African-Americans Who Have Won Album of the Year at the Grammys
This elite group of stars have won music's top honor.
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African-Americans Who Have Won Album of the Year at the Grammys - African-Americans are known for being some of the foremost pioneers of popular American music. As such, we've always been nominated for some of the top honors at music award shows. However, the list of African-Americans who have been bestowed with the highest honor in music—the Grammy for Album of the Year—is a very exclusive club. Here's a list of the African-American stars who have laid claim to the coveted Album of the Year Grammy. (Photo: Steve Marcus / Reuters)
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Stevie Wonder, Innervisions, 1974 - In 1974 Stevie Wonder took home a Grammy Award for Album of the Year. The album, which was released August 3, 1973, came during what was called the "classic period" of Wonder's career. (Photo: Echoes/Redferns/Getty Images)
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Stevie Wonder, Fulfillingness' First Finale, 1975 - Fulfillingness' First Finale was another classic Wonder album. Released on July 22, 1974, the album was his first to top the Pop charts and led to him winning the Grammy Award for Album of the Year for the second year in a row.(Photo: Tim Boxer/Getty Images)
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Stevie Wonder, Songs in the Key of Life, 1977 - Songs in the Key of Life is known as Stevie Wonder's best-selling and most critically acclaimed album of his career. It was released on September 28, 1976, and received a Grammy for Album of the Year in 1977.(Photo: Motown Records)
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Michael Jackson, Thriller, 1984 - After delivering his classic Off the Wall album, Michael Jackson followed up in 1982 with another gem, Thriller. From start to finish the nine-track album produced some of MJ's greatest hits like "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin," "The Girl is Mine," "Thriller," "Beat It," "Billie Jean," "Human Nature" and "P.Y.T." Album of the Year was just one of the eight awards Jackson took home after the 1984 Grammys.(Photo: Barry King/WireImage/Getty Images)
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Lionel Richie, Can't Slow Down, 1985 - Lionel Richie's sophomore solo album Can't Slow Down remained in the Top 10 on the Billboard 200 for the entire year of 1984. So it was a no-brainer that the album went on to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1985.(Photo: Barry King/WireImage/Getty Images)
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Quincy Jones, Back on the Block, 1991 - Quincy Jones's 1989 collaborative album Back on the Block featured a laundry list of popular artists including Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Ice-T, Big Daddy Kane, Dizzy Gillepsie, Luther Vandross, Dionne Warwick, Barry White and Ray Charles. In 1991 it took the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in addition to six others.(Photo: Bill Swersey/Liaison/Getty Images)
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Natalie Cole, Unforgettable…With Love, 1992 - Natalie Cole, daughter of leading jazz pianist Nat King Cole, recorded Unforgettable…With Love, an album full of covers of her father's music. The album, which has since been certified seven times platinum, won the 1992 Grammy Award for Album of the Year.(Photo: Greta Pratt/Reuters)
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Whitney Houston, The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack, 1994 - Whitney Houston's The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack album has been certified platinum 17 times and sold more than 44 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling soundtracks of all time. In 1994 it took home the Grammy Award for Album of the Year.(Photo: STR/Reuters)
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Lauryn Hill, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, 1999 - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill won a Grammy for Album of the Year in 1999. Not a bad solo debut for the multi-talented singer-songwriter-rapper who had already found success as one-third of the rap unit the Fugees.(Photo: Frank Micelotta/Getty Images)
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