Femi Kuti His Grammy Nominations Over The Years And Those He Lost To
Femi Kuti His Grammy Nominations Over The Years And Those He Lost To
Olufela Olufemi Anikulapo Kuti, better known as Femi Kuti, is a well-known Afrobeat musician in Nigeria and throughout Africa. Being the son of late Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti was a huge honor for the 59-year-old Nigerian, but it was his hard work, creativity, and consistency that earned him the title.
He is no stranger to the music scene, having begun his career with his father’s band before forming his own band (Positive Force) in 1986. Since then, Femi Kuti has demonstrated to his fans and the rest of the world that he takes his music seriously. Femi Kuti has earned his moniker through a number of albums, live albums, tours, collections, appearances, and compilations.
The number of awards he has received over the years, most notably his Grammy Award nominations, is one of the easiest ways to determine the man’s musical success.
Femi Kuti has received six Grammy nominations but has yet to win any. Today’s article will highlight the times he has been nominated for the prestigious award, as well as those who have won it before him.
Fight To Win – At the 45th Annual Grammy Awards, he was nominated for Best World Music Album.
This album, which contained 12 tracks, was released on October 16, 2001. Three of the songs on the album are collaborations, while the rest are solos.
Fight To Win was nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best World Music Album in 2003, alongside Salif Keita (Moffou), Angélique Kidjo (Black Ivory Soul), Anoushka Shankar (Live at Carnegie Hall), and Rubén Blades, who won for his work Mundo.
Mundo, the winner, is a 14-track album released in 2002.
Day By Day – At the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, he was nominated for Best Contemporary World Music Album.
This twelve-track album, released on October 27, 2008, features no collaborations.
Day By Day was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Contemporary World Music Album category in 2010, alongside Amadou & Mariam (Welcome To Mali), Oumou Sangare (Seya), Omar Sosa (Across the Divide: A Tale of Rhythm & Ancestry), and Bela Fleck, Throw Down Your Heart: Tales from the Acoustic Planet, Vol. 3 – Africa Sessions won.
Throw Down Your Heart: Tales from the Acoustic Planet, Vol. 3 – Africa Sessions, the winning album, was released in 2009.
Africa For Africa has been nominated for Best World Music Album at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards.
The fourteen-track album, released in 2010/2011 by Wrasse/Knitting Factory, was a creative body of work. It has no collaborations on it but has a couple of other people who worked on it alongside Femi Kuti.
Africa For Africa was nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best World Music Album in 2012, alongside AfroCubism (AfroCubism), Ladysmith Black Mambazo (Songs from a Zulu Farm), and the Tuareg-Berber band Tinariwen, who won for Tassili.
Tassili, the winner, is a twelve-track album that was released in 2011.
No Place For My Dream – Nominated for Best World Music Album at the 56th Annual Grammy
Femi Kuti’s studio album, Knitting Factory, was released on June 25th, 2013. The eleven-track album has no collaborations.
No Place For My Dream was nominated for a Grammy in the category of:
Best World Music Album in 2014, alongside Ravi Shankar (The Living Room Sessions Part 2), Gipsy Kings (Savor Flamenco), Ladysmith Black Mambazo (Live: Singing for Peace Around the World) Gipsy Kings (Savor Flamenco), and Ladysmith Black Mambazo (Live: Singing for Peace Around the World) are both classed as winners in that category.
Legacy+ – Nominated for Best World Music Album at the 64th Annual Grammy
Legacy+ is a 2021 double album by Femi Kuti and Made Kuti. The album is made up of Femi Kuti’s Stop the Hate and Made Kuti’s For(e)ward, released on the 5th of February 2021.
Legacy+ received a Grammy nomination in the category of Best World Music Album, alongside Rocky Dawuni (Voice of Bunbon (Vol. 1), Daniel Ho & Friends (East West Players Presents: Daniel Ho & Friends Live in Concert), Wizkid (Made in Lagos: Deluxe Edition), and Angélique Kidjo who won in that category for Mother Nature.
Pà Pá Pà has been nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Global Music Performance at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards.
Femi Kuti was nominated for a Grammy for Best Global Music Performance for Pà Pá Pà, alongside Angélique Kidjo and Burna Boy (Do Yourself), Yo-Yo Ma and Angélique Kidjo (Blewu), Wizkid featuring Tems (Essence), and Arooj Aftab, who won for Mohabbat.
Conclusion
Six times in total, the Afrobeat superstar has been nominated for a Grammy award. Six times he came close to winning it but did not.
While reacting to a funny tweet regarding his nominations at the Grammys, Femi Kuti noted that he was tired and he needed that joke to cool off.
“The joke made my day. Tonight is my fifth show in a row, I’m exhausted, and the joke killed me. I’m still laughing every time I look at it.”
All in all, we can all agree that he is a winner and will like to see him someday win the award.