The Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals was an honor presented at the
Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards,[1] to recording artists for quality
pop songs on which singers collaborate. Awards in several categories are distributed annually by the
National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position."[2]
The award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals was first presented to
Al Green and
Lyle Lovett at the
37th Grammy Awards (1995) for the song "Funny How Time Slips Away". According to the category description guide for the
52nd Grammy Awards, the award was presented to artists that performed "newly recorded collaborative pop performances" that "do not normally perform together."[3]
In
1997, the father-daughter duo of
Nat King Cole and
Natalie Cole won the award for "
When I Fall in Love", a "virtual duet" remake of one of his signature hits, using a recording of his vocals more than 30 years after his death in 1965.[4]
Two-time award recipients include
Van Morrison,
Pink, Santana,
Alison Krauss, and
Robert Plant. Krauss and Plant are the only duo to win more than once, as well as the only consecutive winners. Christina Aguilera and
Stevie Wonder share the record for the most nominations, with six each.
The award was discontinued in 2012 in a major overhaul of Grammy categories. At that point, all duo or group performances in the pop category were shifted to the newly formed
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance category. The 2011 award for a cover version of "
Imagine" was the last one to be awarded in the Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals category.[5]