What was the first record to win ‘Album of the Year’ at the Grammys?
The Grammy award for ‘Album of The Year’ is one of the most prestigious prizes in music. Every year since 1959, it’s sought to “honour artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales, chart position, or critical reception”. However, what was the first record to receive this coveted award?
To answer that question, we need to jump back to May 4th, 1959. That evening, the biggest names in music, including Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra, gathered for a sumptuous black-tie dinner in the Beverly Hilton hotel’s Grand Ballroom. Thousands of miles away, a simultaneous event was being held in New York, where yet more Academy members were sitting down in an equally opulent ballroom.
The Grammys was full of surprises from the very beginning. Though Sinatra led in all categories with a total of six nominations, he was not the night’s biggest winner. Indeed, ‘Record Of The Year’ and ‘Song of The Year’ went to Domenico Modugno’s song ‘Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu‘. The Puglian singer reportedly used the money from the surprise hit to buy a Ferrari. Sadly, the car was later totalled in an accident. Bad luck, Domenico.
The Academy clearly had a taste for bold orchestral recordings in 1959. That same year, ‘Album of The Year’ went to Henry Mancini’s score for Peter Gunn. Frequently cited as one of the most important film composers of the 1960s, Mancini’s music for films like Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The Pink Panther and Love Story is simply iconic. These pieces are engrained in the cultural psyche to such an extent that most people can hum ‘Moon River’ or ‘The Pink Panther Theme’ not knowing a single thing about the person who made it.
Don’t feel too sorry for Sinatra, though. The crooner didn’t go home empty-handed, picking up his first Grammy not for singing but for his work as an art director on Only The Lonely, which won ‘Best Album Cover’. Ella Fitzgerald, meanwhile, took home the award for ‘Best Vocal Performance, Female’.
If you’ve not heard Mancini’s Peter Gunn score, listen below. We’d also recommend tracking down his soaring scores for Mr Lucky, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Charade, and his take on Michael Legrande’s ‘The Summer Knows’, the greatest TV theme of all time.
