What 7 Of This Year's Grammy Winners Were Doing Before The Glow Up

The phrase "overnight success" is too often thrown around in conversations concerning the greats—music giants, especially. We look at someone like R&B singer Maxwell, for example, and assume his current glory is the stuff of serendipity—and perhaps so. But the truth is, overnight success is but a myth. No one really emerges a legend through osmosis. Your favorite artists have back stories, a whole other life before the fame and fortune.

The 59th Grammy Awards were hosted on Sunday night (Feb. 12), live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. With 84 categories in all, the Grammys are not always just about the biggest names. Sometimes, when the Recording Academy gets it right, they're about the music. And while some of our favorites accepted their respective coveted Gramophones in all their glitz and glamour, many of them are a far cry from who they used to be. See above what seven Grammy winners were doing before the glow-up… you might be surprised.