The 45th annual Grammy Awards will be given out at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Sunday Feb. 23.
Presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, or simply known as the Recording Academy, the show is making its return to the East Coast after being held in Los Angeles for the past four years. Nominees were first announced Jan. 7.
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Nelly, Faith Hill, Norah Jones, Avril Lavigne, James Taylor, Yo-Yo Ma, Elvis Costello and No Doubt are all among the performers at this year’s show.
Coldplay’s performance will feature members of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and Nelly will team up with Kelly Rowland.
To perform in honor of The Clash’s Joe Strummer, who passed away in December at the age of 50, are Elvis Costello, No Doubt’s Tony Kanal, Bruce Springsteen and Steve Van Sandt. N’Sync will also pay their dues to the Bee Gees, who are the recipients of the Grammy Legend Award.
Teen newcomer Lavigne is one of the eight artists luckily enough to be up for five nominations, namely in the Song of the Year (for her hit “Complicated”) and Best New Artist categories.
Her competition in these categories is another new artist, Norah Jones. Jones, 23, has made a name for herself with her smash “Don’t Know Why,” a combination of jazz infused pop that was made possible with help from songwriter Jesse Harris.
Aside from the pop artists, country gals the Dixie Chicks will be waiting on four nominations Sunday night. Fresh from promoting a new album, “Home,” released last August, the Chicks are included in the Best Country Album category.
A special award given out Sunday will be the annual Lifetime Achievement Award, which highlights artists that have contributed the most to the recording industry throughout the years. This year’s recipients include Simon and Garfunkel, Etta James, Johnny Mathis, Glenn Miller, and Latin crooner Tito Puente.
The Grammy Awards are presented by the Recording Academy, which has been sponsoring this musical night out since 1957. The academy’s 18,000 members range in location around the country from Chicago to Nashville as well as right in New York.
To be eligible for a Grammy, Academy members and record companies enter recordings that they feel are worthy, and that initial group of nominees is whittled down to 104 various categories.
Music fans can catch the Grammy Awards live on Sunday, aired locally on CBS from 8 to 11:30 p.m.
