Harry Connick, Jr. won his first Grammy in 1990, and over 30 years later he says it’s still “a really big deal.”
“I’m not really thinking about Grammys when I’m recording, but when Grammy time comes around, I think we all think about that and what an incredible thrill and honor it is,” Connick, whose True Love: A Celebration of Cole Porter is up for best traditional vocal album, tells Billboard’s Pop Shop Podcast. “So I pinch myself. It’s a really big deal.”
The New Orleans crooner won his first Grammy in 1990 for the When Harry Met Sally soundtrack, and followed that up with one for best jazz vocal performance, male for his We Are in Love the following year. But despite the strong start, and 13 more nominations, he’s only managed one more win, that one coming in 2002.
“So you received two Grammys early on and then it was, like, a 30-year drought,” he jokes. “It reminds me of [when] Beyoncé released an album a couple years ago and she didn’t tell anybody about it or nobody knew about it, and they said, ‘Beyoncé released an album that nobody knew about!’ I said, ‘I’ve been releasing albums that nobody knows about for years!"”
While winning a Grammy remains an honor for Harry, he says attending the ceremony felt a little different back in 1990.
“You have to understand, that was before cell phones, social media. I mean, there were like three or four ways to get your music out there: TV, radio, billboards and print, he explains.
“Now, you see everything behind the scenes, and everything is so immediate and maybe more casual, but then, it was like the biggest night in the world. So it just felt a little bit different, I remember that.”
By George Costantino
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