Jimmy Carter Seems a Shoo-In to Win His 4th Grammy

Even before his death on Sunday (Dec. 29) at age 100, Jimmy Carter already seemed a shoo-in to win his fourth Grammy at the 67th Grammy Awards on Feb. 2. But with his death, his victory seems even more certain. Final-round Grammy voting continues through Friday (Jan. 3).

But one thing has changed with the former president’s death. Carter had seemed likely to set a new record as the oldest Grammy winner in history. Now, if he wins, the award will be posthumous. Technically, the oldest recipient will continue to be blues pianist Pinetop Perkins, who was 97 years and 221 days old on Feb. 13, 2011 when he won best traditional blues album for Joined at the Hip, a collab with Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, a blues harmonica player. (Perkins died about six weeks later, on March 21, 2011.)

Carter is nominated for best audio book, narration and storytelling recording for Last Sundays in Plains: A Centennial Celebration. The other nominees in the category are All You Need Is Love: The Beatles in Their Own Words (Guy Oldfield, producer), George Clinton’s …And Your Ass Will Follow, Dolly Parton’s Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones and Barbra Streisand’s My Name Is Barbra. (Oldfield, 55, is the only nominee in this category who’s under 75. Parton is 78, Streisand is 82 and Clinton is 83.)

This will likely be Carter’s fourth win in this category, which will enable him to break out of a tie with poet Maya Angelou for the most wins in the category. Carter won in 2007 for Our Endangered Values, in 2016 for A Full Life: Reflections at 90 and in 2019 for Faith: A Journey for All. Angelou won in 1994 for On the Pulse of Morning, in 1996 for Phenomenal Woman and in 2003 for A Song Flung Up to Heaven.

Carter will also likely extend his record as the U.S. president with the most Grammy wins. Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have each won two Grammys.

Carter was a late-comer to Grammy glory. He was 82 when he won his first Grammy. He had lost on his first three tries.

If you’re curious, the second-oldest person ever to win a Grammy is Tony Bennett, who was 95 years and 243 days old in 2022 when he won for best traditional pop vocal album for Love for Sale, a collab with Lady Gaga. (He died in 2023.) Third-oldest is comedian George Burns, who was 95 years and 31 days old in 1991 when he won best spoken word or non-musical recording album for Gracie: A Love Story, a salute to his wife and comedy partner Grace Allen. (He died in 1996.) Fourth-oldest is Carter, who was 94 and 132 days old in 2019 when he won best spoken word album for Faith: A Journey for All.