Musicians Institute has rich history in the music world, and since its foundation in 1977, has sent out some of the best musicians in the industry! We are proud of our students’ success in all areas of contemporary music, and especially of Musicians Institute’s GRAMMY nominations and wins throughout the years.
Along with having many students and alumni receive one of the music industry’s biggest honors, MI has many GRAMMY nominated faculty members, who work day in and day out in our classroom and studios to lead the next generations of music professionals in to the industry!
With over 100+ Grammy Award nominations and wins throughout the years, and every year, more of the MI community gets closer to achieving this honor.
Here are just a few of MI’s most recent and decorated GRAMMY nominated and winning MI alums and faculty:
Anderson .Paak
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An alum of MI’s Drum program, Anderson .Paak won two GRAMMYs in 2019, for Best R&B Album, Ventura, and Best R&B Performance for “Come Home,” featuring a verse from the legendary André 3000! In 2018, he also won a Best Rap Performance GRAMMY for “Bubblin,” and has been nominated a total of 5 times.
Francis Buckley
A longtime instructor in MI’s audio Engineering program, Buckley won Best Engineered Album at the 1997 Grammy Awards® for the Quincy Jones album “Q’s Jook Joint”. As an engineer and mixer, Buckley has contributed his expertise to other multi-platinum recordings, including The Pointer Sisters’ “Breakout”, Paula Abdul’s “Forever Your Girl”, Wilson Phillips’ “Wilson Phillips”, Alanis Morissette’s “Jagged Little Pill” to name a few.
Cassidy Turbin
Drum Program alum Cassidy Turbin has won 5 GRAMMYs through his work with Beck, including Best Alternative Music Album and Best Engineered Album, NON-Classical for Colors in 2018, and Album of the Year, Best Rock Album and Best Engineered Album , Non-Classical for Morning Phase.
Andres Torres
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A graduate of MI’s Drum program, Andres is a successful Latin music producer, who earned nominations for the worldwide hit, “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi. He was nominated for a GRAMMY in 2017 for Record of the Year for “Despacito,” and nominated for multiple Latin GRAMMYs for the song, along with many other hits.
Ray Luzier
In 1989, Ray graduated from the Drum program at Musicians Institute, and he went on to teach here from 1992 until 2001. He later joined the band Korn, as their drummer, and earned 2 GRAMMY nominations for Best Metal Performance in 2010 and 2016.
Derek Keota
Nominated in 2018 for Best Engineered Album (Non-Classical) for Head Over Heels by Chromeo, and in 2019 for Record of The Year for “Hard Place” by the artist H.E.R.
Synyster Gates
As a longtime member of hard rock band Avenged Sevenfold, Synyster Gates (Guitar program) earned a GRAMMY nomination in Best Rock Song for the “The Stage.”