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Vince Gill Defends Grammys on Female Representation
Vince Gill
Vince Gill defended the Recording Academy over the criticism that female artists were underrepresented at this year’s Grammy Awards.
Gill said it is “impossible” to not leave someone off the list in a given year.
“I
look at it kind of trying to see the whole field, you know. And I think
the Grammys will go on and the country artists will feel slighted. Or
maybe the classical people will feel slighted,” Gill said. “It’s
impossible to pull something off like that and not leave a few people by
the wayside.”
The country star spoke before a benefit concert for the Country Music
Hall of Fame on Tuesday in New York where he shared the stage with
Emmylou Harris, Maren Morris, and Kesha.
Sitting with Harris and
Morris before the concert, the 21-time Grammy winner said all that
matters is that musical people are “conscious of what’s great at the end
of the day.”
“You’re looking at three really ope- minded musical
people. We don’t care about genres, of color of skin, or gender, or
anything. We just love playing music with great people and that’s all,”
he said.
Morris, who won her first Grammy last year, agreed, saying that the Grammys history backs it up.
“I
think the person that’s won the most Grammys is Alison Krauss so I
don’t know. I mean, there’s obviously some things that need to be looked
at, I think, and maybe it’s just voting members. Maybe we need to like
expand on that,” Morris said.
Krauss has won 27 Grammys, and
nominated 44 times. Krauss is actually tied for second place with Quincy
Jones for most Grammy wins. Hungarian conductor Georg Solti holds the
record with 31 wins.
Morris also cited another Grammy winner.
“I
was really proud of Alessia Cara that she won best new artist. I think
she really deserved that,” Morris said. “But I think there’s always
improvement that needs to be had.”
Harris admitted she was aware
of the problems facing women in the recording industry, from sexual
misconduct to unfair treatment, but doesn’t count herself among those
affected.
“I haven’t run into a lot of the problems that I know are out there.
But my path has been pretty unfettered with those kinds of things,”
Harris said.
The Recording Academy drew criticism for a variety of
issues, including not having album of the year nominee Lorde perform on
the live telecast last month. Also, of the awards shown on the
broadcast, only two winners were women -- Cara and Rihanna (for a
collaboration with Kendrick Lamar).
Recording Academy CEO Neil
Portnow intensified the situation, saying that women need to “step up”
when asked about the lack of female winners backstage. He later said he
misspoke.
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