Barry White Wins First Two Grammys, The Roots Thrilled By Win

02/23/2000 11:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Craig Rosen

2/23/00, 11:30 p.m. ET) - Veteran soul singer Barry White won his first two Grammys tonight (February 23). The deep-voiced crooner won the best male R&B vocal performance for the title track to his Staying Power album, beating out fellow nominees Peabo Bryson, R. Kelly, Maxwell, and Tyrese.

"Staying Power" also garnered White the honor of best traditional R&B vocal performance, beating out nominated tracks by the Neville Brothers, Wilson Pickett, and Smokey Robinson.

In other Grammy news, jazzy hip-hop group the Roots won best rap performance by a duo or group for their song "You Got Me," which features Erykah Badu. When the group and Badu went up to accept their award, Badu brought her young son, Seven, with her.

The members of the Philly-based group were thrilled by their win. "This right there, this is the power of God, you know what I'm saying? I just want to say peace and thank you. Thank you all to our family at MCA Records, Jay Boberg, Scott Storch, Gerald Scott, Erykah Badu, you know what I'm saying? All my brothers right here. One love, it's deeply appreciated…We're taking this back to Philly right here. Keep praying for us. Pray for hip-hop. We trying to bring some live instrumentation and musicianship back into contemporary black music. Thank you for your support."

-- Lucy Tauss and Soren Baker

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