Frank Sinatra vs The Beatles: Who won the most Grammy Awards?
The 1950s and the 1960s are two of the most important decades in music, and at the heart of both were Frank Sinatra and The Beatles (respectively).
There was no escaping the impact of The Beatles when they climbed to the top of the charts in the US. Beatlemania was well and truly in full flow, and as people became more accustomed to the offerings of the four lads from Liverpool, so too did the rest of the music industry seem to mould itself around the band. Their impact was insurmountable, as they didn’t just change the way that music sounded, but also how it was made, marketed and released.
Watching in the wings was Frank Sinatra. I’m not sure if “bitter” is the right word, but it’s certainly not far off. The man had dominated the music scene throughout the ‘50s with a voice like warm butter, but now it seemed that the industry was moving on without him. He made an effort to revitalise his career as The Beatles were dominating the charts, and in doing so, he took a swipe at the long-haired heartthrobs.
In the mid-1960s, as Sinatra was attempting to reclaim the spotlight that he had grown so accustomed to standing in, he brought out a press release. Granted, this press release might not directly reference the Beatles, but it’s pretty hard to read it and not assume he was trying to poke fun at the band that was steadily taking over the world.
It read: “If you happen to be tired of kid singers wearing mops of hair thick enough to hide a crate of melons…”
If Sinatra wasn’t talking about the Beatles with these words, then there must have been some other band that looked exactly like them who were the intended recipients of ol’ blue eyes’ silver tongue. The two’s minor feud didn’t escalate much further than this, but the mere clash of heads does beg the question: who was better?
Of course, we could never possibly say, given that both artists have completely different styles and approaches to music, but we can look at the number of awards they both won and compare those figures. That seems fair, doesn’t it?
So, who won the most Grammys?
Across their run as the biggest band in the world, The Beatles picked up eight Grammy Awards, which is no small feat.
One of the most iconic came when Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band bagged ‘Album of the Year’. It wasn’t just a collection of songs, but a proper start-to-finish trip, showing just how far the album format could be pushed. It pulled fans into a colourful, strange new world, and set the bar for what a concept record could really look like.
While the Beatles’ eight Grammys are certainly impressive, it seems that Frank Sinatra has them beat, as throughout his career, he managed to bag a mighty impressive 13. The majority of these wins were for the excellent performances that he frequently put together, all of which had his astronomical voice at the centre. It’s difficult to hear Sinatra sing and not be somewhat moved by it, which the Grammy Awards seemed to agree with.
So, Frank Sinatra won more Grammy Awards, but does that necessarily make him better than the Fab Four? Of course not, this all comes down to personal preference, and rather than pick a side, we should just enjoy the fact that we get to share a timeline with such musical talent.
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