Who Will Be the Next Grammy Success Story?

By Mandalit del Barco

Published February 7, 2004 at 9:00 PM PST

Winners of the 46th annual Grammy Awards are announced Sunday, and for some artists and their record labels, a win can translate into record sales and prestige.

Norah Jones was a big winner in 2003, and sold almost 500,000 records the following week. In 2002, the soundtrack for the film O Brother Where Art Thou saw sales triple after the collection of old-timey music won album of the year.

Will there be a big winner in 2004? Urban music could be this year's success story, with all but one of the nominees for record of the year coming from the R&B or hip hop categories.

NPR's Mandalit del Barco reports.

Mandalit del Barco

As an arts correspondent based at NPR West, Mandalit del Barco reports and produces stories about film, television, music, visual arts, dance and other topics. Over the years, she has also covered everything from street gangs to Hollywood, police and prisons, marijuana, immigration, race relations, natural disasters, Latino arts and urban street culture (including hip hop dance, music, and art). Every year, she covers the Oscars and the Grammy awards for NPR, as well as the Sundance Film Festival and other events. Her news reports, feature stories and photos, filed from Los Angeles and abroad, can be heard on All Things Considered, Morning Edition, Weekend Edition, Alt.latino, and npr.org.

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