Bengaluru-based musician Ricky Kej has made India proud by winning the Grammy for best Immersive Audio Album for ‘Divine Tides’ with rock-legend Stewart Copeland of British rock band The Police. With this Kej has become the only Indian to win three Grammy Awards.
At the 65th Annual Grammy Awards, the duo earned the gramophone trophy in the best immersive audio album winner category.
It is to be noted that earlier, Ricky Kej won two Grammy Awards under the Best New Age Album Category. In 2015 he won the Grammy for his Album ‘Winds of Samsara’, and in 2022 he won the same for his album ‘Divine Tides'.
While speaking about his album after the Grammy nomination, Kej said, “It feels absolutely surreal to win the biggest prize in music again for the third time. I am extremely grateful to have had another opportunity to make my country India proud by achieving this on the biggest platform in the world for music.”
Thereafter, by thanking everyone Kej said, “I’d like to thank the Recording Academy for this honour, my collaborators Stewart Copeland, Herbert Waltl, Eric Schilling, and everyone else who made this album possible.”
Congratulating the duo for their win Recording Academy, the organisation behind Grammy Awards wrote on its official Twitter handle, "Congrats Best Immersive Audio Album winner - 'Divine Tides' Eric Schilling, immersive mix engineer; @copelandmusic, @rickykej & Herbert Waltl, immersive producers (Stewart Copeland & Ricky Kej) #GRAMMYs.”
Ricky Kej and Stewart Copeland collaborated in 2016. Stewart Copeland said that he got a call from Kej about making an album and he agreed for the same. According to Kej, for ‘Winds of Samsara’ recordings got delayed due to the prevalence of COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. However, strict lockdowns presented an opportunity to spend more time in the studio.
