We remember a few not-so-famous folks who’ve been honored by The Recording Academy.
The names of most Grammy Award winners are widely known, the pop stars and record producers whose music becomes part of the soundtracks of our lives. Yet many of the musicians, producers, and songwriters honored by The Recording Academy over the years are not household names. Today we’re remembering a few not-so-famous musicians whose obituaries highlight their success at the Grammys.
Larry Butler belonged to a couple of popular rock bands in the 1960s and went on to win Grammys as a songwriter and music producer, but he didn’t land in the national headlines when he died Jan. 20, 2012, at age 69. Butler was a member of the ’60s group Ronny and the Daytonas whose hits included “Little GTO,” according to the obituary published in the Pensacola (Florida) News Journal. He later joined The Gentrys, “another top rock group,” with hits including “Keep On Dancing.” In 1975, Butler won a Grammy for co-writing the Song of the Year, “(Hey, Won’t you Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song.” He won another Grammy in 1979, making him “the only Nashville producer to ever win the award” for Producer of the Year, according to his obit.
When Hurricane Ivan devastated the Gulf Coast in September 2004, “Larry called upon friends like Kenny Rogers, Willie Nelson and Will Hedgecock, producing three sold-out concerts that brought more than half a million dollars into the community for rebuilding efforts.”
Steve Popovich received six Grammy nominations as a producer (winning twice) and, with Frank Yankovic, was the “First Polka Grammy Award Winner,” according to the obituary his family published in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Popovich is best known as the founder of Cleveland International Records, “most famous for Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell which has sold over 40 million copies worldwide.” Plain Dealer reporter and well-known Cleveland musician John Petkovic wrote an entertaining and informative story about Popovich — “just some slob from Cleveland” — who sued the high-powered Sony Music corporation, for failing to put Cleveland International Records logos on Meatloaf’s album.
Dana Townson “was an audio engineer and recording studio owner” before her death at 49 of pancreatic cancer. Townson’s Texas studios, Castle Audio and Alley Cat Productions, “recorded many Grammy Award-winning musicians,” according to the obit published in the Rochester (New York) Democrat And Chronicle.
Her “talent for technology led to an extremely successful career as an Apple certified hardware and software specialist, and she was one of the first women in the world to work in this capacity,” the obit said. “Whether making her legendary BBQ or saving someone’s digital life, Dana brought tremendous passion and love to everything she did and everyone she met.”
In an obit published in the New York Times, Andrew Kazdin was described simply as “a Grammy award winning Classical Music Producer, Composer, Publisher, Arranger, Author and creative force in the music industry.” The announcement of his death on the Grammy website says Kazdin “earned 17 GRAMMY nominations throughout his career, including six for Best Classical Album and three for the prestigious Producer of The Year, Classical award.” Kazdin won his first Grammy in 1981 in the Best Engineered Recording category and the following year earned the Best Opera Recording award for “Wagner: Der Ring Des Nibelungen.”
Martin Sauser “played a key role in recruiting talented musicians” to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, when he was the orchestra’s personnel manager, according to the obituary his family published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Sauser played violin with the ASO from 1951 to 1988, served as concertmaster from 1957 to 1974, and then as personnel manager from 1968 to 1982. “During his career the ASO played its first Carnegie Hall concert (1971) and received its first Grammy award (1986).”
This post was contributed by Alana Baranick, a freelance obituary writer. She was the director of the Society of Professional Obituary Writers and chief author of Life on the Death Beat: A Handbook for Obituary Writers before she passed away in 2015.
