Where Are They Now? Looking Back at the Grammy Awards’ Best New Artist Winners

Awards season is in full swing, with the 57th annual Grammy Awards only weeks away. If we’re being real, the Awards are not particularly known for risk-taking choices these days, but the Best New Artist category is always an exception. It’s the category where all the juicy stuff goes down, historically marked by dramatic upsets (Maroon 5 beating Kanye in 2005, anyone?), arbitrary selections (was Evanescence really the biggest breakthrough act of 2004?), and the occasional scandal (two words: Milli Vanilli). This year, even the list of nominees—Iggy Azalea, Sam Smith, HAIM, Bastille, and Brandy Clark—has already stirred up controversy.

But perhaps we should be more worried about the artist who ends up winning Best New Artist than the artists who got snubbed. Since the category’s inception in 1960 (at the second-ever Grammy Awards), rumors have formed of an alleged Best New Artist curse on account of several of its winners, especially those in the ’70s and ’80s, fading out of prominence after receiving the award. Of course, some of its winners went on to be some of the most popular musicians of all time (you may have heard of the 1965 winners, a little band called the Beatles), but others became one-hit wonders.

In a 2002 VH1 appearance, Taffy Danoff, a member of 1977 winners Starland Vocal Band (the “Afternoon Delight” guys), called winning Best New Artist “the kiss of death” and said she felt bad for anyone who’s won it. One Boston College professor, Spencer Harrison, has been studying the alleged curse for years, trying to gauge if it’s legitimate or if achieving staying power in popular music is just plain difficult, curse or no curse. Either way, it’s fascinating to look back on the winners with the added context of the rest of their careers. Did most of the winners deserve the designation, or were they just a flash in the pan? We’ve compiled 15 of the most dramatic and unexpected Best New Artist winners from the last six decades: Where are they now?

Year: 1960

Other nominees: Edd Byrnes, Mark Murphy, Johnny Restivo, Mavis Rivers

The first-ever Grammy for Best New Artist went to baby-faced balladeer Bobby Darin. Born Walden Robert Cassotto, he ditched his job as a commercial jingle composer, changed his name, and signed to Atlantic Records under the guidance of the AhmetErtegun, Atlantic’s founder and president. His 1959 singles “Dream Lover” and “Mack the Knife” were massively popular; the latter won Darin a second Grammy, for Record of the Year. But as the ’60s progressed, Darin’s career took a turn from the sweet, lover-boy pop—he turned to politically conscious folk songs, rallying against war and child labor. He became politically active, joining Robert Kennedy’s Democratic presidential campaign. Darin had traveled to Los Angeles with Kennedy on June 4, 1968, the day the candidate was assassinated. The incident deeply affected Darin, who learned that same year that the woman he’d thought was his sister was, in fact, his mother, and that his grandparents had raised him. Darin began to seclude himself, and started a label for folk and protest music called Direction Records. He’d suffered from poor health all his life, after several bouts of rheumatic fever as a child, and died in 1973 after an unsuccessful open-heart surgery. He was only 37.

Year: 1964

Other nominees: Vikki Carr, John Gary, The J’s With Jamie, Trini Lopez

The Swingle Singers were a Paris-based, eight-piece vocal group who mostly performed a cappella; under the direction of jazz musician Ward Swingle, the group originated doing background vocals for French cabaret singers like Edith Piaf. They began singing Bach in practices, and ultimately recorded a full album of jazzy vocal covers of Bach’s greatest hits (1963’s Jazz Sébastien Bach), winning the group Best New Artist and the now-extinct award Best Performance by a Chorus at the 1964 Grammys. They remained successful in the following years, ultimately winning three more Grammys for their covers of Mozart, Handel, and other classical composers.

Still, the Swingle Singers may have had more longevity than anyone could have imagined. Case in point: They’re still in action! When the original French group disbanded in 1973, Ward Swingle recruited all new members in London, who became known as Swingle II. Over the years, the group’s remaining members have continually held auditions to replace any of the eight empty spots. Today, the Swingle Singers, as they stand, have covered artists ranging from Björk to the Beatles, and it’s a safe bet that they’re the only early Best New Artist winners with a Twitter.

Year: 1971

Other nominees: Elton John, Melba Moore, Anne Murray, the Partridge Family

All-American brother-sister duo the Carpenters signed to A&M Records in 1969, and though their debut album didn’t have much initial success, they exploded in popularity the following year with their singles “(They Long To Be) Close to You” and “We’ve Only Just Begun” (both renditions of previously existing songs). The songs nabbed them eight Grammy nods in 1971, and they took home two (Best New Artist and Best Contemporary Vocal Performance by a Group). The Carpenters dominated the rest of the ’70s; they had three No. 1 singles and five No. 2 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as a record-breaking 15 No. 1 hits on the Adult Contemporary chart.

The Carpenters weren’t always as adored by critics as they were by the recording industry; their super-soft, easy-listening style gave the duo a prissy, squeaky-clean image. But it wasn’t necessarily accurate: Richard Carpenter went to rehab for Quaalude addiction in 1979, and Karen Carpenter repeatedly refused treatment for her anorexia. Karen recorded a disco-influenced solo album with edgier themes than their usual work, but was crushed when it was vetoed by A&M (the album wasn’t released until 1996). She finally admitted herself into the hospital for treatment in 1982, but died of heart failure in 1983. The Carpenters had recorded 11 albums, 31 singles, and remain one of the best-selling artists of all time.

Year: 1976

Other nominees: Morris Albert, Amazing Rhythm Aces, Brecker Brothers, KC and the Sunshine Band

R&B singer-songwriter Natalie Cole was born into music: Her father was jazz legend Nat King Cole, and she grew up helping him with his recordings. He died when she was 15. Cole ultimately signed to Capitol Records (to whom her father was also signed). Her 1975 debut album, Inseparable, was an immediate success with its lead single “This Will Be” (you probably still hear it in movie soundtracks today), earning her Grammys for Best New Artist and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. The latter category had previously been dominated by Aretha Franklin—to whom she was often compared—and the two became rivals.

Cole was successful throughout the rest of the ’70s, releasing four more top-selling solo albums (plus a live album and a duet album with Peabo Bryson). But her eighth album, 1980’s Don’t Look Back, struck out, and her ongoing battle with drug addiction became increasingly public. Cole went to rehab in 1983, and after years of dormancy, she came back with a vengeance in 1987, returning to the top of the charts. In total, Cole has released a whopping 23 albums (and that’s not counting her live albums) and has won nine Grammys.

Year: 1977

Other nominees: Boston, Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band, the Brothers Johnson, Wild Cherry

All due respect to the four-piece folk-pop group (comprised of two husband-wife duos, Taffy and Bill Danoff and Margot Chapman and Jon Carroll, all of whom ultimately divorced), but Starland Vocal Band might go down as the biggest one-hit wonder to win Best New Artist. The Washington, D.C., band released their self-titled debut album in 1976, which featured the whimsical ode to getting it on in the daylight, “Afternoon Delight.” It became a No. 1 hit and earned the group two Grammys in 1977, Best New Artist and Best Arrangement for Voices. They were never able to follow up the song’s success over the course of their next four albums, and broke up in 1981. Appearing on VH1’s 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders (ouch) in 2002, Taffy Danoff called winning Best New Artist “the kiss of death.” Hey, at least the legacy of “Afternoon Delight” lives on, having been immortalized in Anchorman, Good Will Hunting, The Simpsons, and more.

Year: 1979

Other nominees: The Cars, Elvis Costello, Chris Rea, Toto

Swagged-out disco four-piece A Taste of Honey may not have been the biggest or most long-lasting of the 1979 Best New Artist nominees, but their first single, “Boogie Oogie Oogie” (off their self-titled debut album), became one of the most successful disco songs ever. The song was a huge crossover hit, selling two million copies and coasting for three weeks at the top of the Hot 100 chart in 1978, in addition to garnering the Grammy win. At the time, the group consisted of two women and two men: singer/bass player Janice-Marie Johnson and keyboardist Perry Kibble founded the group, and singer/guitarist Hazel Payne and drummer Donald Ray Johnson joined later.

The group wasn’t cursed to one-hit-wonder status by the Best New Artist award, but they did take a more feminist form. After a few unsuccessful singles, Janice-Marie Johnson and Hazel Payne turned the group into a duo and returned to the top of the Billboard charts, releasing their fourth and final album, Ladies of the Eighties, in 1982. Afterward, Johnson pursued a solo career and released a decently successful album called—wait for it—One Taste of Honey. Even if they didn’t have that much longevity, Johnson and Payne remain icons for their badass, female-fronted band. They reunited for the first time in 20 years to perform together (without the dudes) on a PBS disco retrospective in 2004.

Year: 1981

Other nominees: Irene Cara, Robbie Dupree, Amy Holland, the Pretenders

Christopher Cross, the super-smooth soft rocker from San Antonio, made waves with his self-titled debut album in 1979. The album was extremely successful, spawning four top-20 hits on the Hot 100, including yacht-rocky singles “Ride Like the Wind” (featuring Michael McDonald) and “Sailing.” Cross dominated the 1981 Grammys, controversially beating Pink Floyd’s The Wall for Album of the Year and making history as the first artist to sweep the four General Fields (Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Album of the Year, and Best New Artist).

To this day, Cross remains the only artist to win all four awards in one year, but it didn’t translate into real-world superstardom. Maybe it was the Best New Artist curse, but a more likely explanation is summed up in the Buggles’ prescient 1979 hit, “Video Killed the Radio Star.” Cross’ breakthrough coincided with the rise of MTV as a dominant musical platform, and the singer’s arguably uncool physical appearance held him back from popularity. That didn’t stop him from trying, though. Cross has released 14 albums over four decades. His most recent, Secret Ladder, came out last year.

Year: 1983

Other nominees: Asia, Jennifer Holliday, the Human League, Stray Cats

Americans might only remember Australian band Men at Work for their quirky, flute-heavy hit “Down Under,” but the new-wavey five-piece was huge in Australia for years before being awarded Best New Artist, and remains one of the most well-known Australian acts of all time. The Sydney group signed to Columbia Record’s Australian branch in 1981 and quickly blew up; singles “Who Can It Be Now?” and “Down Under” became Aussie chart fixtures, and crossed over to the charts of New Zealand, the U.K., Canada, and America the following year.

In 1983, Men at Work became the first Australian act to win the Best New Artist Grammy, as well as the first Australian artists to have a No. 1 single and album simultaneously on the Australian, U.S., U.K., and New Zealand charts. Their second album did well upon its 1983 release, but afterward, they petered out. Infighting broke out among the group’s members, and several members were replaced; they disbanded in 1986, reunited in 1996, and broke up again in 2002. In 2010, they lost a lawsuit that accused “Down Under” of appropriating “Kookaburra,” a classic Australian nursery rhyme. But they remain one of Australia’s biggest crossover successes, and “Down Under” is still a staple on Aussie radio.

Year: 1988

Other nominees: Breakfast Club, Cutting Crew, Terence Trent D’Arby, Swing Out Sister

Chicago-born jack-of-all-trades Jody Watley got her start dancing on Soul Train at age 14, becoming one of the show’s most popular dancers. Don Cornelius, Soul Train’s creator and host, recruited Watley for a disco trio he’d masterminded called Shalamar, which scored a string of U.K. hits between 1978 and 1982. But she felt a need to strike out on her own to flex her songwriting skills. Watley’s debut, self-titled album came out in 1987, full of what she called “really funky hard dance tracks” with soulful vocals in a Rolling Stone interview. The album landed five Hot 100 singles, including “Don’t You Want Me” and “Looking for a New Love,” and earned her the Best New Artist Grammy the following year, controversially beating super-cocky nominee Terence Trent D’Arby.

Watley definitely avoided the Best New Artist curse in the years to come. Her 1989 album, Larger Than Life, sold well, and birthed what’s known as the first R&B song with a rapped verse and bridge, “Friends,” which featured Eric B. & Rakim. Since her Soul Train days, she’d always been known as a fashion icon as well as a musician, and her influence in fashion grew; she modeled in Gap’s first celebrity ad campaign and was featured prominently in Vogue Italia’s historic 2008 issue with only black models. In the late ’90s and early ’00s, she released Japan- and Europe-only underground dance albums, dabbling in drum and bass and downtempo. With nine solo albums under her belt, she’s still experimenting to this day; in the past couple of years, she’s collaborated with indie dance duo French Horn Rebellion and released a disco throwback single, “Nightlife.”

Year: 1990

Other nominees: Neneh Cherry, Indigo Girls, Soul II Soul, Tone Loc

The 1990 Best New Artist category is the most infamous in Grammys history, because ultimately, there was no winner. The previous year, Munich new jack swing act Milli Vanilli (Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus) and their debut album, Girl You Know It’s True, had blown up on the U.S. charts. Months after the duo received the 1990 Best New Artist Grammy, Los Angeles Times journalist Chuck Philips revealed, in an in-depth expose, that the group hadn’t contributed any vocals on the album. Turns out, Morvan and Pilatus had served as pretty-boy pawns in a plan by the duo’s mastermind, German producer Frank Farian. “The last two years of our lives have been a total nightmare,” Pilatus told Philips. “We’ve had to lie to everybody.” Their Grammy was revoked for the first and only time in history, and the album became one of the largest-selling albums to be taken out of print.

But the group’s second album had already been recorded, and presumably scrambling—Farian released it using artwork depicting the real singers, billing them as “The Real Milli Vanilli.” Meanwhile, Morvan and Pilatus moved to L.A. and released an album called Rob & Fab, which only sold about 2,000 copies. Years later, they began organizing a reunion project (produced by none other than Farian), but Pilatus had picked up a drug addiction and served time for robberies. The night before their 1998 promotional tour, Pilatus was found dead in a Frankfurt hotel room.

Year: 1993

Other nominees: Billy Ray Cyrus, Sophie B. Hawkins, Kris Kross, Jon Secada

Alternative rap group Arrested Development was a critical darling in the early ’90s. The Atlanta eight-piece’s 1992 debut, 3 Years, 5 Months, and 2 Days in the Life of…, went quadruple platinum, and its Afrocentric, anti-gangsta themes had Rolling Stone calling them Band of the Year. The group nabbed two Grammys in 1993 (Best New Artist and Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group), making them the first hip-hop act to win Best New Artist. They’ve had a long career since, though not necessarily a successful one; despite breaking up between 1996 and 2000, they’ve released 10 albums, which have fared much better in Japan than in the U.S. And if something else comes to mind when you hear “Arrested Development,” well, the group picked up on that; the band sued Fox over the TV show of the same title in 2003 (the suit is referenced in a handful of Arrested Development episodes). They remained the only rappers to have won Best New Artist, that is, until Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ 2014 win—which should tell you everything about the Grammys’ understanding of hip-hop.

Year: 1999

Other nominees: Backstreet Boys, Andrea Bocelli, Dixie Chicks, Natalie Imbruglia

It was far from unexpected when rising neo-soul star Lauryn Hill, previously of the Fugees, scooped up the Best New Artist award in 1999. In fact, she picked up four other Grammys that night (including Best R&B Song, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, Best R&B Album, and Album of the Year) off the strength of her now-classic debut solo album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, setting the record for most Grammys won by a woman in one night. Pretty much from that moment on, Hill’s relationship with the music industry became contentious at best. Uncomfortable with the pressures of her newfound fame and turned off by the industry, she went into self-imposed exile. “I had to step away when I realized that for the sake of the machine, I was being way too compromised,” she told Essence in 2009. Her only other full-length release since was 2002’s divisive live MTV Unplugged No. 2.0 album, a pretty sharp departure from her older work, performed with only acoustic guitar.

In the meantime, Hill has become a mother of six, five of whom were with Rohan Marley, Bob Marley’s son. She has toured sporadically over the last decade, both with the Fugees and solo, occasionally performing unreleased new material, though she didn’t perform Miseducation in its entirety until her Rock the Bells appearance in 2010. In 2013, Hill pleaded guilty to tax evasion charges and served three months in minimum-security prison. Last fall, she dedicated a new song, “Black Rage,” to the people of Ferguson.

Year: 2004

Other nominees: 50 Cent, Fountains of Wayne, Heather Headley, Sean Paul

The word “evanescence” essentially means to gradually fade away. For those who lost track of Hot Topic poster group Evanescence, the Arkansas nu-metal band founded by Amy Lee and Ben Moody, shortly after their 2003 crossover hits “Bring Me to Life” and “My Immortal,” you could attempt to spin the name as a self-fulfilling prophecy aided by the Best New Artist curse. The group had been active for eight years by the time their debut full-length, Fallen, launched their careers skyward, ultimately being certified platinum seven times and spending over a year on the Billboard Top 50 charts. The group may have faded from mainstream attention since the 2004 Grammys, during which they won Best Hard Rock Performance as well as Best New Artist. But though some members have been replaced, Evanescence hasn’t fallen off at all, as much as a cursory scan of mainstream radio might lead you to believe. Both of the group’s subsequent albums debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, though they did split from their long-time record label, Wind-Up Records, in 2014, with Lee filing a lawsuit seeking $1.5 million in unpaid royalties. Lesson learned: Don’t underestimate the nu-metal community!

Year: 2008

Other nominees: Feist, Ledisi, Paramore, Taylor Swift

2008’s Best New Artist category featured a matchup of equally promising but otherwise totally opposite female singer-songwriters. Taylor Swift vs. Amy Winehouse felt like a rivalry ripped straight out of Swift’s song lyrics (of the “She wears short skirts, I wear T-shirts” variety). But ultimately, it was Winehouse’s award to win, and she did, along with Record of the Year for her sophomore album, Back to Black, Song of the Year for the irrepressible “Rehab,” and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, tying Lauryn Hill’s record for most Grammys won by a woman in one night.

Back to Black had been the best-selling album in the U.K. in 2007, and audiences worldwide had become captivated by her firebrand personality and old-soul vocals. But things quickly took a turn for the worse; her 2007-2008 tour was riddled with cancelations and trainwrecks, with Winehouse often too intoxicated to perform, and she was hospitalized for what was reported as an overdose of drugs and alcohol. She was frank about her history of manic depression and bulimia. Winehouse announced she would release her third album in 2011, embarking on another tour fraught with disastrous performances. She died in her sleep on July 23, 2011, due to fatal blood alcohol levels. Later that year, an album of unreleased material called Lioness: Hidden Treasures was released, becoming her highest-debuting album on U.K. and U.S. charts. Until Adele’s 21 (an artist for whom Winehouse paved the way), Back to Black was the best-selling album of the 2000s in the U.K.

Year: 2011

Other nominees: Drake, Florence and the Machine, Justin Bieber, Mumford and Sons

In recent years, social media—Twitter in particular—has warped the way we watch the Grammys, allowing instant reactions to controversial decisions. In no year was the social media response to the Grammys more visible than 2011, especially regarding the Best New Artist category. Drake and Justin Bieber, both peaking in popularity, seemed like shoe-ins. When the winner was announced, Twitter erupted in varyingly harsh takes on the question: “Wait, who is Esperanza Spalding?” A relatively unknown, Portland-based jazz singer and multi-instrumentalist had become the first jazz musician to win Best New Artist, and upset two of pop music’s biggest stars in the process. Bieber fans weren’t pleased, and summarily vandalized Spalding’s Wikipedia page en masse.

Spalding may have seemed to come out of nowhere, but at 27, she’d been playing the violin for over two decades and had become one of Berklee College of Music’s youngest ever professors at age 20. She sang in three languages (English, Spanish, and Portuguese) on Esperanza, her sophomore album that earned her the Best New Artist designation. She’s since won two more Grammys for her 2012 album, Radio Music Society, which aimed to make jazz palatable for mainstream radio, and considering that it became Spalding’s first Top 10 album, it succeeded.