Grammy

The complete list of Grammy nominations for the 2011 awards was released Wednesday night, under cover of darkness. The stealth announcement - it's as if the Grammys had something to hide - followed an LL Cool J-hosted network television show that unveiled a handful of major categories and gave face time to a number of stars anointed by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, including Katy Perry, Bruno Mars, and B.o.B. And in a sign that Grammy is ready to get a little risque in pursuit of relevance, Cee-Lo Green's super-infectious little ditty with the unprintable name, "(Expletive)

Family Space Station. The Please Touch Museum is inviting aspiring space travelers to a new exhibit, described as an out-of-this-world adventure. The area, which replaced the "Flying Machine" exhibit, offers various play experiences. The centerpiece is the shiny silver rocket that soars above young visitors. An 18-foot steel Ring Tower provides kids with targets as they attempt to shoot rockets through the rings. Youngsters can suit up like astronauts in front of a blue screen and pretend to walk in space or fly their own rocket ship through the solar system.

Coming through the "Hurricane" of that not-so-well-received release, soulful R&B singer Eric Benet sounded strong and joyful on 2008's critically acclaimed "Love & Life. " He dropped his latest single, "Sometimes I Cry," this August, and the Milwaukee native is gearing up to release his fifth studio album, "Lost in Time. " "Love & Life" earned him Grammy nods for best R&B album and best male R&B vocal for "You're the Only One. " The album was also his highest-charting release, making its way up to the 11th spot on the Billboard Hot 200. Although he headlines this show, he joins Fantasia later this fall on her Back to Me tour.

Walter Hawkins, 61, a Grammy-winning gospel singer, composer, and pastor from Oakland, Calif., died of pancreatic cancer Sunday in Ripon, Calif. Mr. Hawkins studied for his divinity degree at the University of California, Berkeley. While at the university, he recorded his first album, Do Your Best, in 1972. The next year, he became a pastor and founded the Love Center Church in Oakland, where he also formed a choir. In the 1980s, Mr. Hawkins recorded several albums and earned nine Grammy nominations, according to a friend and family representative, Bill Carpenter.

OAKLAND, Calif. -Walter Hawkins, a Grammy Award-winning gospel singer, was still a divinity student when he recorded his first record. By the time the tenor had his first hit - "Oh Happy Day" - he was just 20 years old and a few years shy of founding his own church. On Sunday, Hawkins, returned to what he would have called the promised land. He died of pancreatic cancer at his home in Ripon, Calif. He was 61. "Today, I lost my brother, my pastor and my best friend," Edwin Hawkins said.

Country-pop singer Taylor Swift won album of the year for Fearless, but Beyonc? was the even bigger winner last night at the 52d Annual Grammy Awards as the R&B superstar captured a record-setting six awards. "This has as been an amazing night for me," said Beyonc?, who won song of the year for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It). " She broke the record of five she had held along with Alison Krauss, Norah Jones, Amy Winehouse, and Alicia Keys. Swift took home four golden gramophones.

If we're to count as our own the Grammy nominations for Wyomissing-raised Taylor Swift - the no-longer-teenage country-pop princess has seven - then artists connected with the Philadelphia area had a pretty amazing 2009 when it came to being acknowledged by the Recording Academy. But even without Swift's nods - which include album, record, and song of the year - it's still been a pretty good year, Grammy-wise, for area musicians. The surprise leader among local talent is soul singer Musiq Soulchild, who's up for three awards.

MICHAEL JACKSON bowed out of last year's Grammy Awards show when producers wanted him there to celebrate the 25th anniversary of "Thriller. " This year, he'll be there. Michael, in fact, will be a focal point of the show, with an unprecedented posthumous tribute. The Grammys will broadcast a 3-D video clip he made for "Earth Song," that was to be integral to his London comeback concerts - shows that never happened because of his June 25 death in Los Angeles. Usher, Celine Dion, Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson and Smokey Robinson will perform alongside the clip, which producer Ken Ehrlich says will be the first time an awards show will feature 3-D. "Whenever we would do a show with [Michael]

The Rev. Dan Schatz was that little boy - the one curled up and asleep at the concert while his parents moved to the music. The songs were traditional folk, and the music was often spare and lyrics simply put. Once, when Schatz was 8, they were delivered by folk music icon and iconoclast Bruce "Utah" Phillips. He sang about hobos riding the rails, and rolling hills in West Virginia. What was background music for an 8-year-old has fueled, nearly three decades later, a Grammy-nominated CD coproduced by Schatz.

Murali Coryell figured it was time to go for broke. In a bid to reach for the Grammy Award for best contemporary blues album this year, the 40-year-old husband and father of two took out a second mortgage on his house to finance his sixth CD. He hired producer and songwriter Tom Hambridge, who has worked with Grammy-nominated blues-rocker Susan Tedeschi, and recorded in Nashville with a stellar cast that included keyboardist Reese Wynans and...