The list of nominees for the 2025 Grammy Awards was released on Nov. 8, and among those included was former President Jimmy Carter. Being recognized for one’s hard work is always an honor, and this marks the 10th nomination for the centenarian.
Carter was nominated in the Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling Recording category for his spoken-work album Last Sundays in Plains: A Centennial Celebration. He’s going up against Barbra Streisand (My Name is Barbra), Dolly Parton (Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones), George Clinton (…And Your A** Will Follow: Words + Music), and Guy Oldfield (All You Need is Love: The Beatles in Their Own Words).
Carter’s latest spoken-word album was released a few months ahead of his 100th birthday, and it includes recordings of the Sunday School lessons he delivered at the Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains, Georgia. The album also features music from LeAnn Rimes, Jon Batiste, Darius Rucker, Nicole Zuraitis, and Keb’ Mo’. Producer Kabir Sehgal described it as “a final culmination of President Carter’s Sunday school lessons for years, for decades.”
On Oct. 1, 2024, Carter celebrated his 100th birthday in Plains surrounded by his family and closest friends. The group indulged in cupcakes outdoors as World War II planes flew across the sky to honor the birthday celebrant. Carter was placed in hospice care in Feb. 2023, and at that time, some family members were concerned that he didn’t have long to live. In any case, Carter has stayed resilient after beating brain cancer and having a broken hip. When his son, Chip, asked whether he was trying to live to be 100, he answered, “No, I’m trying to live to vote for Kamala Harris.”
Carter fulfilled his wish and voted early. As his grandson Jason said, “he sat down and told everybody what he wanted to do, and was excited about it.” A family member then submitted his ballot at an absentee dropbox.
Jimmy Carter is breaking records
Living to be 100 years old is something to celebrate, and as one of Carter’s grandsons, Josh, said, “It’s a gift I didn’t know we were going to get.” There’s little news about his health, and his last public appearance was at the funeral of his wife Rosalynn who died in Nov. 2023, at 96 years old, just a few months after they celebrated their 77th wedding anniversary. At that time, Carter’s grandson, Jason, told the New York Times that his grandfather was “coming to the end, and he’s very, very physically diminished.”
Now, he is the longest-living U.S. president in history and the first to reach the triple digits. He’s also the oldest Grammy nominee ever with his recent nomination, and if he wins, he’ll be holding the title of the oldest Grammy winner. Blues musician Pinetop Perkins — who won a Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Album in 2011 at 97 years old — currently holds the record.
Carter has won three Grammys, all for the Best Spoken Word Album category: Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis (2006), A Full Life: Reflections at 90 (2015), and Faith — A Journey for All (2018). To date, Carter is the oldest-living Grammy winner. The 67th Annual Grammy Awards will be held on Feb. 2, 2025.