Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Last year marked the first since 2006 when a former American Idol contestant didn’t win at least one Grammy.

With five Grammys to her credit, Carrie Underwood was largely responsible for the Idol winning streak.

She’ll be trying to start a new one tonight, along with Kelly Clarkson.

Carrie is nominated for top solo country performance for “Blown Away.” Kelly is nominated in three categories, pop vocal album (“Stronger”), solo pop performance (“Stronger” the single) and record of the year (“Stronger” the single again).

“Stronger” is also up for song of the year and “Blown Away” is up for country song of the year. Both are song-writing awards. But, hey, the singer has more than a little to do with the nominations. I’m pretty sure the same songs performed by Papa Peachez wouldn’t have earned nominations.

Here’s a look at Carrie and Kelly’s competition:

Pop Vocal Album: The other nominees are Florence and The Machine with “Deremonials,” fun. with “Some Nights,” Maroon 5 with “Overexposed,” and Pink with “The Truth About Love.”

Solo Pop Performance: The other nominees are Adele for “Set Fire to the Rain,” Carly Rae Jepsen for “Call Me Maybe,” Katy Perry for “Wide Awake ” and Rihanna for “Where Have You Been.”

Record of the Year: The other nominees are “Lonely Boy” by The Black Keys, “Think About You” by Frank Ocean, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” by Taylor Swift, and “We Are Young” by fun.

Solo Country Performance: Carrie’s the only female nominee up against Dierks Bently for “Home,” Eric Church for “Springsteen,” Ronnie Dunn for “Cost of Living” and Hunter Hayes for “Wanted.”

Check back this evening. I’ll be posting photo galleries from the show.

And past Grammy wins by former Idols …

2006

Kelly Clarkson, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for “Since U Been Gone.”

Kelly Clarkson, Best Pop Vocal Album, for “Breakaway,” produced by Clive Davis.

2007

Carrie Underwood, Best New Artist.

Carrie Underwood, Best Female Country Vocal Performance for “Jesus Take the Wheel.”

2008

Carrie Underwood, Best Female Country Vocal Performance, for “Before He Cheats.”

2009

Jennifer Hudson, Best R&B Album, for her self-titled debut.

Carrie Underwood, Best Female Country Vocal Performance, for “Last Name.”

2010

Carrie Underwood, Best Country Collaboration, with Randy Travis for “I Told You So.”

2011

Fantasia, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, “Bittersweet.”