Advertisement

Brooksville couple win their first Grammy for children's album

 
Tim and Laura Battersby of Brooksville, seen here at the West Hernando Library, won a Grammy Award for children’s music.
Tim and Laura Battersby of Brooksville, seen here at the West Hernando Library, won a Grammy Award for children’s music.
Published Feb. 23, 2012

BROOKSVILLE — Over the past three decades, they have performed on Sesame Street and on NBC's Today show, entertained a half-dozen times at the White House and played before thousands of schoolchildren.

Tim and Laura Battersby can now add an accolade they have coveted for a long time.

They're Grammy Award winners.

The Brooksville couple, who perform as the Battersby Duo, were among those who received the award for Best Children's Album on Feb. 12 for contribution of their song I Know a Kid to the compilation album All About Bullies ... Big And Small.

"Winning a Grammy is flattering for any musician," Tim Battersby said. "But to win for a project we really believed in is incredibly satisfying for us. It's something we'll always treasure."

Produced by the Battersbys' longtime friends James Cravero and Steve Pullara, in conjunction with the PACER Center's National Bullying Prevention Center, the album contains 37 songs based on awareness of school bullying.

Other artists who contributed included actress Heidi Swedberg, Bruce Springsteen sideman Steven Van Zandt and children's author Barry Louis Polisar.

For the Battersbys, who have called Brooksville home for the past six years, the recording project held special meaning.

"We perform in schools all the time, so we know that bullying is a huge concern among teachers and parents," Tim Battersby said. "The hope is that through music we can offer some positive alternatives to children going through those situations."

The Battersbys aren't strangers to the Grammy scene. Last year, their album Sunny Days received a nomination for Best Children's Album. The couple flew to the awards ceremony in Los Angeles and even got a chance to hobnob with music stars such as Whitney Houston and Ringo Starr.

This year, however, the Battersbys were on the road when they learned the news of their win.

The Battersbys are currently at work on their ninth children's album, I'm on the Old Side of Young, which they plan to release next month.

And the couple are staying busy touring.

"That's our life," Battersby said. "We wouldn't trade it for anything at all."

Logan Neill can be reached at (352) 848-1435 or lneill@tampabay.com.