Bob, Jakob Dylan Win 5 Grammys By Richard Harrington Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, February 26, 1998; Page B01

Bob Dylan won three Grammys. (AP)

Dylan's album was released months after a brush with death from a heart infection. "We didn't know what we had when we did it, but we did it anyway," Dylan said in a speech that acknowledged many people, including Buddy Holly.

"One time when I was 16 or 17 years old I went to see Buddy Holly play at the Duluth National Guard Armory," the 56-year-old singer-songwriter recalled. "I was three feet away from him and he looked at me. And I just have some kind of feeling that he was, I don't know how or why, but I know he was with us all the time when we were making this record in some kind of way. In the words of the immortal Robert Johnson, there's stuff about that'll bust your brains out!"

The Dylan family did well as pere et fils split four other awards. "Time Outof Mind" was also named best contemporary folk album and "Cold Irons Bound" earned the elder Dylan a Grammy for best male rock performance. Son Jakob Dylan's catchy single "One Headlight" won for rock song and group rock performance for the Wallflowers.

Just before accepting the album of the year award, Dylan Sr. also gave a raucous performance of "Love Sick," which suggested he's hardly sick of music. The performance was interrupted by a shirtless dancer with the words "Soy Bomb" painted on his chest. Dylan, the father of modern protest music, looked on quizzically with raised eyebrows.

In a minor upset, record of the year and song of the year honors went to "Sunny Came Home," written (and performed) by Shawn Colvin and John Leventhal.

"You're killing me!" Colvin said as she accepted the record of the year award.

Other major winners included R. Kelly and Alison Krauss. Kelly's inspirational ballad "I Believe I Can Fly" was clearly a voter favorite, as well as one of the better live performances in the three-hour program broadcast on CBS: It won Grammys for best R&B song, male R&B vocal performance and song written specifically for a movie or television.

Kelly thanked basketball superstar Michael Jordan, star of the movie "Space Jam." "You know when you pray for something, you get it better than what you pray for," he said.

Fiddler-singer Krauss and Union Station earned three Grammys: best bluegrass album for "So Long So Wrong," best country instrumental performance for "Little Liza Jane" and best country performance by a duo or group with vocal for "Looking in the Eyes of Love."

Double winners included Trisha Yearwood (female country vocal performance for "How Do I Live" and country collaboration with vocals for "In Another's Eyes," a duet with Garth Brooks); Erykah Badu (R&B album for "Baduizm" and female R&B performance for "On & On"); singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan (best female pop vocal performance for "Building a Mystery" and best pop instrumental for "Last Dance").

McLachlan's sisters from Lilith Fair had mixed results. Paula Cole, who was nominated for seven Grammys, won only one, albeit a major one, as best new artist. Cole told the crowd, "This is my dream, getting this award from Aretha Franklin," and also thanked her parents and music teachers in high school and college for nurturing her musical passion. Fiona Apple, who was a competitor for best new artist, won a Grammy for female rock performance with "Criminal."

Yet another best new artist nominee, Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs, emerged a double winner. "No Way Out" was named best rap album and "I'll Be Missing You," his tribute to the slain Notorious B.I.G. featuring Faith Evans and 112, won for rap performance by a duo or group.

Apparently not everyone agreed with Combs's awards: Old Dirty Bastard of the Wu-Tang Clan interrupted the ceremonies as Colvin was coming to the stage for her award. "Puff Daddy is good but Wu-Tang is the best," ODB sputtered, making an unconvincing pitch for his un-nominated group because its music was "for the children." Host Kelsey Grammer thanked him for "the clarification." ODB later was escorted from the hall.

"I'm confused now," Colvin said graciously, adding, "it's been a long road and this does matter. I appreciate it."

Elton John's tribute to the late Princess Diana, "Candle in the Wind 1997," won the Grammy for best male pop vocal performance. The song, which John and collaborator Bernie Taupin rewrote from their tribute to Marilyn Monroe, became the best-selling single of all time.

Producer-artist Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, who had come into the evening with the most nominations (eight), took home only one Grammy, as producer of the year. It was the third year in a row Babyface has won that particular award.

Posthumous awards were bestowed on John Denver, Charles Kuralt, Michael Hedges and Doc Cheatham. Kuralt, the television journalist, won two Grammys, for best spoken-word album for children ("Winnie the Pooh") and best spoken-word recording ("Charles Kuralt's Spring"). Hedges, a Baltimore-born guitarist who died in a car crash, won for best New Age album for "Oracle."

Doc Cheatham, the venerable New Orleans trumpeter who died after playing at Blues Alley here, shared the Grammy for best jazz instrumental solo for "Stardust" with his protege, Nicholas Payton. Denver, who was killed in a plane crash, won for best musical album for children with "All Aboard!" His daughter, Anna Kate, commented, "He always wanted one of these," and his son, Zachary, said they were taking the award to the family home in Aspen. The late classical conductor Sir Georg Solti won his record 31st Grammy, for best opera recording.

One first-time winner: John Fogerty, the former leader of Creedence Clearwater Revival, took home the award for best rock album for "Blue Moon Swamp." The Smithsonian/Folkways revival of Harry Smith's seminal Anthology of American Folk Music won two Grammys, for historical album and album notes.

The three-hour show kicked off with a lighthearted rap production number for "Men in Black," which soon after earned Will Smith a Grammy for rap solo performance. Smith joked that his speech was the one he'd written in 1988, when he and partner Jazzy Jeff won the first rap Grammy but boycotted the ceremony because the award wasn't televised. Smith dedicated his award to the late rappers Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G.

As always, the performances were uneven. R. Kelly's rendition of "I Believe I Can Fly" was simple and straightforward, even with the choir coming in at the end. By contrast, Babyface and Stevie Wonder's duet on the anti-domestic-violence anthem "How Come, How Long?" was overwhelmed by Hezekiah Walker and the Love Fellowship Crusade Choir and an oversize string orchestra.

Erykah Badu and Wyclef Jean's simple blending of "On & On" and "Gone Till November" was charming, as was Vince Gill's "Pretty Little Adriana," which also won male country vocal performance.

Two last-minute substitutes nearly stole the show. Celine Dion, who was supposed to sing a duet with Barbra Streisand on their Grammy-nominated "Tell Him," stepped in for the ailing Streisand with an emotional performance of the current No. 1 single, "My Heart Will Go On," the love theme from the blockbuster film "Titanic." Ironically, "Titanic – Music as Heard on the Fateful Voyage" won a Grammy for best recording package.

And Aretha Franklin earned two standing ovations. Only minutes after she sang her signature song, "Respect," Franklin filled in for an ailing Luciano Pavarotti, singing a luminous "Nessun Dorma" from Puccini's "Turandot."

Host Kelsey Grammer was as dull as the ceremony itself.

Only 14 of 92 Grammys were presented during the often tedious broadcast, estimated to be watched by some 1 billion people in 170 countries.