The Grammys Are Concerned Toni Braxton's Awards Will Be Auctioned

August 2. 2011

The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), which is the organization that awards singers with Grammys, has made an appearance in singer Toni Braxton's bankruptcy case, out of concern the six awards she has won during her 20-year music career could be seized and auctioned, to satisfy her many debts.

Braxton fell seriously ill with breast cancer, lupus and angina, which made her unable to work for a time. As a result, Braxton fell behind on credit card payments to high end retailers and other financial obligations. Due to the fact she did not disclose the full extent of her health problems, the insurer that underwrote her Las Vegas performance policy, did not pay the $10,000,000 guarantee in the event her stage run abruptly ended.

Braxton's financial woes grabbed unflattering headlines last year, when she filed for bankruptcy, the second time in a decade, prompting claims she is a spendthrift not in charge of her financial affairs. Braxton's latest Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing, already saw her reluctantly relinquish her million dollar mansion in Atlanta, Georgia's Sugarloaf Country Club. The legal documents also list her Grammy awards among her possessions.

It's all good and fine that they made an appearance in the case, in an attempt to protect their brand. However, the Grammys are a complete farce now, when a screamer singer like Beyonce Knowles, among others, can criminally commit wholesale theft of valuable copyrights worth many millions and win more Grammy awards than Aretha Franklin, in one fifth the time. It says the organization's credibility is gone.

You are giving out Grammys like candy to people that did not earn them, which has taken the prestige and heft from your awards. I also have it on good authority, though you do not want the Grammy awards sold to non-recipients, the voting process can be bought to rig a desired outcome on behalf of artists that did not earn it. The aforementioned two problems, which will mushroom into a forthcoming scandal, when specific details are brought to light before the public, are the real issues the Grammys need to be focused on.