THE TOP THREE FINALISTS HAVE BEEN CHOSEN TO COMPETE FOR A LIVE PERFORMANCE WITH JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE, ON "THE 49TH ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS," FEB. 11 ON THE CBS TELEVISION NETWORK
The Finalists Are Africa Miranda From Montgomery, Ala., Brenda Radney From Staten Island, N.Y. and Robyn Troup From Houston, Texas
Music Fans Can Vote Now and During the Telecast To Pick the One to Perform Live on the Broadcast
The momentum continues now that music fans have voted and chosen the Top 3 Finalists, who will compete to perform live with multi-GRAMMY Award nominee Justin Timberlake, in the "My GRAMMY� Moment" campaign, The Recording Academy announced during today's Super Bowl Pre-Game Show. The once-in-a-lifetime performance will be seen on THE 49TH ANNUAL GRAMMY� AWARDS, Sunday, Feb. 11 (8:00-11:30 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.
The three finalists will come to Los Angeles and will each rehearse with Timberlake during the week before the GRAMMY Awards. All three will be in the audience during the broadcast as voting continues. Finally, the winner will be announced during the show and will be invited to the stage for the performance.
Fans can vote online once for their favorite finalist beginning today up until 9:59 p.m. ET (6:59 p.m. PT) the night of the GRAMMY Awards on Feb. 11 via CBS.com or http://music.yahoo.com/mygrammymoment/ . Viewers also will have the opportunity to cast up to 10 votes through their mobile phone within a two-hour window during the live east coast airing of the GRAMMY Awards from 8 p.m. to 9:59 p.m. ET (west coast voters can text vote from 5 p.m. to 6:59 p.m. PT). The interactive mobile voting technology gives fans a corresponding number (1-3) to use as a text vote to 81818 for their favorite finalist.
Top 3 Finalists (alphabetical order)
Africa Miranda (age 30), Montgomery, Ala.
Brenda Radney (age 22), Staten Island, N.Y.
Robyn Troup (age 18), Houston, Texas
Final Performer
The final performer will be announced live before she takes the stage on the GRAMMY Awards, Feb. 11, 2007 at STAPLES Center in L.A., broadcast live on the CBS Television Network at 8 p.m. ET. In addition to a memorable "GRAMMY Moment" performance, the winner will be driving in style thanks to Chevrolet. She will be awarded a distinctively cool, sunburst orange 2007 Chevy HHR that comes fully loaded for the ultimate music fan, with an in-dash six-disc CD changer, an audio input jack for an MP3 player and Pioneer premium seven-speaker sound system.
Brief Biographies on Top 3 Finalists
Africa Miranda, 30, calls Montgomery, Ala., her hometown and currently is writing and performing songs in New York City. To pay the bills, she's working at a temp agency and does promotional modeling and event staffing. She began singing as a child in her school choir and eventually in pageants and school programs as she grew older. Africa says her sound is R&B/pop with rock and hip-hop thrown in the mix. Africa cites Prince, OutKast and Mariah Carey as three of her favorite artists.
Brenda Radney, 22, was born and raised in Staten Island, N.Y., and currently resides there as a freelance singer/songwriter. She began singing at the age of four and has fond memories of sitting in the window at her grandmother's porch singing "Tomorrow" from "Annie" and "Part Of Your World" from The Little Mermaid. Brenda's musical style is a mash-up of pop, R&B, alternative, gospel, electro and indie rock, and her aspiration is to become as successful as Prince, Beyonce and U2. In addition to singing, she writes songs and plays seven musical instruments.
Robyn Troup, 18, was born and raised in Houston, Texas. She has been singing ever since she could talk and has notebooks filled with songs she has written. Robyn is multitalented, having studied ballet, jazz, tap and modern dance along with taking both piano and voice lessons. While she describes her musical style as a blend of R&B, pop and hip-hop, Robyn cites artists including Stevie Wonder, Aaliyah and Destiny's Child as her muses.
Voting Information
�� Web site: Users can log on to Yahoo! Music or CBS.com to access the Top 3 finalists' video submissions, bios, photos and voting site: http://music.yahoo.com/mygrammymoment/.
�� Online voting: Online voting at Yahoo! Music begins today up until 9:59 p.m. ET (8:59 p.m. CT/7:59 p.m. MT/6:59 p.m. PT) on Feb. 11, the night of the GRAMMY Awards. Only one vote per person.
�� Text voting: Text voting occurs within a two-hour window during the live broadcast of the GRAMMY Awards on Feb. 11 (8 p.m. to 9:59 p.m. ET/7 p.m. to 8:59 p.m. CT).Voters watching the tape-delayed broadcast can text vote from 5 p.m. to 6:59 p.m. PT/6 p.m. to 7:59 p.m. MT. Fans can vote up to 10 times for their favorite finalist. Only standard text messaging rates apply. Voters can check their wireless carrier for more details, or text "HELP" to the number 81818 or visit www.cbs.com online for more information. The corresponding numbers for each finalist are:
�o Africa Miranda -- Text "1" to 81818
�o Brenda Radney -- Text "2" to 81818
�o Robyn Troup -- Text "3" to 81818
Submission/Selection Process
�� Unsigned artists in the United States - 18 years of age and older - uploaded a 60-second video clip to Yahoo! Music of an a cappella performance of one of nine GRAMMY Award-winning songs:
�o "If I Ain't Got You" (originally performed by Alicia Keys), "Breathe" (originally performed by Faith Hill), "Come To My Window" (originally performed by Melissa Etheridge), "What's Love Got To Do With It" (originally performed by Tina Turner), "Dance With My Father" (originally performed by Luther Vandross), "Cry Me A River" (originally performed by Justin Timberlake), "Respect" (originally performed by Aretha Franklin), "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" (originally performed by Whitney Houston), or "Vision Of Love" (originally performed by Mariah Carey).
About the Submission/Selection Process (cont'd)
�� The selection process of the Top 12 was rigorous and thorough. Thousands of video submissions were judged and whittled down to 12 by a VIP Blue Ribbon Committee made up of singers, songwriters, producers, music industry executives, as well as key executives from The Recording Academy.
�� Fans helped to determine the Top 5 and Top 3 finalists by voting at Yahoo! Music.
About The Recording Academy
Established in 1957, the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc., also known as The Recording Academy, is an organization of musicians, producers, engineers and recording professionals that is dedicated to improving the cultural condition and quality of life for music and its makers. Internationally known for the GRAMMY Awards, The Recording Academy is responsible for groundbreaking professional development, cultural enrichment, advocacy, education and human services programs - including the creation of the national public education campaign What's The Download� (WhatsTheDownload.com). For more information about The Academy, please visit www.grammy.com.
About Yahoo! Music
Yahoo! Music (http://music.yahoo.com) is the #1 online music destination. Yahoo! Music offers more than 2 million songs for download as well as the tools to manage, explore and share music. Yahoo! Music provides a wide selection of streaming video and audio, the Web's largest collection of music videos, Internet radio, original content, exclusive features, artist information and news covering all genres of music to Yahoo! users.
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