PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Questlove is halfway to joining a small club shared by the likes of Whoopi Goldberg, John Legend and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
The Philly-born musician and producer took home an Oscar last week for his directorial debut in “Summer of Soul.” A week later, he picked up his sixth Grammy award for the same documentary.
The Roots member still needs an Emmy and a Tony to gain EGOT status, but he’s already made headway in those arenas. In 2011, he was nominated for a Daytime Emmy in the Outstanding New Approaches category for “Nickelodeon Presents History and Heritage,” which featured animated shorts celebrating the historical achievements of people of color.
And, one of his previous Grammy nominations was on the “Hamilton” cast album in 2016, which hopefully means he’ll one day get to join a musical from the jump and snatch a well-deserved Tony Award.
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In all, Questlove has been nominated 17 times at the Grammys and won six. He was also the musical director for the Academy Awards in 2020 and 2021.
Questlove wasn't the only Philadelphian who won big Sunday night. Jazz musician Christian McBride won Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album for "Jimmy, Wes and Oliver."
“Nobody ever plays jazz because we think we’re going to get rich,” McBride told KYW Newsradio in an interview a few months ago. “We do it because we love it.”
McBride, who enlisted fellow CAPA graduate and Philadelphia jazz musician Joey DeFrancesco to play on the record, has won eight Grammys, and has been nominated 15 times.
“Most likely no jazz musician will ever fill up Citizens Bank Park,” said McBride, “not playing jazz at least. But that’s ok. We don’t mind that. We just want to be able to make the music that we can make and have people who enjoy it continue to enjoy it.”
R&B singer Jazmine Sullivan was also awarded both the Best R&B Performance and Album, and Philadelphia Orchestra conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin took home a Grammy for Best Orchestral Performance.