Hawke’s Bay musician Jock Nowell-Usticke, known internationally as Baynk, has ended his first Grammys foray without the cigar – but he was in pretty good company.
A finalist in the Engineered Album, Non-Classical category, he had to bow to the claims of global music sensation Harry Styles, who was expected to be among the headliners at the 65th annual awards in Los Angeles.
With honours in 91 categories at stake, it was an early pre-ceremony announcement recognising former One Direction star Styles’ album Harry’s House, produced with engineers Jeremy Hatcher, Oli Jacobs, Nick Lobel, Mark “Spike” Stent and Sammy Wittem, and mastering engineer Randy Merrill.
Baynk - son of Wineworks director Tim Nowell-Usticke and wife Jules and a former pupil of Napier Central, Havelock North’s Hereworth and Whanganui Collegiate schools - was also nominated his debut album Adolescence, engineered by George Nicholas and Ryan Schwabe (who was also the mastering engineer).
Packing up in London to return home about the time his placing as a finalist was announced in November, he told Hawke’s Bay Today he had been nominated for a “multitude” of categories, but added: “But I wasn’t expecting anything. It was just a shot in the dark.”
Singer Beyoncé was an early winner in the ceremony, with two Grammys for Dance/Electronic Recording in Break My Soul and Traditional R&B Performance on Plastic Off The Sofa.
Former Napier Boys’ High School student Marlon Gerbes also missed out, along with Six60 songwriting partner Matiu Walters, for co-writing work on Koffee’s Gifted in the Reggae Album category, where the Grammy was claimed by Kabaka Pyramid’s The Kalling.
Harry Styles is set to perform a concert in Auckland on March 7, with his band having another Hawke’s Bay connection in Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Ny Oh (Naomi Ludlow), who stayed with family in the Bay during the holiday season.
Take your Radio, Podcasts and Music with you
