Clinton, Stewart Grab Grammy Gold

by Shannon Maughan, PW Daily for Booksellers -- Publishers Weekly, 2/15/2005

As usual, the annual Grammy Awards had lots of pop-culture flash and some terrific live music (U2, Usher and Mavis Staples among this writer's favorites), but audiobook publishers were just as thrilled about winners in the recording categories, which were announced earlier in the day at other ceremonies.

Two of the biggest books of 2004 also featured great audiobook performances, which the Recording Academy honored.

My Life by Bill Clinton (Random House Audio), which has sold more than 300,000 copies, was the top vote getter for Best Spoken Word Album Grammy. For the former president and his wife, the Grammys are likely beginning to have a been-there, done-that quality. Last year, he won a Grammy for his work on the children's recording Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf/Beintus: Wolf Tracks by Clinton, Mikhail Gorbachev and Sophia Loren, with Kent Nagano and the Russian National Orchestra (Penta Tone Music). In 1996, Hillary took a Grammy for her narration of her book It Takes a Village, published by Simon & Schuster Audio. And last year, she was a Grammy nominee--for Living History, also published by S&S Audio.

In the Best Comedy Album category, The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Presents . . . America: A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction by Jon Stewart and the Cast of the Daily Show (Time Warner Audiobooks) won the top prize.

In other awards of interest to booksellers, The Train They Call the City of New Orleans performed by Tom Chapin (Live Oak Media) scored the Best Spoken Word Album for Children Grammy, marking the third consecutive win for the pairing of Chapin and Live Oak in this category.

And for those who stock children's music, the Best Musical Album for Children Grammy went to cELLAbration! A Tribute to Ella Jenkins by Various Artists (Smithsonian Folkways Recordings). The win helps cement Jenkins's iconic status and marks another triumph for producers Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer, who took home a Grammy last year for their children's album Bon Appétit! (Rounder Kids).

This article originally appeared in the February 14, 2005 issue of PW Daily for Booksellers. For more information about PW Daily, including a sample and subscription information, click here »

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