Bay Area Grammy Nominees: Sheila E., Ambrose Akinmusire, Green Day, More

The Recording Academy announced the nominees for the 2025 Grammy Awards on Friday, led by an outstanding 11 nominations for the winningest artist in history herself, Beyoncé.

More than a few Bay Area artists managed to nab nominations across the 94 award categories, with Green Day and Kehlani scoring 3 nominations each and Sheila E., Taj Mahal and the San Francisco Symphony each landing a pair.

The winners of the 67th Grammy Awards will be announced on Feb. 2, 2025, before and during the televised ceremony.

Green Day, the five-time Grammy-winning pop-punk band recently honored in Pinole with a key to the city, earned three nominations in the rock genre categories after their last two albums were overlooked. Saviors, the band’s fourteenth studio album, landed a nomination for Best Rock Album. Two of its singles, “The American Dream Is Killing Me” and “Dilemma,” were recognized in Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song categories, bringing the band’s all-time total to a staggering 20 nominations.

Oakland’s own Kehlani, who still proudly reps the Bay despite relocating to Los Angeles, scored three nominations as well. The R&B superstar, whose homecoming show at Chase Center last week featured surprise appearances from LaRussell, Mistah F.A.B. and Kamaiyah, found success with her latest studio album Crash. The album was nominated in the Best Progressive R&B Album category, while its lead single, “After Hours,” landed in the Best R&B Song category. In addition, Kehlani’s featured role in the remixed version of British rapper Jordan Adetunji’s song “KEHLANI,” dedicated to the star, earned her a spot in the Best Melodic Rap Performance category. Yes, that’s right — Kehlani got a nomination for a song named after her.

Another Oakland artist picking up multiple nominations is Sheila E., who, alongside her father, percussionist Pete Escovedo, was awarded the Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021. This year, her album Bailar is nominated for Best Tropical Latin Album, while “Bemba Colorá,” her collaboration with Gloria Estefan and Mimy Succar, was chosen in the Best Global Music Performance category.

San Francisco-based Metallica, who added a tenth Grammy Award to their ever-growing list of accolades earlier this year, scored another nomination in the Best Metal Performance category with “Screaming Suicide.”

Blues musician Taj Mahal, who lives in Berkeley, landed a nomination with the Taj Mahal Sextet for Swingin’ Live at the Church in Tulsa in the Best Traditional Blues Album category. Mahal also earned a nomination for Best American Roots Performance for his featured role on The Fabulous Thunderbirds’ “Nothing in Rambling,” bringing up his career total to 17 nominations and four wins.

Julian Lage, a Santa Rosa-bred jazz guitarist, was nominated for his album Speak to Me in the Best Contemporary Instrumental Album category — his seventh nomination, which could turn into his first-ever Grammy win.

The San Francisco Symphony and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen notched two nominations for Best Orchestral Performance and Best Opera Recording for his recording of Stravinsky’s “The Firebird” and Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho’s “Adriana Mater,” respectively. (Saariaho, who died last year, was also nominated in the Best Contemporary Classical Composition category for the recording).

Also in the Best Opera Recording category is longtime Berkeley resident John Adams, the world-renowned composer and conductor. The Los Angeles Philharmonic’s recording of Adams’ Girls Of The Golden West, which he conducted, secured Adams his 15th nomination.