Hearing your name even once is a thrill, but repetition is the ultimate goal.
From left: The Chicks, Alabama and Lady A.
Illustrated by Eleanor Shakespeare
Old Dominion have a chance to make history at the 58th Annual CMA Awards on Nov. 20, becoming the first group to win Vocal Group of the Year seven years in a row. Three other groups have won six years in a row – The Statler Brothers (1972-77), Rascal Flatts (2003-08) and Little Big Town (2012-17).
Some important notes: After their six-year winning streak, the Statlers came back to win the division three more times, for a total of nine non-consecutive wins – the most by any division. And The Judds won either Vocal Group of the Year or Vocal Duo of the Year seven years in a row (1985-91). But their wins were split in those two categories.
This requires a little explanation. In the three years that the Judds won Vocal Group of the Year (1985–87), the Vocal Duo of the Year category was reserved for one-off collaborations rather than ongoing duets. In 1988, the collaborations moved into a new category, the vocal event of the year. Vocal Duo of the Year is reserved for ongoing established duets. (In 2004, Vocal Event of the Year was renamed Musical Event of the Year.)
Once CMA voters embrace a group in this category, there's a very good chance that act will go on a long winning streak. There were five different winners in the first five years of the award (1967-71), but since 1972, all but two winners – The Oak Ridge Boys and Lonestar – have won multiple awards in the category.
Here's a look back at all the groups that have won the CMA Award for Vocal Group of the Year multiple times.
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Highway 101, 2
Won: 1988, 1989
Highway 101 was the first band (as opposed to a duo) to win in this category. The group was founded in 1986 in Los Angeles. The original lineup consisted of Paulette Carlson (lead vocals), Jack Daniels (guitar), Curtis Stone (bass, vocals) and Scott “Cactus” Moser (drums). Before forming the band, Carlson was a solo artist.
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Kentucky Headhunters, 2
Won: 1990, 1991
The Kentucky Headhunters were the second group (after Alabama) to win in this category with a name that saluted their state. The members are Doug Phelps (bass, vocals), Greg Martin (lead guitar, vocals), and brothers Richard Young (rhythm guitar, vocals) and Fred Young (drums, vocals). The band was formed in 1968. Youngs and Martin began performing as The Kentucky Headhunters in 1986, adding brothers Ricky Lee Phelps (lead vocals, harmonica) and Doug Phelps to the lineup.
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The Mavericks, 2
Won: 1995, 1996
The Mavericks hail from Miami. The band consists of Raúl Malo (lead vocals, guitar), Paul Deakin (drums), Eddie Perez (lead guitar) and Jerry Dale McFadden (keyboards). Malo and Deakin founded the band in 1989 with Robert Reynolds (bass guitar) and Ben Peeler (lead guitar).
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Alabama, 3
Won: 1981, 1982, 1983
Alabama was the first team to win this category with a name that saluted their state. The band was formed in Fort Payne, Alabama in 1969 by Randy Owen (lead, rhythm guitar) and his cousin Teddy Gentry (bass, backing vocals). They were soon joined by another cousin, Jeff Cook (lead guitar, fiddle and keyboards). First working under the name Young Country and then Wildcountry, they changed their name to Alabama in 1977.
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The Jads, 3
Won: 1985, 1986, 1987
The Judds were the first all-female group to win in this category. They won Vocal Group of the Year three times before the CMA moved them to the Vocal Duo of the Year category, which they won the next four years (1988-91). The Judds consisted of lead singer Wynonna Judd and her mother, Naomi Judd. After Naomi was diagnosed with Hepatitis C, the duo broke up and Wynonna embarked on a successful solo career. After a long battle with physical and mental health issues and shortly after announcing a reunion tour, Naomi Judd took her own life in 2022.
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Mrs. A, 3
Won: 2009, 2010, 2011
Lady A was the second team (after Highway 101) to win in this category. Formed in Nashville in 2006, the band consists of Hillary Scott (vocals), Charles Kelley (vocals, guitar) and Dave Haywood (vocals, guitar, piano, mandolin). Scott is the daughter of country music singer Linda Davis. Kelley is the brother of pop singer Josh Kelley. The band shortened their name from Lady Antebellum to Lady A in June 2020 to escape the name's associations with Antebellum South. The name change came amid protests following the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.
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Diamond Rio, 4
Won: 1992, 1993, 1994, 1997
The Mavericks snapped Diamond Rio's winning streak by winning in 1995 and 1996, but Diamond Rio came back to win again in 1997. Diamond Rio was founded in 1982 as an attraction at Nashville's Opryland USA theme park in Nashville. After undergoing several member changes in its early years, the band consisted of the same six members from 1989 to 2022: Marty Roe (vocals, rhythm guitar), Gene Johnson (mandolin, guitar, fiddle, tenor vocals), Jimmy Olander ( lead guitar, banjo), Brian Prout (drums), Dan Truman (keyboards) and Dana Williams (bass, baritone vocals).
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The chicks, 4
Won: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002
The Chicks were the second all-female group to win the category, after The Judds. Lonestar snapped the Chicks' winning streak in 2001, before the Chicks came back to win again in 2002. The Chicks were formed in Dallas. The band consists of Natalie Maines (lead vocals, guitar, bass) and sisters Martie Maguire (vocals, fiddle, mandolin, guitar) and Emily Strayer (vocals, guitar, banjo, Dobro). Maguire and Strayer, both born Erwin, founded the band in 1989. Like Lady A, The Chicks changed their name in 2020 amid that year's racial reckoning. They were formerly known as the Dixie Chicks.
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Rascal Flatts, 6
Won: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
Rascal Flatts were the second group to win six years in a row in this category, after The Statler Brothers. Formed in 1999 in Nashville, the trio consists of Gary LeVox (lead vocals), Jay DeMarcus (bass, backing vocals) and Joe Don Rooney (lead guitar, backing vocals). DeMarcus is LeVox's second cousin. LeVox and DeMarcus are both natives of Columbus, Ohio. They have recently reunited for a 2025 tour.
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Little Big Town, 6
Won: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017
Little Big Town was the third group to win six consecutive years in this category, following The Statler Brothers and Rascal Flatts. Little Big Town has won in this category more often than any other band. The quartet has had the same four members since its inception in 1998: Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman (née Roads), Phillip Sweet and Jimi Westbrook. Fairchild and Westbrook have been a married couple since 2006. Little Big Town's musical style is rooted in four-part vocal harmonies, with the members taking turns as lead singers.
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Old Dominion, 6
Won: 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
Old Dominion is the fourth group to win six years in a row in this category, following The Statler Brothers, Rascal Flatts and Little Big Town. Formed in Nashville, Old Dominion consists of songwriters Matthew Ramsey (codes, rhythm guitar), Trevor Rosen (rhythm guitar, keyboards), Whit Sellers (drums), Geoff Sprung (bass) and Brad Tursi (lead guitar). . ).
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The Statler Brothers, 9
Won: 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1984
In addition to winning the most overall awards in this category, the Statlers are the only group with three separate stints as winners in the category. The group won six straight years before losing to The Oak Ridge Boys in 1978. They won twice more, then lost to Alabama from 1981-83 and won again in 1984 for the ninth and final time. The Statlers, a country and gospel vocal group from Staunton, Virginia, formed in 1955. From 1964 to 1972, they sang as an open act and backup singers for Johnny Cash.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/lists/cma-awards-vocal-group-of-the-year-winners-multiple-times/
