Jody Watley

Did you know that Jody Watley has yet to score another Grammy Award since her Best New Artist win?

Watley’s first and only Grammy win was for Best New Artist at the 1988 ceremony where she was also nominated for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female. There singer has yet to receive another nod at the annual event since that time and seems to have suffered from the dreaded Best New Artist curse.

What exactly is the Best New Artist curse? The industry legend states that many winners of the title experience an immediate career decline with little chance of improvement. Unfortunately for Watley, she fit the bill perfectly as she failed to repeat her early success in the 1980s in the following decades.

During her career peak, Watley landed 6 top 10 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, and her first albums were certified platinum and gold by the RIAA, respectively. However, she has only cracked the top 20 of the Hot 100 twice since 1990 and none of her other albums made an impact on the charts.

Still, Watley is recognised as an important artist in the Hip-Pop movement as exemplified by her “Friends” collaboration with Eric B and Rakim. Watch the video for the song below:

Now you know!