Controversy over winners and losers has been a part of the Grammy expertise for the reason that very first shows, which passed off on Might 4, 1959 — 65 years in the past in the present day. The most important controversy that yr needed to do with a disappointing displaying by Frank Sinatra, who was coming off one of many largest years of his lengthy profession. He had two No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 in 1958 — Come Fly with Me and Frank Sinatra Sings for Solely the Lonely.
Sinatra was the yr’s prime Grammy nominee, with six nods, together with two for album of the yr (the aforementioned albums) and two for greatest vocal efficiency, male (Come Fly with Me and “Witchcraft”). The star wound up successful only one award — and it wasn’t even for his singing. He took greatest album cowl for his artwork path of Solely the Lonely.
Sinatra attended the occasion, which was held within the Grand Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. — now greatest recognized for internet hosting the Golden Globes yearly. (There was a simultaneous occasion in New York Metropolis for East Coast denizens.) Different attendees on the Beverly Hilton included Sinatra’s fellow Rat Pack members Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin, in addition to fellow nominees Henry Mancini and Peggy Lee. Comic Mort Sahl served as MC.
Sinatra’s two nods for album of the yr little question labored in opposition to him in that class. (The foundations have since been modified so an artist can solely have one nomination as a lead artist in most classes.) The award went to Mancini for The Music from Peter Gunn. The album featured music from a weekly TV detective sequence that debuted in September 1958 and ran for 3 seasons. (Mancini’s album was launched after the Dec. 31, 1958 eligibility cut-off for the 1958 awards. It’s a thriller the way it was nominated within the first place. It was in all probability only a goof that slipped by the small workers on the fledgling Recording Academy. The various instruments that folks use in the present day to rapidly examine info didn’t exist again then, an period of rotary telephones and three x 5 playing cards.)
Along with album of the yr, Mancini received greatest association for that very same album. Mancini went on to win 20 Grammys, which was, for a few years, essentially the most received by any artist. (That title is at the moment held by Beyoncé with 33 awards.)
Perry Como‘s silky “Catch a Falling Star” received greatest vocal efficiency, male, beating the 2 Sinatra entries. “Witchcraft” and “Catch a Falling Star” have been each nominated for file of the yr, however misplaced to Domenico Modugno‘s lounge music staple “Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare).”
Along with file of the yr, Modugno took music of the yr for “Volare,” which is, to at the present time, the one foreign-language music to win file or music of the yr. “Volare” topped the Billboard Sizzling 100 for 5 weeks in 1958, although Modugno landed only one extra Sizzling 100 entry, a music that peaked at No. 97.
There have been simply 28 classes on the first Grammys, the bottom quantity ever. There have been 5 double winners — Mancini, Modugno, Ella Fitzgerald, Depend Basie and Ross Bagdasarian Sr., the creator of The Chipmunks.
Fitzgerald received two awards for various installments of her celebrated Music E book sequence, a becoming tribute to this versatile singer. Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Irving Berlin Music E book received greatest vocal efficiency, feminine. Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Music E book took greatest jazz efficiency, particular person.
Depend Basie received awards in several genres for a similar album (one thing that couldn’t occur in the present day). He took greatest efficiency by a dance band and greatest jazz efficiency, group, each for Basie.
Bagdasarian received greatest comedy efficiency and greatest recording for youngsters, each for “The Chipmunk Music,” which was a No. 1 hit on the Sizzling 100. The smash was additionally nominated for file of the yr. It’s, to at the present time, the one kids’s or comedy recording to be nominated in that class.
The Grammys have been the final of the 4 EGOT-level awards exhibits to get underway, arriving just a little greater than a decade after the third of the 4, the Emmys, rolled out. The primary Oscars have been offered on Might 16, 1929 on the Hollywood Roosevelt Resort. The primary Tony Awards have been offered on April 6, 1947 on the Waldorf-Astoria Resort in New York. The primary Primetime Emmys have been offered on Jan. 25, 1949 on the Hollywood Athletic Membership.
The primary Grammys have been a black-tie affair. “The Grammy Awards have been a proper occasion from the start and really a lot in step with the instances,” Christine Farnon, who was instrumental in organizing the primary present, was quoted as saying within the 2007 espresso desk ebook, And the Grammy Goes To… The Official Story of Music’s Most Coveted Award, written by David Wild. “As I recall, nobody objected to dressing black-tie again then, although like a lot else, that may change finally.” Farnon went on to be the academy’s govt vice chairman. She ran the academy for 35 years till her retirement in 1992 — an undersung pioneer for highly effective girls within the music trade.
Sinatra didn’t let his disappointing displaying on the 1st annual Grammy Awards hold him down for lengthy. He landed three extra nominations the next yr, and this time received album of the yr for Come Dance with Me! He would win that award two extra instances, for September of My Years (1966) and A Man and His Music (1967). This made him the primary two-time winner and likewise the primary three-time winner. On Feb. 4, 2024, Taylor Swift turned the primary four-time winner.
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