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Norah Jones Sweeps Grammys

Aired February 24, 2003 - 14:54   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Well, if you didn't know about singer Norah Jones before last night's Grammys, it's a pretty safe bet to say you do now. Her sultry blend of jazz, country and folk eliminated some major competition to claim eight top awards last night. A sign of a new trend in pop music? Perhaps.
For some ideas, we go to CNN's En Espanol's Ana Maria Montero, who joins us from New York.

Ana Maria, quite a night last night.

ANA MARIA MONTERO, CNN EN ESPANOL CORRESPONDENT: Tell me about it. What a night for Norah.

I mean, you're totally right in saying those of you who had never heard -- those of us who had never heard of Norah very much before last night, now she's become a household name. I mean, you saw here. She walked out with a pile of awards. It's amazing.

This kid is only -- this kid, I guess you could say -- she's only 23 years old. I mean, a child born in the '70s. She comes on a stage, she takes over. She comes to an awards show where she's completely just wiping out veterans like Bruce Springsteen and numerous others, which we'll get to in a minute. But Norah was just amazing.

I mean, she's even -- I don't know how many people may know this, but she is the daughter of Ravi Shankar, who is a very internationally renowned musician and...

COOPER: Yes, famous sitar player from way back when.

MONTERO: Exactly.

COOPER: Yes...

MONTERO: And what's weird is she didn't even bring him up. Did you see that?

COOPER: Yes. Yes.

But I mean...

MONTERO: Yes. COOPER: ...you know, when you look at some of the Grammys she won, record of the year, album of the year, song of the year, best new artist. Just pretty extraordinary for one very young girl.

Do you think this is going to be some sort of a new trend in music? I mean, are record executives, do you think, on the phone this morning screaming to their assistants, you know, Find me more daughters of sitar players!

MONTERO: You know what Anderson? I have to tell you that it wouldn't be surprise me in the least. Given (UNINTELLIGIBLE) trends, I mean, you know, we've got Britney. After Britney came Christina, Jessica Simpson, all sort of similar, you know, esque.

And then after that, it was like the big teen pop boom. I mean, whether or not, you know, they want to be called that. But you've got Avril, who's in her late teens, you've got Michelle Branch, you've got, Vanessa Carlton, you've got Ashanti, I mean, all these young people that are -- yes, that the record company is getting behind. So I would not be surprised...

COOPER: Yes, I'm 35...

MONTERO: I don't know how many daughters of sitar players we're going to find but...

COOPER: Well, there aren't that many of them out there, I think.

I'm 35, but I got to tell you, I was watching the Grammys last night -- I felt old. I mean, as you mentioned...

MONTERO: I know.

COOPER: ...Avril Lavigne, Ashanti, Norah Jones, Michelle Branch, John Mayer. You know, there's this youth trend kind that's quite extraordinary. It's pretty amazing.

MONTERO: But you know what was cool, though, is the Grammys last night was sort of -- was about contrast -- you know, because you had all these young kids, yes, that make us feel old and then you had the veterans like Bruce Springsteen. You had James Taylor, you had U2 , you know, that really sort of brought up the other end. So it was this really wide gamut. And, of course, as we know, Bruce walked out with three Grammys last night. Very exciting for "The Rising.".

COOPER: Yes.

MONTERO: Which is that wonderful album.

COOPER: Well, there was also the reunion between Simon and Art Garfunkel and...

MONTERO: They opened the show, yes.

COOPER: Yes.

I got to tell you, though, some one in the office, a youngster in our office last night turned to me and said, Who's Art Garfunkel?

MONTERO: Oh no.

COOPER: And I was like, What are you talking about? And literally -- and they said to me...

MONTERO: Yes.

COOPER: ...Is it that guy from "Welcome Back Kotter?"

MONTERO: No!

COOPER: That's Gabe Kaplan, you know? Not a good sign. Yes, but I was also interested....

MONTERO: Well, once they start singing.

COOPER: Yes.

MONTERO: You know that song.

COOPER: Yes, then you know it's not Gabe Kaplan.

There was an interesting commercial during the Grammys last night. Crest actually ran a commercial in Spanish with English subtitles. Did you see that?

MONTERO: I did happen to catch it. That definitely caught my -- especially, you know, of course, you know, I am CNN En Espanol so even more so.

But talk about targeting a demographic is all I'm going to tell you. These guys are really reading the Census numbers, are they not?

COOPER: Yes, absolutely.

MONTERO: They really know who they want to reach.

COOPER: It was the first commercial in Spanish language running on a major broadcast like that.

MONTERO: Ever.

COOPER: Yes.

MONTERO: And it was subtitled in English. I thought that was brilliant. I mean, you know what I mean? To really catch an eye and to really have people -- have the Spanish -- the English-speaking audience understand, you know, what the Spanish-speaking audience go through.

COOPER: Yes.

Well, Ana Maria Montero, appreciate you joining us. It was a great night last night. I know you were there and I appreciate you taking the time. MONTERO: I'm still sleeping it off.

COOPER: I imagine. All right. Get some sleep.

MONTERO: Bye.

COOPER: All right. Bye bye.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired February 24, 2003 - 14:54   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Well, if you didn't know about singer Norah Jones before last night's Grammys, it's a pretty safe bet to say you do now. Her sultry blend of jazz, country and folk eliminated some major competition to claim eight top awards last night. A sign of a new trend in pop music? Perhaps.
For some ideas, we go to CNN's En Espanol's Ana Maria Montero, who joins us from New York.

Ana Maria, quite a night last night.

ANA MARIA MONTERO, CNN EN ESPANOL CORRESPONDENT: Tell me about it. What a night for Norah.

I mean, you're totally right in saying those of you who had never heard -- those of us who had never heard of Norah very much before last night, now she's become a household name. I mean, you saw here. She walked out with a pile of awards. It's amazing.

This kid is only -- this kid, I guess you could say -- she's only 23 years old. I mean, a child born in the '70s. She comes on a stage, she takes over. She comes to an awards show where she's completely just wiping out veterans like Bruce Springsteen and numerous others, which we'll get to in a minute. But Norah was just amazing.

I mean, she's even -- I don't know how many people may know this, but she is the daughter of Ravi Shankar, who is a very internationally renowned musician and...

COOPER: Yes, famous sitar player from way back when.

MONTERO: Exactly.

COOPER: Yes...

MONTERO: And what's weird is she didn't even bring him up. Did you see that?

COOPER: Yes. Yes.

But I mean...

MONTERO: Yes. COOPER: ...you know, when you look at some of the Grammys she won, record of the year, album of the year, song of the year, best new artist. Just pretty extraordinary for one very young girl.

Do you think this is going to be some sort of a new trend in music? I mean, are record executives, do you think, on the phone this morning screaming to their assistants, you know, Find me more daughters of sitar players!

MONTERO: You know what Anderson? I have to tell you that it wouldn't be surprise me in the least. Given (UNINTELLIGIBLE) trends, I mean, you know, we've got Britney. After Britney came Christina, Jessica Simpson, all sort of similar, you know, esque.

And then after that, it was like the big teen pop boom. I mean, whether or not, you know, they want to be called that. But you've got Avril, who's in her late teens, you've got Michelle Branch, you've got, Vanessa Carlton, you've got Ashanti, I mean, all these young people that are -- yes, that the record company is getting behind. So I would not be surprised...

COOPER: Yes, I'm 35...

MONTERO: I don't know how many daughters of sitar players we're going to find but...

COOPER: Well, there aren't that many of them out there, I think.

I'm 35, but I got to tell you, I was watching the Grammys last night -- I felt old. I mean, as you mentioned...

MONTERO: I know.

COOPER: ...Avril Lavigne, Ashanti, Norah Jones, Michelle Branch, John Mayer. You know, there's this youth trend kind that's quite extraordinary. It's pretty amazing.

MONTERO: But you know what was cool, though, is the Grammys last night was sort of -- was about contrast -- you know, because you had all these young kids, yes, that make us feel old and then you had the veterans like Bruce Springsteen. You had James Taylor, you had U2 , you know, that really sort of brought up the other end. So it was this really wide gamut. And, of course, as we know, Bruce walked out with three Grammys last night. Very exciting for "The Rising.".

COOPER: Yes.

MONTERO: Which is that wonderful album.

COOPER: Well, there was also the reunion between Simon and Art Garfunkel and...

MONTERO: They opened the show, yes.

COOPER: Yes.

I got to tell you, though, some one in the office, a youngster in our office last night turned to me and said, Who's Art Garfunkel?

MONTERO: Oh no.

COOPER: And I was like, What are you talking about? And literally -- and they said to me...

MONTERO: Yes.

COOPER: ...Is it that guy from "Welcome Back Kotter?"

MONTERO: No!

COOPER: That's Gabe Kaplan, you know? Not a good sign. Yes, but I was also interested....

MONTERO: Well, once they start singing.

COOPER: Yes.

MONTERO: You know that song.

COOPER: Yes, then you know it's not Gabe Kaplan.

There was an interesting commercial during the Grammys last night. Crest actually ran a commercial in Spanish with English subtitles. Did you see that?

MONTERO: I did happen to catch it. That definitely caught my -- especially, you know, of course, you know, I am CNN En Espanol so even more so.

But talk about targeting a demographic is all I'm going to tell you. These guys are really reading the Census numbers, are they not?

COOPER: Yes, absolutely.

MONTERO: They really know who they want to reach.

COOPER: It was the first commercial in Spanish language running on a major broadcast like that.

MONTERO: Ever.

COOPER: Yes.

MONTERO: And it was subtitled in English. I thought that was brilliant. I mean, you know what I mean? To really catch an eye and to really have people -- have the Spanish -- the English-speaking audience understand, you know, what the Spanish-speaking audience go through.

COOPER: Yes.

Well, Ana Maria Montero, appreciate you joining us. It was a great night last night. I know you were there and I appreciate you taking the time. MONTERO: I'm still sleeping it off.

COOPER: I imagine. All right. Get some sleep.

MONTERO: Bye.

COOPER: All right. Bye bye.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com