H.E.R., D’Mile (Dernst Emile II) and Tiara Thomas received an Oscar nomination for best original song on Monday (March 15), the morning after they won a Grammy for song of the year. Adding to the degree of difficulty here, the accolades are for two different songs. Their Oscar nomination is for “Fight for You” from Judas and the Black Messiah. Their Grammy win was for “I Can’t Breathe,” which became an anthem of the Black Lives Matter movement.
This is the first time in 35 years that a songwriter or songwriting team has received an Oscar nod in the same awards season that they won a Grammy for song of the year for a different song.
Lionel Richie was nominated for an Oscar on Feb. 5, 1986, for “Say You, Say Me” from White Nights. (The ballad went on to win the Oscar). Twenty days later, on Feb. 25, he won a Grammy for song of the year for “We Are the World.” He and Michael Jackson co-wrote that humanitarian anthem, which was one of the first socially conscious songs to win a Grammy in that top category.
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That feverish period was in many ways the pinnacle of Richie’s long career. Richie was 36 at the time. H.E.R. is much younger now — just 23. Thomas is 31. D Mile, who wasn’t on hand last night to accept his Grammy, is 36 — the same age Richie was when he hit the awards show jackpot.
On one other occasion, a songwriter or songwriting team received an Oscar nod in the same awards season that they won a Grammy for song of the year for a different song.
Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer were nominated for an Oscar on Feb. 24, 1964, for writing the title song from Charade. On May 12 of that year, they won a Grammy for song of the year for the title song from Days of Wine and Roses (which had won an Oscar the previous year).