Grammy Award

The Grammy Awards (originally called the Gramophone Awards), presented by the Recording Academy (an association of Americans professionally involved in the recorded music industry) for outstanding achievements in the recording industry, is one of four major music awards shows held annually in the United States (the Billboard Music Awards, the American Music Awards, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, make up the rest). However, the Grammys, usually held in February (last of what are considered the "big three" music awards shows, including the BMA and AMA shows), are considered the approximate equivalent to the Oscars in the music world.

Like the Oscars, the Grammys, which currently have 108 categories within 30 genres of music such as pop, gospel, and rap, are voted upon by peers (voting members of the Recording Academy) rather than being based upon popularity like the AMAs or sales and chart achievements like the BMAs.

The awards are named for the trophy which the winner receives—a small gilded statuette of a gramophone, handcrafted by Billings Artworks. The awards ceremony features performances by prominent artists, and some of the more prominent Grammys are presented in a widely-viewed televised ceremony.

Some feel that Grammys tend to go to either well-established artists or those being hyped by the recording industry. In fact, many popular artists such as Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Garth Brooks, Pink Floyd, Kenny Rogers, The Rolling Stones, Metallica, Van Halen, and Ozzy Osbourne have been awarded very few Grammys. Mariah Carey had only won two Grammy awards up until the awards of 2006; she now has won a total of five. Significant, long-lived rock bands like Led Zeppelin, Bon Jovi, Guns N' Roses, Def Leppard, Queen, AC/DC, and Mötley Crüe have received none. On the other hand, U2 has received 22 awards to date.

Of the "big three" music awards shows, the Grammys are the highest rated.

The eligibility period for the Grammys begins November 1. For example, John Lennon & Yoko Ono's album Double Fantasy was released in November 17, 1980, 16 days too late to qualify for the 1981 Grammys; it was entered for the 1982 awards and eventually won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year.

The Grammys are currently broadcast on CBS. Prior to the first live Grammys telecast in 1971 on ABC (CBS bought the rights in 1973 after moving the ceremony to Nashville, Tennessee; the American Music Awards were created for ABC as a result), a series of taped annual specials in the 1960s called The Best on Record were broadcast on NBC.

Grammy records

The record for most lifetime Grammys is held by Sir Georg Solti, who was the conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for twenty-two years. He personally won 31 Grammys and is listed for 38 Grammys (6 went to the engineer and 1 to a soloist); he was nominated an additional 74 times before his death in 1997.

Pat Metheny and the Pat Metheny Group have won 17 Grammys in total, including seven consecutive awards for seven consecutive albums. Metheny held the record for Grammy wins in the most different categories as of the 2005 Grammy Awards:

Best Jazz Fusion Performance (1983, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1990)

Best Instrumental Composition (1991)

Best Contemporary Jazz Performance/Album (1993, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2003, 2005)

Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Individual or Group (1998, 2000)

Best Rock Instrumental Performance (1999)

Best Jazz Instrumental Solo (2001)

Session drummer Hal Blaine played on six consecutive records which won Record of the Year:

1966 Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass - "A Taste of Honey"

1967 Frank Sinatra - "Strangers in the Night"

1968 5th Dimension - "Up, Up and Away"

1969 Simon & Garfunkel - "Mrs. Robinson"

1970 5th Dimension - "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In"

1971 Simon & Garfunkel - "Bridge Over Troubled Water"

Alison Krauss (as a solo artist, collaborator, producer and with Union Station) has taken home 20 Grammy Awards, the most of any female artist or any country artist. She is now tied for 7th on the all-time winners list.

Motown artist Stevie Wonder has won 24 awards, including 12 in the 1970s. Three of those awards were for Album of the Year for three consecutive albums.

Legendary Opera Diva Leontyne Price has won 18 awards.

Soul and R&B legend Aretha Franklin has won 11 awards for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, including 8 consecutive (and the first 8 ever awarded) awards in the category:

1968 - "Respect"

1969 - "Chain of Fools"

1970 - "Share Your Love With Me"

1971 - "Don't Play That Song"

1972 - "Bridge Over Troubled Water"

1973 - Young, Gifted, and Black

1974 - "Master of Eyes"

1975 - "Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing"

1982 - "Hold On, I'm Comin'"

1986 - "Freeway of Love"

1988 - Aretha

The most Grammys won in a single night is eight -- a record shared by Michael Jackson (1983) and Carlos Santana (2000).

Michael Jackson:

Record of the Year - Beat It

Album of the Year - Thriller

Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male - Thriller

Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male - Beat It

Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male - Billie Jean

Best Rhythm & Blues Song - Billie Jean

Best Recording For Children - E.T. The Extra Terrestrial

Producer Of The Year (Non-Classical)

Santana:

Record Of The Year - Smooth

Album Of The Year - Supernatural

Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal - Maria Maria

Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals - Smooth

Best Pop Instrumental Performance - El Farol

Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal - Put Your Lights On

Best Rock Instrumental Performance - The Calling

Best Rock Album - Supernatural

The record for most Grammys (5) won in a single night by a female artist is held by four artists: Beyoncé Knowles 2004, Norah Jones 2003, Alicia Keys 2002, Lauryn Hill 1999

Beyoncé: