Bowie producer Tony Visconti (rudely) rebukes Harry Styles

Harry Styles is definitely one of the best-known and meanwhile also the most important musicians of his generation. On Sunday (February 5) he received the Grammy for Best Album (for “Harry’s House”). A great honor, no question. But for Tony Visconti it’s all a size too big. The music producer is bothered by the fact that Harry Styles is compared to David Bowie in numerous comments and even overshadows him.

“What’s the difference between the Grammys and Las Vegas? There isn’t one!” wrote longtime collaborator and producer David Bowie in a now-deleted Facebook post. “Someone just told me that Harry Styles is the new Bowie. From what I’ve seen tonight I’d say he hardly has the stature to follow in his footsteps.”

Harry Styles had great Grammy competition

Of course, Visconti’s reckoning is pretty tough, if only because Harry Styles is actually quite modest and has never said of himself that he was the new Bowie. On the contrary, the former One Direction member had beaten the likes of ABBA, Adele, Beyoncé, Coldplay and Kendrick Lamar at the Grammys, but was very humble in his acceptance speech.

“On a night like this, there really aren’t any categories like “best in music”,” he said in front of an audience of millions around the world and in front of his many famous colleagues. “I don’t think any of us just sit in the studio and make decisions based on that, which eventually gets us one of these awards.” He ended his speech by thanking the Academy: “This is really really kind … this doesn’t happen to people like me very often, and this is so nice, thank you very much.”

Harry Styles has been nominated for a Grammy nine times during his solo career and has been awarded the trophy three times. Three more awards and he would have caught David Bowie. Read the full list of winners from the 2023 Grammy Awards here.

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