daniel chigunwe
South Africa’s Trevor Noah will make history next week as he becomes the first comedian to host the Grammy Awards five times.
Noah first hosted the awards in 2021 and will return for the 67th Grammys, which will be held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles (LA) on 2 February.
Other people to have hosted the awards these many times are musicians; rap artist LL Cool J(five), singer-songwriter John Denver(six) and singer Andy Williams(seven).
Added to his hosting responsibilities, Noah will also wear the hat of a producer at this year’s edition of the awards.
For the fifth consecutive year, the awards are produced by the British company Fulwell 73 Productions, with Ben Winston, Raj Kapoor, and Jesse Collins serving as executive producers.
The 67th Grammys will be held in LA, just as the city recovers from the devastating wildfires that took lives, pulverised homes and left many hopeless in the new year.
This could be seen as another ‘No DNA, just RSA’ moment for the South African to be at the helm of the world’s most prestigious music awards, after LA and the US just had significant events — the fires, and the inauguration of Donald Trump.
Noah, who is also a nominee at this year’s awards, also hosted the 2021 and 2022 Grammys, which were postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The former Daily Show host is nominated for best comedy album for ‘Where Was I’.
He is up against stiff competition with Dave Chappelle’s ‘The Dreamer’, ‘Someday You’ll Die’ by Nikki Glaser and ‘The Prisoner’ by Jim Gaffigan.
The Grammys remain the only peer-recognised accolade in the music industry, with voting conducted by the Recording Academy’s membership of music professionals.
South Africans who have membership include Grammy winner Wouter Kellerman, flutist Khanyisile Mthetwa and Breindy Klawansky.
Recording Academy membership is reserved for those whose excellent professional accomplishments are matched by their passion for the music community.
Through membership one can participate in the Grammy Awards process, including submissions for Grammy consideration, propose rule changes to the awards process and vote for the Grammy Awards.
“The Grammys are such a peer-reviewed process, where you have musicians listening to other musicians.
“This induction means I’ll be listening and experiencing what happens on a global level,” Mthetwa told The Citizen after her membership was confirmed in 2023.
Singer-songwriter Mpho Sebina became Botswana’s first artist to be inducted into the Recording Academy. -The Citizen
