Chapter 406

Sarah Brightman excitedly thanked Wei Ming, who wrote this song, and the song's production team on stage.

After this award ended, there was also her performance item, a solo singing of "Moonlight Shadow." This song once again brought everyone back to the sadness of Lennon's passing. Yoko Ono under the stage was wearing sunglasses, and one couldn't see the changes in her eyes behind the sunglasses.

After stepping off the stage, Sarah generously let Wei Ming touch her trophy.

Next was the Record of the Year award, and "Only Time" was also on the nomination list.

This award is granted to the single's production team, including singers, producers, recording engineers, mixers, etc., emphasizing the recognition of recording technology and production craftsmanship. Except for the song being written by Wei Ming, this award actually has little to do with him.

Apart from "Only Time," the others nominated were also not weak.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono's "Starting Over," which was also a work from Lennon's last album before his death. Originally, its reputation and popularity were average, but after Lennon was assassinated a month after its release, it became a swan song, and its sales and reputation exploded.

Kim Carnes' "Bette Davis Eyes," a divine song that topped the Billboard Hot 100 for nine consecutive weeks in 1981, a divine song belonging exclusively to this era.

"Endless Love," the theme song of the same name for Brooke Shields' movie "Endless Love," also topped the Billboard Hot 100 for nine consecutive weeks. It was later covered by Luther Vandross and Mariah Carey, and became popular again more than a decade later. It belongs to the classics that flow forever.

And there is also soul master Bill Withers' "Just the Two of Us," which might be considered the easiest to be handled.

"Only Time" won the Billboard championship for seven weeks, but its time on the Billboard chart was the longest among the nominated works, and it is still hanging at the end of the top 100 to this day, and its sales are also the highest.

The three songs among the five nominations almost occupied half of the time of the Billboard championship.

Wei Ming didn't know the ownership of this Grammy. He might still have an impression of the Oscars.

At the last moment, he and others heard the result at the same time — Kim Carnes' "Bette Davis Eyes."

She and the producer of this song, Val Garay, went on stage to receive the award and used her hoarse female voice to thank the Grammys and her husband, Dave Ellingson.

The students abroad had enough fun in the villa, and at this moment they were all sitting on the sofa or on the floor watching TV. Chen Chong murmured: "Wei Ming didn't win the award again."

The male classmate next to her said: "It's very normal. After all, he is Chinese. American music is so developed. Being able to be nominated is already considered very lucky. Maybe it's because they want to win over China to counter the Soviet Union."

Other students nodded one after another, feeling that Wei Ming being able to be nominated was a victory, and he himself was not a professional musician. His main job seemed to be a writer, right? His name could still be seen on the New York bestseller list recently.

Next was the Song of the Year award, which was the award truly belonging to Wei Ming's nomination. The winner is the songwriter of the song.

Of course, sometimes the songwriter is the singer himself. Original singers earn a lot in the United States and Japan, earning three shares of money by themselves.

For example, the song "9 to 5" in the nominated works was created and sung by country music singer Dolly Parton, and it can also be heard in film and television works such as "Sing" in the future.

In addition, there were "Endless Love," "Bette Davis Eyes," and "Just the Two of Us," which were nominated for Record of the Year.

The overlap rate between the Record of the Year and Song of the Year awards reached 80%.

The award presenter went on stage, a blind black uncle. He opened the envelope, which had Braille specially prepared for him.

"The winner of this award is... "Only Time." Congratulations, a talented young writer and musician from Red China. Let's welcome him with applause."

This black uncle had a very good attitude, and it felt like many words were added by himself. Later, Wei Ming learned that he was the top famous Ray Charles, a legendary musician who is the king of soul, and also a musician who had a biography made by Hollywood while still alive. That "Ray" even pushed Jamie Foxx to the throne of Oscar Best Actor.

However, he had just passed away when the movie was released.

Ray Charles mentioned Wei Ming's writer identity, and his attitude towards Wei Ming might also stem from the fact that he was one of the earliest famous writers internationally to support Mandela in South Africa.

In the back row of the audience, Cheng Long asked Li Aiguo next to him: "Is this award powerful?"

"Of course it's powerful. It's the highest honor a songwriter can get, and I didn't expect him to get it on his first nomination. It's simply amazing!"

Hearing him say this, Cheng Long immediately stood up and applauded loudly. Li Aiguo followed closely, and then Melinda, who also wanted to pull Wei Lindi to stand up.

Wei Lindi felt this was too childish, but couldn't resist Melinda, so she stood up.

During the TV broadcast, it swept across this row of "fans." The old lady in San Francisco saw Wei Lindi at a glance, couldn't help but giggle again, and then wanted to taste the flavor of her hometown, but was directly blocked by the little nurse from that bottle of wine.

"Madam, you can't drink anymore today."

"Sigh, boring. Sleep, sleep."

Said she wanted to sleep, but still waited to hear Wei Ming's acceptance speech.

He first routinely thanked the singer Sarah, the producer, and the fans. He also solemnly thanked and mourned Mr. John Lennon: "It was he who guided me onto the path of English song creation, making me realize that my ability is not limited to Chinese creation. Now, not only have I created many English songs, but I have also begun to use English to write novels."

At this time, the camera gave Yoko Ono again. She was definitely the woman with the most camera time tonight.

Finally, Wei Ming also thanked two student friends from Peking University: "Melinda from the UK brought me into contact with English songs, and Thomson from the United States allowed "Moonlight Shadow" to be released smoothly. I am very happy to know you."

Finally, Wei Ming waved his golden gramophone trophy and stepped off the stage in high spirits.

The students abroad had a moment of silence in the villa, and then someone took the lead to applaud for their compatriot. If anyone says in the future that Chinese people have no musical cells, they finally have a second example besides Yo-Yo Ma.

And the officials of the Embassy in the United States and the writers of Xinhua News Agency were also watching this program. After seeing this result, the writers immediately began to move their pens. This is a great good thing to boost the confidence of the people.

Reform and opening up, many foreign fresh things that were strictly forbidden before are pouring into the country through various channels. The huge gap with the world makes people feel confused, fragile, and even inferior.

And Wei Ming's winning the award is the most effective antidote to this emotion. Although we developed late, Comrade Wei Ming was able to write musical works that conquered the whole world after only listening to English songs for two years. Chinese people are still very excellent, so don't be self-deprecating.

There is one last Best Album of the Year left, which has absolutely nothing to do with Wei Ming. Sarah released single records.

In the end, this grand prize was given to "Double Fantasy," co-produced by the late John Lennon and his widow Yoko Ono. Yoko Ono walked onto the stage under warm applause.

In fact, many music critics, including Wei Ming, were not very keen on this album. Due to Lennon's superior family life, this album was described as "a narcissistic disaster."

However, Lennon was assassinated three weeks after the album was released. The outside world's bad evaluation completely vanished. On the US Billboard album chart, this album also instantly went from 11th to 1st place, and maintained the top spot for eight weeks. The UK chart jumped from 46th to 1st place after two weeks.

Thus, the 24th Grammy Awards ceremony came to an end. Afterwards, there were some social activities. Sarah had already met Yoko Ono when she came to the United States for activities before, and took this opportunity to introduce Wei Ming to this Japanese-American.

In the past year or so, songs commemorating John Lennon have emerged one after another, but the most influential one is still this "Moonlight Shadow."

Even Paul felt that his unreleased "Here Today" commemorating Lennon was slightly inferior. Unexpectedly, there are still musicians in this world whose feelings for Lennon are deeper than his own.

Wei Ming usually keeps a respectful distance from avant-garde artists like Yoko Ono. Being too avant-garde is easy to prick oneself.

Take her avant-garde performance art "Cut Piece," where she let the audience use scissors to cut her clothes until she was completely naked, to express the pain of women being gazed at and stigmatized.

Later, "Cut Piece" was staged in London and caused a sensation. Young Lennon was greatly shocked after watching it, and then fell in love.

Wei Ming can only say that he has not reached the height of an artist. He is a vulgar person. After winning the award, he wants to make love with Melinda.

However, taking a group photo is still necessary. Not only with Yoko Ono, but also with Phil Collins, the soul singer, host John Denver, and Michael Jackson and his brothers, etc. From then on, he is considered to have established himself in the European and American music circle. Welcome everyone to come and buy songs.

From the current point of view, writing songs is faster than writing novels and scripts, which is conducive to primitive accumulation.

After leaving the award scene, Wei Ming went to a bar on Sunset Boulevard with a few good friends to have a blast. Cheng Long and Li Aiguo had wanted to go for a long time. This time, it was considered a legitimate reason. Li Aiguo also generously covered all the expenses tonight.

In such a lively and noisy occasion, even Sarah Brightman, who looks like a good girl, is at ease. However, Wei Ming noticed that his little aunt was a bit uncomfortable.

He handed Wei Lindi a non-alcoholic drink: "Why, haven't you been to this kind of place before?"

Wei Lindi sniffed, then took a sip: "This kind of place isn't that fun either. Why come here?"

"Then where do you usually go to play during those years of studying abroad?"

Wei Lindi: "Go to my aunt's company for an internship, or engage in some outdoor activities, self-driving or hiking."

"Feel like you don't have any social life?"

"What's the use of useless things?" Wei Lindi said righteously.

Wei Ming seriously suspected that she hadn't even had a boyfriend. Anyway, if there are hands, men or women are not of much use.

After coming out of the bar, only Wei Lindi didn't drink, so she drove Wei Ming and the five of them back to the nearby Hyatt Hotel. When they parted, she urged Wei Ming not to miss the time tomorrow.

Wei Ming made an "OK" sign. He didn't drink much. Melinda can drink more at the real celebration activity at night, but his best state is slightly tipsy.

However, just when Wei Ming and Melinda were having a passionate time, an Asian girl dressed a bit dirtily came to this hotel and reported a room number, saying she was looking for someone.

After Cheng Long, who had just taken a shower and sobered up in the room, received the call, he was puzzled for a moment, and then let the other party come up. At the same time, he immediately took out the safety measures he must carry with him.

Now Wei Ming doesn't even use this stuff for Melinda.

He knew that he might not be able to give Melinda marriage, so he wanted to give her something else. However, the two gathered less and parted more, and sometimes it was always not so coincidental.

The next day, Wei Ming woke Melinda up early: "My little aunt and I are going to San Francisco. Do you want to go together?"

Melinda: "Good, anyway Sarah is leaving today too."

"Back to London?"

"No, to Broadway. Webber also went there, saying he wanted to talk about the performance of "Cats" on Broadway."

So after the two got up, they first went to find Sarah and told her to see her in New York. Then Wei Ming knocked on the door to find Lin Zhengyi and invited him to go to San Francisco together.

San Francisco is a nest of Chinese people in the United States, and there are quite a few Taiwanese immigrants, so he didn't dare to go.

He asked: "Are you still going back to Los Angeles?"