Age Chart and “Love Language” (2015) was No2. “Love Langauge” was also No 1 on the Billboard World Albums chart. He has been nominated for 4 Grammy awards in his career and won one:

• Best New Age Album: “Winds of Samsara” (2014)
• Best Global Music Performance: “Bayethe” with Zakes Bantwini and Nomcebo Zikode (2023)

His nominations include:

• Best Contemporary Instrumental Album: “Love Language” (2015)
• Best New Age Album: “Pangea” (2022)

Miriam Makeba (1)

Miriam Makeba became an international star while fighting apartheid.

Miriam Makeba was an iconic South African singer and civil rights leader, who brought the injustices of the Apartheid regime to the world stage in a United Nations address in 1963. She became an internationally renowned musician whilst in exile from South Africa in the USA after her citizenship was revoked by the SA government after the United Nations speech. Mama Afrika was nominated 9 times and won 1 Grammy Award in her lifetime. Her history with the ceremony dates back to 1961. At her first Grammy ceremony, she was nominated for 3 awards and finally won her only Grammy in 1965 for Best Folk Recording for her album “An Evening With Belafonte/Makeba”. Her other nominations include:

• Best New Artist (1960)
• Best Performance-Folk: “Miriam Makeba” (1960)
• Best Vocal Performance, Album, Female: “Miriam” (1960)
• Best Vocal Performance, Female: “The World Of Miriam Makeba” (1963)
• Best Folk Recording: “The World of Miriam Makeba” (1963); “The Voice of Africa” (1964); “Makeba Sings” (1965)
• Best World Music Album: “Homeland” (2000)

Lebo M (1)

Lebo M worked with the legendary Hans Zimmer to create music for “The Lion King”.

Lebo M (Morake) is an iconic South African producer, composer, musician and arranger. He was born and brought up in Soweto in Johannesburg during the apartheid era and was exiled in 1979. He moved to Los Angeles in the United States at this time and lived in the country for 20 years until the dissolution of the apartheid regime in the 1990s. He is most famous for working with the legendary composer Hans Zimmer on the music for the world-famous animated feature and franchise “The Lion King”, which has included various spin-offs: TV series, movies, rides, and Broadway Musical. He was only ever nominated for one Grammy award, which he won in 1994: Best Instrumental Arrangement With Accompanying Vocals: “Circle of Life”.

Tyla (1)

Tyla was born in Johannesburg in 2002, making her the youngest South African ever to win a Grammy Award. In 2023 she released a track titled “Water” which went viral and made her the first solo South African since Hugh Masekela in 1968 to enter the Billboard Hot 100. The song eventually peaked at No7 in the USA and No4 in the U.K. This achievement also makes Tyla the highest-peaking female African solo artist on the Billboard Hot 100, beating Miriam Makeba’s record set in 1968 when her song “Pata Pata” peaked at No12 in the USA. In 2022 NARAS decided to introduce a new award, “Best African Music Performance”, in recognition of the growing impact of African music on the world stage and to give this type of music greater reach. Tyla had stiff competition going into the 66th annual Grammy Awards and beat out more established acts like Burna Boy and Davido to become the first person to win in the latter mentioned category.

Robert “Mutt” Lange (5)

Robert “Mutt” Lange is a world-renowned and critically acclaimed producer.

Robert “Mutt” Lange is an internationally respected producer, musician, composer, and vocalist who was born in Zambia and brought up in South Africa by his German mom and South African dad. He immigrated to the UK in the 1970s, after completing his compulsory military service in South Africa. Today he lives mostly in Switzerland but travels extensively. He is famous for having produced and written songs for some of the world’s biggest stars including, Bryan Adams, Shania Twain, Céline Dion, AC/DC, Lady Gaga, and Maroon 5. Robert “Mutt” Lange has been nominated for 20 Grammies in his career, of which he has won 5, and has been nominated for three of the big four (Song, Album, and Record of the Year). The following are the 5 awards he has won:

• Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television: “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You” from “Robin Hood-Prince of Thieves” (1991)
• Best Country Album: “The Woman In Me” (1995)
• Best Country Song: “You’re Still The One” (1998); “Come On Over” (1999)
• Best Rock Album: “Drones” (2015)

Robert “Mutt” Lange won his last Grammy for the work he did on this Muse album.

His 15 remaining nominations include:

• Producer of the Year, Non-Classical (1981; 1984)
• Record of the Year: “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You” (1991); “You’re Still The One” (1998)
• Song of the Year: “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You” (1991); “You’ve Got A Way” (1999); “You’re Still The One” (1998)
• Best Rock Song: “Can’t Stop This Thing We’ve Started” (1991)
• Best Country Song: “Any Man of Mine” (1995)
• Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television: “Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman?” from “Don Juan DeMarco” (1995)
• Album of the Year: “Come On Over” (1998); “Millenium” (1999); “Born This Way” (2011)
• Best Country Album: “Come On Over” (1998)
• Best Country Song: “Forever and for Always” (2003)

Phil Ramone (17)

Phil Ramone studied at Juilliard and was considered to be a child prodigy.

Phil Ramone was an iconic music producer, engineer, songwriter, executive, and musician. He was born in South Africa and brought up in New York. Phil was a kingmaker who revived the careers of many a waning star, including Frank Sinatra, Rod Stewart, Tony Bennett, and Ray Charles. He also produced songs for some of the industry’s biggest names: Madonna, George Michael, Billy Joel, Bob Dylan, and Natalie Cole. His orchestral arrangements and musical production style are very distinctive and are what made him an international star in the production world. For his efforts he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and accumulated 39 Grammy nominations, of which he won 17 over a period of 6 decades, winning the prestigious “Album of the Year” category 3 times:

• Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical: “Getz/Gilberto” (1964)
• Trustees Award: Distinguished Engineering Award (1965)
• Best Score From an Original Cast Show Album: “Promises, Promises” (1969)
• Album of the Year: “Still Crazy After All These Years” (1975); “52nd Street” (1979); “Genius Loves Company” (2004)
• Record of the Year: “Just The Way You Are” (1978)
• Producer of the Year, Non-Classical (1980)
• Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Special: “Flashdance” (1983)
• Best Musical Show Album: “Passion” (1994)
• Trustees Award: National Trustees Award (2001)
• Best Surround Sound Album: “Genius Loves Company” (2004)
• Technical Grammy Award (2005)
• Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album: “Playin’ With My Friends-Bennett Sings The Blues” (2002); “The Art of Romance” (2005); “Duets: An American Classic” (2006); “Duets II” (2011)

Ray Charles’ “Genius Loves Company” produced by Phil Ramone is one of the most honoured albums in Grammy history having won 8 Grammies in 2005.

These are the remaining nominations:

• Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical: “Joe Williams and Thad Jones- Mel Lewis and The Jazz Orchestra” (1966); “Presenting Thad Jones- Mel Lewis and The Jazz Orchestra” (1966)
• Album of the Year: “There Goes Rhymin’ Simon” (1973)
• Best Score from the Original Cast Show Album: “Cyrano” (1973); “Pippin” (1973); “The Magic Show” (1974)
• Best Cast Show Album: “Chicago” (1975)
• Record of the Year: “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover” (1976); “Love Theme from A Star Is Born” (1977); “Maniac” (1983)

Work that Phil Ramone completed on Tony Bennett’s “Duets” album resulted in a Grammy Award.

• Producer of the Year, Non-Classical (1978; 1983)
• Album of the Year: “Glass Houses” (1980); “The Nylon Curtain” (1982); “An Innocent Man” (1983)
• Best Cast Show Album: “Little Shop Of Horrors” (1983)
• Best Musical Show Album: “A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum” (1996); “The Wild Party” (2000); “Seussical The Musical” (2001); “The Boy From Oz” (2004)
• Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media: “Beyond The Sea” (2005)
• Best Surround Sound Album: “An Evening With Dave Grusin” (2011)

Dave Matthews (2)

Dave Matthews and his band are considered one of the most successful touring acts of all time.

Dave Matthews was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1967. He has lived in various countries around the world, but his schooling was conducted in South Africa. At the age of 19, he immigrated to the USA, specifically New York, to avoid compulsory conscription in South Africa. He eventually relocated to Virginia and formed a band that would later be known as “The Dave Matthews Band” (DMB). DMB is today considered one of the most successful touring acts in music history having grossed over $700million in ticket sales. Individually or as part of DMB, Dave Matthews has won 2 Grammy awards off 16 Nominations:

• Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group: “So Much To Say” (1997)
• Best Male Rock Vocal Performance: “Gravedigger” (2004)

These are the remaining nominations:

• Best Music Video, Short Form: “What Would You Say” (1995)
• Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal: “What Would You Say” (1995)
• Best Rock Song: “Too Much” (1996); “Crash Into Me” (1997)
• Best Rock Album: “Crash” (1996); “Before These Crowded Streets” (1998); “Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King” (2009)

Dave Matthews and his band, The Dave Matthews Band.

• Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal: “Crash Into Me” (1997); “Crush” (1998); “The Space Between” (2001)
• Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals: “Love Of My Life” (1999)
• Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal: “Where Are You Going” (2002)
• Album of the Year: “Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King” (2009)
• Best Rock Instrumental Performance: “Kundalini Bonfire” (2010)

Eddie Kramer (3…sort of)

Eddie Kramer never won a Grammy in his own name, but his productions have won 3.

Eddie Kramer (real name Edwin) was born in Cape Town, South Africa in 1942 and immigrated to London, England in 1961, where he worked at various recording studios. He is most famous for having worked with the legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix, but over the years has also worked with multiple internationally recognized superstars: The Beatles, Carlos Santana, The Rolling Stones, KISS, and Led Zeppelin. Although he has never won a Grammy in his name, some of the albums and songs that he has engineered have won the prestigious award:

• Best Historical Album: “Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues: A Musical Journey” (2004)
• Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals: “The Game of Love” (2002) (Carlos Santana and Michelle Branch)
• Best Long Form Music Video: “Band of Gypsies” (1999) (Jimi Hendrix)

Trevor Rabin (1)

Trevor Rabin is known for the work he has done in various motion pictures and has been handsomely rewarded for his brilliance.

Trevor Rabin is a famous South African musician-producer, singer-songwriter, film music composer, and arranger, who immigrated to London in 1978, at the age of 24, and in 1984 relocated to Los Angeles, where he resides to this day. He is famous for having composed music for some iconic motion pictures, like “Coach Carter”, “Bad Boys II” and “Gone In 60 Seconds”. Trevor Rabin has been nominated for a total of 6 Grammy Awards and won 1 in 1984 in the category Best Rock Instrumental Performance for “Cinema”. His other nominations include:

• Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal: “Owner of a Lonely Heart” (1984); “90125” (1984); “Big Generator” (1987)
• Best Vocal Arrangement for Two or More Voices: “Leave It” (1984)
• Best Music Video, Long Form: “90125 Live” (1986)

Black Coffee (1)

Black Coffee won South Africa’s first Grammy Award in the category Best Electronic/Dance Album in 2022

Black Coffee, a well-known producer, recording artist, DJ, and musician, was born in Umlazi, Kwa-Zulu Natal on the 11th of March 1976. He studied Jazz at Technikon Natal, today known as the Durban University of Technology. He started his career as a backing vocalist for Madala Kunene in 1994 as the first democratically elected government took power in South Africa. He rose to prominence in the dance scene in the country after being selected as one of two participants to partake in the Red Bull Music Academy in 2004. He has released 9 studio albums and won various accolades including 8 SAMA and 2 Metro FM awards and a BET award in 2016. “Subconsciously” was released in 2021. It was nominated and won the 2022 Grammy Award (at the 64th annual ceremony) for Best Dance/Electronic Album (a category in which South Africa has previously never been nominated).

Doja Cat (1)

Doja Cat is a controversial entrant in this article as she wasn’t born in South Africa. Her father is South African, but we are claiming her nonetheless.

Doja Cat, real name Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini, is a bit of a controversial entrant in this article. Controversial because she is only half South African, her mother is a Jewish-American designer (Deborah Sawyer) and her father is a well-known South African actor, Dumisani Dlamini, who rose to fame after appearing in the critically acclaimed motion picture and Broadway musical “Sarafina!”. She was, however, born and raised in Los Angeles and is, therefore, only of South African descendency. Doja is an internet star, she was discovered online after producer Yeti Beats discovered her music on SoundCloud. This resulted in a recording contract with RCA Records which has to date spawned 4 studio albums: “Amala” (2018); “Hot Pink” (2019), “Planet Her” (2021), and “Scarlet” (2023). She has been nominated for 19 Grammy Awards and has won 1 for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for “Kiss Me More” with Sza. Her nominations include:

• Record of the Year: “Say So” (2021); “Kiss Me More” (2022)
• Best New Artist (2021)
• Best Solo Performance: “Say So” (2021)
• Album of the Year: “Montero” (2022); “Planet Her” (2022)
• Song of the Year: “Kiss Me More” (2022)
• Best Pop Vocal Album: “Planet Her” (2022)
• Best Melodic Rap Performance: “Need To Know” (2022)
• Best Rap Song: “Best Friend” (2022)
• Record of the Year: “Woman” (2023)
• Best Pop Solo Performance: “Woman” (2023)
• Best Music Video: “Woman” (2023)
• Best Pop Duo/Group Performance: “I Like You (A Happier Song)” (with Post Malone) (2023)
• Best Rap Performance: “Vegas” (2023)
• Best Pop Solo Performance: “Paint The Town Red”
• Best Melodic Rap Performance: “Attention”
• Best Rap Song: “Attention”

These nominations mean that Doja Cat is the only South African artist (or descended South African) to be nominated in all 4 of the Big 4 in the General Field (Album, Song, Record of the Year, and Best New Artist).

All these artists have been nominated for Grammy Awards: Johnny Clegg, Hugh Masekela, Brenton Brown, Kevin Shirley, and Neville Diedericks.

Other than the above-mentioned winners, various other South Africans have also been nominated for Grammies, but have never won, most notably, Hugh Masekela (3 Nominations, first one in 1968), Jonathan Butler (2 Nominations 1987), Johnny Clegg and Savuka (1 Nomination in 1997), Brenton Brown (1 Nomination in 2016), Neville Diedericks (1 Nomination in 2016), Musa Keys (1 Nomination in 2024) and Kevin Shirley (1 Nomination in 1993). In 2020 Trevor Noah was nominated in a category in which no other South African has ever been nominated “Best Comedy Album” for his album “Trevor Noah: Son of Patricia”. He has now been nominated twice in this category, being nominated once more in 2024 for “Trevor Noah: I Wish You Would”.

All in all, I discovered that South African artists have had a long history with the Grammy Awards, dating back to its earliest days, they have been nominated for over 156 awards and have, cumulatively, won 45 Grammies in a wide spectrum of fields and categories including the prestigious General Field. This goes to show that one’s success is only ever limited by one’s own imagination. Anything is possible as long as one is willing to put in the time, hard work and effort to ensure that the foundations are laid to achieve ultimate success.