For over 50 years the Grammy Awards have been an annual touchstone for the music industry and its fans, honoring timeless recordings, top artists, and providing a stage for memorable live performances. The upcoming 54th Annual Grammy Awards are set to honor the best in music from the past year, with nominees that include exciting new talent like Adele and Robyn, as well as industry veterans Jeff Beck and Tony Bennett.

Looking at 2012’s lineup, we’re proud to see dozens of Full Sail Recording Arts graduates credited on many of the year’s biggest projects. In total, 71 grads worked on 52 nominated projects, spanning 38 categories. Some notable highlights include alumni credits on three of the nominees for Best Pop Vocal Album, four of the nominees for Best R&B Album, and all five of the nominees for Best Country Song.

Of this group, nine graduates will be eligible to receive their own Grammy statues, in categories like Best Engineered Album-Non Classical, Best Rap Song, and Record of the Year. Five of those grads are also nominated for their collected work on Rihanna’s hit Loud, in contention for Album of the Year.

The list of alumni eligible for Grammy awards are:

• Brad Blackwood, Mastering (Best Engineered Album-Non Classical – Paper Airplane – Alison Krauss & Union Station)
• Dustin William Brower, Composer (Best Rap Song – “The Show Goes On” – Lupe Fiasco)
• Josh Gudwin, Vocal Recording (Album of the Year – Loud – Rihanna)
• Jermaine Jackson, Producer (Album of the Year – Loud – Rihanna)
• Joe Lambert, Mastering (Best Engineered Album-Classical – Mackey: Lonely Motel – Music From Slide – Rinde Eckert, Steven Mackey & Eighth Blackbird)
• Graham Marsh, Engineer (Album of the Year – Doo-Wops & Hooligans – Bruno Mars)
• Corey Shoemaker, Engineer (Album of the Year – Loud – Rihanna)
• Phil Tan, Mixing (Record of the Year – “Firework” – Katy Perry; Album of the Year – Loud – Rihanna)
• Jeff Villanueva, Engineer (Album of the Year – Loud – Rihanna)

Speaking about our grads’ involvement on the range of nominees, Full Sail Director of Alumni Jay Noble explained, “We are astonished by the incredible success of our alumni who have contributed to projects being recognized for GRAMMY® Awards this year. It is with great pride that we celebrate our graduates for continuing to inspire our current students, while following their life-long career ambitions.”

The 54th Annual Grammy Awards will broadcast live on CBS on Sunday, February 12, at 8pm EST. Full Sail will be hosting a special Grammy party on campus that evening, open to both students and staff. The event will begin at 7pm in the Full Sail Live Venue, with prizes and giveaways for students.