Big expectations at Grammys 2005

In two days, artists will come together to celebrate music in annual awards show

By JENNA NIELSEN

If 2003 was the year of R&B diva Beyoncé and funk hip-hop group Outkast, 2004 was definitely the year of Usher and Kanye West. And an ideal way to cap the year off for both artists is winning Grammys. The 47th Annual Grammy Awards will take place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Sunday. The show will air on CBS.

West leads this year’s Grammy nominations with 10, followed by Usher and Alicia Keys with eight each.

It came as a surprise to some that West received more nominations than Usher, whose career-defining album “Confessions” sold over 7 million copies (more than three times as many as West’s “The College Dropout”) and made chart-topping history.

West deserves the Grammys, especially after he said he was “definitely robbed” at November’s American Music Awards, where he failed to win any of his three nominations.

West will vie for Best New Artist and Song of the Year for his hit “Jesus Walks.” He also picked up five nominations in the rap categories, including Best Rap Song and Best Rap Album.

One of the few key categories West didn’t make was Record of the Year.

Rounding out that category are The Black Eyed Peas’ “Let’s Get It Started,” Ray Charles and Norah Jones for “Here We Go Again,” Green Day’s “American Idiot,” Los Lonely Boys’ “Heaven” and Usher’s “Yeah.”

Nominees for Song of the Year are John Mayer for “Daughters,” Alicia Keys for “If I Ain’t Got You,” C. Smith and Kanye West for “Jesus Walks,” Tim Nichols and Craig Wiseman for Tim McGraw’s “Live Like You Were Dying” and Daniel Estrin and Douglas Robb for Hoobastank’s hit “The Reason.”

Ray Charles, who died of liver cancer last year at age 73, was also one of this year’s top Grammy contenders. He picked up seven nominations for his posthumously released album, “Genius Loves Company,” His nominations include Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.

Rounding out the top contenders is veteran rock group Green Day, with six nominations. They are up for big categories such as Rock Album of the Year for “American Idiot” and Best Rock Song for the title track.

New artists had a good year, too. In the Best New Artist category, West is up against Maroon 5, Los Lonely Boys, Joss Stone and breakout county star Gretchen Wilson. Wilson is up for four nominations overall including Best Country Album for “Here for the Party” and Best Country Song for the hit “Redneck Woman.” Joss Stone is up for three nominations including Best Pop Vocal Album for “Mind, Body & Soul.”

Queen Latifah will be the host and presenters include John Travolta, Mark McGrath, Ludacris and Gary Sinise.

Jennifer Lopez and husband Marc Anthony will perform a duet together on music’s biggest night. Other performances include Kanye West , U2, Green Day, Alicia Keys and Tim McGraw.