May 4th 1959 was the first ever Grammy Awards Ceremony. The night was by many accounts a huge success. Billboard, still called The Billboard at the time reveled that the awards show was a hit with a headline declaring that the night was a “..Well-Organized Affair As Top Stars Go On Parade.” Even after its first run, Billboard likened the Grammys to the Oscars and Emmys. The first ever Grammy evening was experienced in both Los Angeles and New York with events in each city on the same night. It’s a shame they don’t still do that nowadays…what a fun way to integrate a national platform!
Sinatra led the nominees with a whopping six nominations. The very first Record of the Year and Song of the Year awards both went to “Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare)” by Domenico Modugno despite Sinatra’s many noms. Album of the Year went to The Music from Peter Gunn by Henry Mancini.
Not to worry, Sinatra went home with his first Grammy, not for singing, but rather as art director for his Only the Lonely album that won Best Album Cover.
The Grammy’s have always been an evolution and have moved with the times and music’s ever-changing nature. Only 28 categories were presented back in 1959 but that number evolved over the years to 109 categories and then further narrowed down to 78 in 2012.
Other changes have included the way in which voting occurs. At one point in the history of the Grammys, voting members were only allowed to vote in up to nine genre fields on the first ballot and eight on their second ballot. Now on each ballot, members can vote on many more categories including Record of The Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist, which was not always voted on by the majority.
One more change of note is in naming of the categories. Of many revisions to titles, some of recognition are Musical Show is now Musical Theater; the Film/Television/Other Visual Media Field is now called Music For Visual Media and the Dance Field has been renamed the Dance/Electronica Field.
The show is not only a place for audiences to find out who’s on top in categories but it’s also a night to celebrate music. From epic performances from the who’s who of the music industry to fashion and gossip, the Grammy’s are always a talked about event worth viewing and reading about. We’ll just have to keep counting down the days to February 8th, 2015 to get our next fix!