CRAS Alums Grabs Grammy Noms

Gilbert, AZ (February 8, 2016)—Two Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences (CRAS) graduates have been nominated for four 2016 Grammy Awards, while 38 CRAS graduates worked on 2016 Grammy-nominated projects in 36 categories.

“We are very proud of all of our graduates, and we will be well represented at the upcoming Grammy Awards,” said Kirt Hamm, administrator for CRAS, which comprises two neighboring campuses in Gilbert and Tempe, AZ. “Sam (Holland), Justin (Merrill), all of our nominated-graduates, as well as all of our graduates that are living their dream in this business are fine examples of where hard work and dedication can take you. I know we will all be tuning in on February 15 to see who wins.”).

Holland was nominated for his recording engineer work on both Record of the Year (“1989”) and Song of the Year (“Blank Space”) for Taylor Swift, as well as recording engineer for The Weeknd’s Album of the Year nomination (Beauty Behind the Madness).

Merrill was nominated for Best Engineered Album, Classical for the album Ask Your Mamaby George Manahan and the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra.

“CRAS gave me a good running start into the music industry…great real world knowledge and skills,” said Merrill. “I can only imagine how much it has improved in the past 10 years.”