Kes The Band Among Over TEN (10) T&T Artistes Up For Consideration At 68th Annual Grammy Awards®

There are currently over ten (10) Trinidad and Tobago artistes up for consideration in over ten (10) categories for the 68th Annual Grammy Awards®, which is scheduled to take place next year (Sunday 1st February, 2026) at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, with nominations set to be announced next month, on Friday 7th November, 2025. Some of these local artistes include Kes the Band, Yung Bredda and Full Blown, Sherwin Gardiner, MX Prime, Etienne Charles and RKG.

The Grammy Awards® are considered the most internationally-recognized music award show and seen as the benchmark of the music industry.

Minister of Culture and Community Development, Michelle Benjamin, congratulated all the Grammy contenders in a recent Facebook post, highlighting Kes the Band, Sherwin Gardner, and Yung Bredda and Full Blown. She said, “This achievement stands as a proud testament to the power of our culture and resilience that defines TT’s artistic spirit. As our music continues to reach audiences across the globe, we salute the artistes who carry our nation’s heartbeat to the world stage.”

According to Martin “Mice” Raymond, veteran music producer/engineer, associate professor in practice at UTT’s Academy for the Performing Arts and voting member of the Recording Academy, the work of local artistes were submitted and reviewed by a panel of about 350 experts in different music fields to determine their suitability.

Having passed that stage and being approved, they were placed on the first round ballot where about 13,000 voting members, including producers, sound engineers, artistes and songwriters, would consider their music.

First round voting determines all the Grammy nominees for each category, and that process began on Friday (3rd October, 2025) and will continue until 15th October, 2025. Final round voting determines the winners across all categories, which would be revealed on Grammy night.

Billy Ocean previously won the Grammy for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for Caribbean Queen in 1985, and Heather Headley won Best Contemporary R&B Gospel Album for Audience of One in 2010.

The steelband Esso Tripoli was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1971 and Trinidad-born Nicki Minaj has been nominated several times over the years.

Below are the Trinidad and Tobago artistes with Grammy considerations for 2026:

1. Kes the Band – Best Global Music Performance for Cocoa Tea.
2. Yung Bredda/Full Blown – Best Global Music Performance for the Greatest Bend Over.
3. John Francis aka John Skweird – Best Progressive R&B Album for the Soundscapes of Dreams and Nightmares.
4. Sherwin Gardiner – Best Global Music Performance for Over Me and Best Reggae Album for Find Me Here EP.
5. MX Prime – Best Global Music Album for Kick Off.
6. Etienne Charles – Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Best Jazz Performance and Best Instrumental Composition for Gullah Roots, and Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals for Kumbaya.
7. RKG – Best Global Music Performance for Hard Life.
8. Touchdown featuring Natalie Yorke – Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance for Prayer for Peace. Also a contender for Harry Belafonte Best Song for Social Change Award.
9. Gail Ann Stevens, aka Precious Gail – Best African Music Performance for Adored.
10. Empress Aje and Queen Omega – Best Global Music Album for being on The World Album.
11. Jimmy October – Best Global Music Album for From October with Love.

Congratulations to all the local Grammy contenders!

More on this as it becomes available. 

[Source: Newsday]