SZA’s ‘SOS’ Could Be First Album by a Black Woman to Win Top Grammy in 25 Years

BY MESFIN FEKADU via https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/

‘The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill’ was the last album by a Black woman to win the prize in 1999, and only 37 albums by 25 Black women have earned nods for the big award since 1959, including Beyoncé, Mariah Carey and Ella Fitzgerald.

It’s been 25 years since an album by a Black woman won the album of the year Grammy Award. The year was 1999 and Lauryn Hill’s heroic and artistic solo debut, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, took home the coveted prize. The win also marked the first time a rap-based project won the Grammys’ highest honor.

Hill joined an elite club of Black women to win the award: Natalie Cole was the first to do so in 1992 with Unforgettable… with Love, an album in which she covered standards performed by her father Nat King Cole; the album won five Grammys including record of the year for “Unforgettable,” a duet with dad created after his death through modern digital technology. Two years later, Whitney Houston won album of the year with The Bodyguard soundtrack, led by the worldwide hit “I Will Always Love You,” also named record of the year. Hill earned five Grammys on the night she became just the third Black…

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