Los Angeles, CA (January 27, 2020)—On an evening overshadowed by the death of former L.A. Lakers star Kobe Bryant in a helicopter crash earlier in the day, Billie Eilish and her brother, producer and co-writer Finneas O’Connell, bested the competition at the 62nd Grammy Awards ceremony at the Staples Center on Sunday, Jan. 26, each taking home five awards. And that’s just one of the intriguing stories concerning this year’s production Grammy winners.
Eilish, at 18 years old, became only the second person to sweep the big four categories of album, song and record of the year and best new artist, a feat first achieved by Christopher Cross in 1981. She is the youngest solo performer to win Album of the Year. The previous record holder was Taylor Swift, who was 20 when she won for Fearless. Eilish also won for Best Pop Vocal Album.
Eilish shared three of the awards—Record, Album and Song of the Year—with her 22-year-old brother. O’Connell also won for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical and Producer of the Year, Non-Classical in his own right.
Finneas on Producing Billie Eilish’s Hit Album in his Bedroom
Lizzo, who topped the list with eight nominations this year, came away with wins for Best Pop Solo Performance, Best Traditional R&B Performance and Best Urban Contemporary Album.
Danish producer/engineer Morten Lindberg’s win for best immersive audio album brought an end to the unluckiest streak in the history of the Grammy Awards. Coming into this year’s awards ceremony, Lindberg had 28 nominations with no wins.
The Recording Academy presented its Technical Grammy Award to acoustician and audio engineer George Augspurger.
This year’s production Grammy winners are as follows:
Record of the Year
“Bad Guy”
Billie Eilish
Finneas O’Connell, producer; Rob Kinelski & Finneas O’Connell, engineers/mixers; John Greenham, mastering engineer
Album of the Year
when we all fall asleep, where do we go?
Billie Eilish
Finneas O’Connell, producer; Rob Kinelski & Finneas O’Connell, engineers/mixers; Billie Eilish O’Connell & Finneas O’Connell, songwriters; John Greenham, mastering engineer
Best Dance Recording
Got To Keep On
The Chemical Brothers
The Chemical Brothers, producers; Steve Dub Jones and Tom Rowlands, mixers
Best Historical Album
Pete Seeger: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection
Pete Seeger
Jeff Place & Robert Santelli, compilation producers; Pete Reiniger, mastering engineer
Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical
when we all fall asleep, where do we go?
Billie Eilish
Rob Kinelski & Finneas O’Connell, engineers; John Greenham, mastering engineer
Producer of the Year, Non-Classical
Finneas
Best Remixed Recording
“I Rise (Tracy Young’s Pride Intro Radio Remix)”
Tracy Young, remixer (Madonna)
Best Immersive Audio Album
Lux
Anita Brevik, Trondheimsolistene & Nidarosdomens Jentekor
Morten Lindberg, immersive audio engineer; Morten Lindberg, immersive audio mastering engineer; Morten Lindberg, immersive audio producer
Best Engineered Album, Classical
Riley: Sun Rings
Kronos Quartet
Leslie Ann Jones, engineer; Robert C. Ludwig, mastering engineer
Producer of the Year, Classical
Blanton Alspaugh
Recording Academy • www.grammy.com
