MARY J BLIGE - MARY J BLIGE TOPS GRAMMY NOMINATIONS

MARY J BLIGE TOPS GRAMMY NOMINATIONS

It's turning into a great week for MARY J BLIGE - just three days after taking home nine Billboard Awards in Las Vegas, she looks set to be crowned the queen of the Grammys. The FAMILY AFFAIR singer leads the Grammy Awards nomination list, which was announced this morning (07DEC06) in Los Angeles, with eight nods. The R+B star, who was among the presenters reading out the nominations, will compete for Record Of The Year and Song Of The Year (both for BE WITHOUT YOU), while her duet with BONO on U2's ONE re-recording is among the nominations in the Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal category. All her other nods come in R+B categories, where she'll fight for awards with the likes of PRINCE and BEYONCE KNOWLES. The RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS garnered six nominations, while Brit JAMES BLUNT, JOHN MAYER, DANGER MOUSE, THE DIXIE CHICKS, Prince, BLACK EYED PEAS star WILL.I.AM, producer RICK RUBIN and composer JOHN WILLIAMS claimed five nods each. Beyonce Knowles, BRYAN MICHAEL COX, GNARLS BARKLEY, ISRAEL HOUGHTON, rapper T.I. and JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE each have stakes in four categories. In the leading categories, The Dixie Chicks' TAKING THE LONG WAY, ST ELSEWHERE by Gnarls Barkley, CONTINUUM by John Mayer, STADIUM ARCADIUM by the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS, and Timberlake's FUTURESEX/LOVESOUNDS will fight for the Album Of The Year prize. Meanwhile, the nominees for Record Of The Year are Blige's Be Without You, Blunt's YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL, NOT READY TO MAKE NICE by The Dixie Chicks), CRAZY by Gnarls Barkley), and newcomer CORINNE BAILEY RAE's PUT YOUR RECORDS ON. And the Song Of The Year nominees are the writers of the hits Be Without You by Blige, JESUS, TAKE THE WHEEL by CARRIE UNDERWOOD, The Dixie Chicks' Not Ready To Make Nice, Bailey Rae's Put Your Records On and James Blunt's You're Beautiful. Blunt is also up for Best New Artist, alongside CHRIS BROWN, Bailey Rae, IMOGEN HEAP and Underwood. The Grammy Awards will be held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on 11 February (07).