TAMPA, Fla. — As we get closer to music's biggest night, we wanted to bring you the story of a local woman who still holds a pretty big Grammy title.
DeLeon Richards Sheffield's husband is a hometown hero, baseball great Gary Sheffield. However, DeLeon has her own claim to fame: She's a one-time Grammy nominee who still holds a pretty significant record.
We first introduced you to DeLeon a few years ago. Now, with the show happening this Sunday, we wanted to check in again on the Grammy's youngest individual nominee.
DeLeon was raised in a church surrounded by a family of ministers and pastors. It came easy for her to sing her praises to the Lord. At just six years old, she made her mark on the musical scene.
"There was a big gospel fest getting ready to happen at the Chicago stadium, and there was like 20,000 people there, and all the top gospel artists were on this program," DeLeon said.
Little DeLeon, with her big voice, sang two songs that day, making an impression on a top gospel recording label.
"And they said, 'we're interested, we like what we saw,'" DeLeon said. "Can we sign your daughter to a major recording deal?"
Her first album was how DeLeon--known as DeLeon Richards when she was nominated in 1985 -- earned her Grammy nomination for best female gospel soul performance. She was nine years old, becoming, at the time, the youngest Grammy nominee ever.
"I knew it was a really big deal for me to be a part of that at that age," DeLeon said. "I definitely understood what that was. So, I appreciated it. I was in the moment."
It's been three years since we last talked to DeLeon about that exciting time in her life, so we wanted to see how things are going for her and her family.
She says still looks forward to watching the Grammys each year.
"It was just a very exciting time, so I get to relive that each year that I turn the Grammys on. You know I've been back since, but that experience in itself is incomparable to anything else I've ever been a part of in my life. "
DeLeon and Gary's three sons are growing up. At ages 18, 14, and 13, they are all very athletic. DeLeon also runs a successful real estate office in Tampa and admits music has taken a back seat for a bit.
But, that's changing soon. She spent the last part of 2020 in the recording studio.
"The project that I'm doing is very unique in terms of how we recorded and what we did. I don't want to get into too much detail because I'm still waiting for things to kind of unfold and get the clearances that we need, but I'm really excited about it."
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