The Politics of Grammys Hit a Sour Note

Except for “Macarena,” Celine Dion’s “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” is arguably the hottest pop single so far in 1996, so it’s only natural to expect that it would be submitted to the Grammy judges in the best record, best song and best vocal performance categories.

Well, two out of three ain’t good enough for Jim Steinman, who wrote and produced the drama-laden pop ballad.

The decision by Sony Music to enter the song for the best record and best vocal performance categories and not for best song--the only major category that honors writers--not only has angered Steinman but has raised questions in the industry about the whole nomination process.

Representatives of Sony’s Epic Records division refused to comment on the situation but Steinman’s manager, David Sonenberg, said he was told the song was left off for fear that it possibly would cancel out another Dion hit, “Because You Loved Me,” written by Diane Warren.

Both songs appear on Dion’s “Falling Into You,” considered a favorite for a Grammy nomination in the best album category.

As a result, “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now”--which ranks among the most-played songs on radio this year and which catapulted the Dion album to the national No. 1 spot last summer--is not among the 511 best song entries now being voted on as the 8,000 members of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences cut the list to the final five nominees.

The case recalls recent incidents: “Home Improvement” star Tim Allen was left off ballots for Emmy Award consideration in 1994, and the much-lauded basketball documentary “Hoop Dreams” failed to receive an Academy Award nomination in 1995.

But Allen’s omission was due to a simple filing error by his show’s staff, and “Hoop Dreams” was left out due to a nominating committee’s judgment, not deliberate decisions based on record company politics and marketing strategies.

“It’s wrong to put this in the hands of a record company and let politics take over,” says Sonenberg, speaking for Steinman, who is not commenting publicly on the matter.

Any academy member can submit a song or artist for consideration, but in practice it largely has been left to the record companies. Though the academy long has tried to separate record company interests from Grammy procedures, NARAS President Mike Greene says the system works.

“We still believe the creative people at the labels are integral to the entering process for Grammy Awards,” he says. “They all know the product.”

Greene admits that this method allows record companies to manipulate the entries according to internal agendas, rather than to the Grammy agenda of honoring the best work of the year.

“Welcome to the record industry,” he says. “It’s the same with the Oscars and Emmys. We always hope that our membership will balance out any political interests.”

Sonenberg, in fact, is a member. But he says that based on past experience he had no reason to believe his client’s song would not be submitted by Sony, and was unaware that it hadn’t been until the deadline had passed.

Sonenberg will meet with Greene later this week to propose changes in the process.

Steinman, whose long list of hit credits includes much of Meat Loaf’s repertoire and Bonny Tyler’s No. 1 song “Total Eclipse of the Heart” from 1983, now has lost what his supporters feel is his best chance to win his first Grammy.

Ironically, it comes at a time when he may find himself competing for major awards in another field: theater. “Whistle Down the Wind,” his collaboration with Andrew Lloyd Webber, is opening this weekend in Washington with a move to Broadway set for April.

“Jim really cares about his songs,” Sonenberg says. “And to not even receive a chance for this one is unfair.”