Although the few artists with Baltimore connections nominated for Grammys last night did not hear their names called (sorry John Waters, Kevin Kadish and Leon Fleisher), Maryland was not shut out from the winner's circle completely. Severn native Toni Braxton won a Grammy for Best R&B Album for her collaboration, "Love, Marriage & Divorce" with Babyface.
In August 2013, before the February release of "Love," Braxton told the Sun that the material came from a place of personal pain, and that she was extremely proud of the record — her first since May 2010's "Pulse." Grammy voters agreed.
"When you hear it, it will be refreshing," Braxton told the Sun. "How do I say this without sounding arrogant? It's kind of nice. It's art and the art is good. I feel great about this, period."
In addition, tenor Aaron Sheehan, who lives in the Baltimore area and teaches at Towson University, headed the cast for the winner of Best Opera Recording. He sang the role of Orphee (Orpheus) in a French baroque opera by Charpentier, La Descente D'Orphée Aux Enfers (The Descent of Orpheus to the Underworld).
Kadish, the co-songwriter and producer of Meghan Trainor's "All About That Bass," was nominated for two of the night's biggest awards, Record of the Year and Song of the Year, but the Owings Mills native was no match for the night's most obvious winner, Sam Smith, who won in both categories.
Waters lost Best Spoken Word Album to Joan Rivers (and you can watch the author discuss on the Grammys red carpet Rivers' impact here), but presented an award Sunday.
Baltimore pianist Fleisher was nominated for "All the Things You Are" in the Best Classical Instrumental Solo category, but lost to Jason Vieaux.
Baltimore Sun reporter Tim Smith contributed to this article.