2.22.2001 00:00
Not his night:
Gilman misses out on awards
Hope Valley's Billy Gilman,
a country music darling before his 12th birthday, was shut out of a win in both
Grammy categories in which he was nominated -- Best Male Country Vocal Performance
and Best Country Song.
Gilman lost the Best Male Country Vocal Performance to Johnny Cash, who won
for his cover of Neil Diamond's "Solitary Man." Mark D. Sanders and Tia Sellers
won Best Country Song, performed by Lee Ann Womack.
Gilman learned two hours before CBS's Grammy broadcast that he'd lost; awards
in the categories for which he was nominated were handed out before CBS's broadcast.
Gilman also didn't perform or present a Grammy. Nonetheless, Grammy night came
after a stunning eight-month run that saw One Voice , Billy's Sony Records
debut, sell more than 1.25 million albums. The disk debuted at No. 4 on Billboard's
Top Country Albums, climbed to No. 2 and helped Billy win an American Music
Award last month for Favorite New Country Artist.
"One Voice" is a melodious ballad in which Gilman rails against violence. The
song attracted a country audience, then crossed over to a teen pop crowd and
their moms.
Two other Rhode Islanders up for Grammy Awards in the pre-broadcast telecast
also lost: Superharps , by Exeter's Sugar Ray Norcia, lost in the Best
Traditional Blues category to B.B. King and Eric Clapton's Riding With The
King . Who Let The Dogs Out , the Baha Men hit, won the Best Dance
Recording category, beating out Pawtucket native Walter Turbitt, a producer
on Enrique Iglesias's Be With You.
-- Vaughn Watson
