When a woman named Esperanza Spalding was announced as the winner of the Best New Artist Grammy on Sunday night, a lot of people said "who?"
I admit I was one of them. I was hoping for either Mumford & Sons or Florence and the Machine to win, but thought the award would probably go to teen dream Justin Bieber.
I wasn't inspired to go hack into Esperanza's Wikipedia page and disparage her, like some outraged Bieber fans were last night. I was however inspired to do a little research.
Spalding is a jazz bassist, vocalist, and composer, who got her first musical inspiration when, at the age of four, she saw cellist Yo Yo Ma appear on Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. She attended Berklee College of Music and became the school's youngest instructor at age 20.
President Obama is a big fan, and has invited her to perform at the White House twice. She even had the honor of playing at the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony in Oslo, Sweden, in 2009.
And much to my surprise, I discovered she even performed in the Madison area not too long ago. She was at the Stoughton Opera House last September.
Find out more about her in her official profile here.--Kitty Dunn
Wow. I was hoping for Mumford and Sons to win too. I don't know if Esperanza deserves the grammy, but I love the way she handled the bass and rocks the fro. And anyone who wins over Beiber is a-ok in my book. Thanks for sharing. I think I'll check out more of her stuff.
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