What happened at the first-ever Grammy Awards?
On May 4th, 1959, the inaugural Grammy Awards was held. It was a more modest affair than today, with a strict dress code reflecting what has been a change of the times. However, the event set a precedent for its future by boasting the day’s biggest stars as nominees. Attendees included the Rat Pack trio of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, and Dean Martin, as well as the likes of Johnny Mercer, Henry Mancini, Gene Autry and André Previn.
Indicative of the spirit of the age, the first Grammy Awards was a black-tie dinner and presentation. In a distinction from today, two ceremonies were held simultaneously. The first was inside the Grand Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, with the other at New York City’s Park Sheraton Hotel.
The late Christine Farnon, an event producer at the first Grammys and future Executive Vice President of the Recording Academy, remembered what occurred on the Grammys’ official website: “The Grammy Awards were a formal event from the beginning and very much in keeping with the times,” she said. “As I recall, no one objected to dressing black-tie back then, though like so much else, that would change eventually.”
The Los Angeles event was hosted by Mort Sahl, a man once dubbed ‘The First Modern Comedian’. In another reflection of the era, the show even featured a musical sketch entitled How South Was My Pacific. Although the sketch is far removed from what we now see at the Grammys, it laid the foundations for what came later in the ceremony’s penchant for the weird and wonderful. This ranges from Paul McCartney and Linkin Park’s strange 2006 mashup to 2023’s all-star celebration of hip-hop turning 50.
The Grammys’ official website reports that the inaugural ceremony was a resounding success. Even Billboard – then named The Billboard – compared the debut to the Oscars and Emmys, two established traditions running since 1929 and 1949, respectively. A portion of the publication’s account reads: “It sharply contrasted similar affairs staged by the two older entertainment academies in its precision-like pace in handling the presentations.”
Only 28 categories were presented at the first Grammys, less than a third of the 91 there are today. Unsurprisingly, Frank Sinatra led the other hopefuls that evening with six nominations in total. Yet, the night didn’t go as expected for him. Italian musician Domenico Modugno took home the first ‘Record of the Year’ and ‘Song of the Year’ awards for ‘Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare)’. Elsewhere, ‘Album of the Year’ went to Henry Mancini’s The Music from Peter Gunn. Sinatra won in one of the categories, though. Ironically, this was as art director for Only the Lonely, which won ‘Best Album Cover’.
The array of winners at the first Grammys indicated the diversity the ceremony would be known for in the coming years. For instance, Ella Fitzgerald won ‘Best Vocal Performance, Female’, David Seville and the Chipmunks conquered ‘Best Comedy Performance’ and The Champs took home ‘Best Rhythms & Blues Performance’ for the indomitable ‘Tequila’.
Find the complete list of nominees and winners from the first Grammys below.
Winners at the first Grammy Awards:
‘Best Album Cover’
- Frank Sinatra – Only the Lonely – WINNER
- Frank Sinatra – Come Fly with Me
- Ira Ironstrings – Music for Peopl with $3.98
- Julie London – Julie
- Ray Rennahan – For Whom the Bell Tolls
‘Best Musical Composition First Recorded and Released in 1958 (Over Five Minutes Duration)’
- Nelson Riddle – ‘Cross Country Suite’ – WINNER
- Johnny Mandel – ‘I Want To Live’
- Kurt Weill, composer (Lotte Lenya) – ‘Mahagonny’
- Richard Rodgers, composer (Robert Russell Bennett) – Victory At Sea Vol II
- Samuel Barber, composer (Dimitri Metropoulos, cond.; Steber, Elias, Etc.) – ‘Vanessa’
‘Best Album Of The Year’
- Henry Mancini – The Music from Peter Gunn – WINNER
- Ella Fitzgerald – Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Irving Berlin Songbook
- Frank Sinatra – Only the Lonely
- Frank Sinatra – Come Fly with Me
- Van Cliburn – Tchaikovsky: Concerto No. 1 in B Flat Minor, Op. 23
‘Best Arrangement’
- Henry Mancini – The Music from Peter Gunn – WINNER
- Billy May – Billy May’s Big Fat Brass
- Billy May – Come Fly with Me
- Jack Marshall – Fever
- Nelson Riddle – Witchcraft
‘Best Classical Performance – Orchestra’
- Felix Slatkin conducting the Hollywood Bowl Symphony – ‘Gaite Parisienne’ – WINNER
- Bruno Walter conducting the Columbia Symphony Orchestra – Beethoven: ‘Symphony No. 6 in F Major’
- Charles Munch conducting the Boston Symphony – Barber: ‘Meditation and Dance of Vengeance’
- Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic – Stravinsky: ‘Le Sacre du Printemps’
- Pierre Monteux conducting the London Symphony – Rimsky-Korsakov: ‘Scheherazade’
‘Best Classical Performance – Chamber Music’
- Hollywood String Quartet – Beethoven: ‘Quartet No – 130’ – WINNER
- Budapest String Quartet – Ravel: ‘Quartet in F Major’ / Debussy: ‘Quartet in G Minor’
- Jascha Heifetz, William Primrose, Gregor Piatigorsky – Beethoven: ‘Trio in E Flat, Op.3’
- Jascha Heifetz, William Primrose, Gregor Piatigorsky – Beethoven: ‘Trio in G, Op. 9, No. 1/Trio in C Minor, Op. 9, No. 3’
- Pablo Casals, Eugene Istomin, Fuchs – Beethoven: ‘Trio in E Flat Major/Trio in D Major’
‘Best Classical Performance – Instrumental’
- Van Cliburn, Kondrashin Symphony – Tchaikovsky: ‘Concerto No. 1 in B Flat Minor, Op. 23’ – WINNER
- Andree Segovia – ‘Segovia Golden Jubilee’
- Emil Gilels – Brahms: ‘Piano Concerto No.2’
- Isaac Stern – Bartok: ‘Concerto for Violin’
- Leonard Pennario – Rachmaninoy: ‘Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini’
‘Best Classical Performance – Operatic Or Choral’
- Roger Wagner Chorale – ‘Virtuoso’ – WINNER
- Dimitri Mitropoulos – Barber: ‘Vanessa’
- Dom David Nicholson – Victoria: ‘Requiem Mass’
- Erich Leinsdorf – Donizetti: ‘Lucia di Lammermoor’
- Maria Callas, Tito Gobbi – Rossini: ‘Barber of Seville’
‘Best Classical Performance – Vocal Soloist’
- Renata Tebaldi – ‘Recital of Songs and Arias’ – WINNER
- Eileen Farrell – ‘Eileen Farrell as Medea’
- Eileen Farrell – Wagner; ‘Prelude and Liebestod’ (Tristan and Isolde) / ‘Brunnhilde’s Immolation’
- Maria Callas – Cherubini: ‘Medea’
- Salli Terri – ‘Duets for Spanish Guitar’
‘Best Comedy Performance’
- David Seville – ‘The Chipmunk Song’ – WINNER
- Mike Nichols, Elaine May – ‘Improvisations to Music’
- Mort Sahl – ‘The Future Lies Ahead’
- Stan Freberg – ‘Green Christmas’
- Stan Freberg – ‘The Best of the Stan Freberg Shows’
‘Best Country And Western Performance’
- Kingston Trio – ‘Tom Dooley’ – WINNER
- Everly Brothers – ‘All I Have To Do Is Dream’
- Everly Brothers – ‘Bird Dog’
- Don Gibson – ‘Oh Lonesome Me’
- Jimmie Rodgers – ‘Oh, Oh, I’m Falling in Love Again’
‘Best Dance Band Performance’
- Count Basie – Basie – WINNER
- Jonah Jones – Baubles, Bangles and Beads
- Perez Prado – Patricia
- Ray Anthony – The Music from Peter Gunn
- Warren Covington & the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra – Tea for Two Cha Cha
‘Best Documentary Or Spoken Word Recording’
- Stan Freberg – The Best of the Stan Freberg Shows – WINNER
- Henry Jacobs – Two Interviews of Our Time
- Marion Anderson – The Lady from Philadelphia
- Melvyn Douglas, Vincent Price, Carl Sandburg, Ed Begley – Great American Speeches
- Stan Freberg – Green Christmas
‘Best Engineered Record – Classical’
- Sherwood Hall III, engineer (Laurindo Almeida, guitar; Salli Terri, vocals) – ‘Duets With A Spanish Guitar’ – WINNER
- A N, engineer (Leonard Bernstein, conductor) – Stravinsky: ‘Rite of Spring’
- A N, engineer (Fritz Reiner) – ‘Song Of The Nightingale’
- Sherwood Hall III, engineer (Felix Slatkin, conductor) – Gaiete Parisienne
‘Best Engineered Record – Non-Classical’
- Ted (Theodore) Keep, engineer (David Seville) – ‘The Chipmunk Song’ – WINNER
- Hugh Davies, engineer (Billy May) – ‘Billy May’s Big Fat Brass’
- Luis P. (Val) Valentin, engineer (Frank Sinatra) – Come Fly With Me
- Luis P. (Val) Valentin, engineer (Frank Sinatra) – ‘Witchcraft’
- Rafael O. Valentin, engineer (Esquivel) – ‘Other Worlds, Other Sounds’
‘Best Female Vocal Performance’
- Ella Fitzgerald – Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Irving Berlin Songbook – WINNER
- Doris Day – Everybody Loves a Lover
- Eydie Gorme – Eydie in Love
- Keely Smith – I Wish You Love
- Peggy Lee – Fever
‘Best Group Jazz Performance’
- Count Basie – Basie – WINNER
- Basie Rhythm Section, Dave Lambert Singers – Sing a Song of Basie
- Four Freshmen – The Four Freshmen in Person
- George Shearing – Burnished Brass
- Jonah Jones – Baubles, Bangles and Beads
‘Best Group Or Chorus Vocal Performance’
- Louis Prima, Keely Smith – ‘That Old Black Magic’ – WINNER
- Kingston Trio – ‘Tom Dooley’
- Kirby Stone Four – ‘Baubles, Bangles, and Beads’
- Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross – ‘Sing a Song of Basie’
- The King Sisters – ‘Imagination’
‘Best Individual Jazz Performance’
- Ella Fitzgerald – Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Song Book – WINNER
- George Shearing – Burnished Brass
- Johan Jones – Baubles, Bangles and Beads
- Jonah Jones – Jumpin’ with Jonah
- Matty Mattock – Dixieland Story
‘Best Male Vocal Performance’
- Perry Como – ‘Catch A Falling Star’ – WINNER
- Andy Williams – ‘Hawaiian Wedding Song’
- Domenico Modugno – ‘Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare)’
- Frank Sinatra – ‘Come Fly With Me’
- Frank Sinatra – ‘Witchcraft’
‘Best Musical Composition’
- Nelson Riddle – ‘Cross Country Suite’ – WINNER
- Johnny Mandel – ‘I Want to Live’
- Kurt Weill – ‘Mahagonny’
- Richard Rodgers – ‘Victory at Sea, Vol. 3’
- Samuel Barber – ‘Vanessa’
‘Best Orchestra Performance’
- Billy May – Billy May’s Big Fat Brass – WINNER
- Buddy Defranco – Cross Country Suite
- George Shearing – Burnished Brass
- Johny Mandel – I Want to Live
- Jack Kane – Kane Is Able
‘Best Original Cast Album – Broadway Or Television’
- Meredith Willson – The Music Man – WINNER
- Count Basie, Billie Holliday and others – Sound of Jazz, Seven Lively Arts
- Henry Mancini – The Music from Peter Gunn
- RCA Victor Symphony – Victory at Sea, Vol. 2
- Richard Rodgers – Flower Drum Song
‘Best Record Of The Year’
- Domenico Modugeno – ‘Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare)’ – WINNER
- David Seville – ‘The Chipmunk Song’
- Frank Sinatra – ‘Witchcraft’
- Peggy Lee – ‘Fever’
- Perry Como – ‘Catch A Falling Star’
‘Best Recording For Children’
- David Seville – ‘The Chipmunk Song’ – WINNER
- Cyril Stapleton – ‘Children’s Marching Song’
- Danny Kaye – ‘Mommy, Give Me a Drinka Water’
- David Seville – ‘Witch Doctor’
- Jose Ferrer – ‘Tubby the Tuba’
- Shari Lewis – ‘Fun in Shariland’
‘Best Rhythm & Blues Performance’
- The Champs – ‘Tequila’ – WINNER
- Earl Grant – ‘The End’
- Harry Belafonte – ‘Belafonte Sings the Blues’
- Nat King Cole – ‘Looking Back’
- Perez Prado – ‘Patricia’
‘Best Song Of The Year’
- Domecnico Modugno – ‘Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare)’ – WINNER
- Alan Jay Lerner, Frederick Loewe – ‘Gigi’
- Cy Coleman, Carolyn Leigh – ‘Witchcraft’
- Johnny Davenport, Eddie Conley – ‘Fever’
- Paul Vance, Lee Pockriss – ‘Catch a Falling Star’
‘Best Soundtrack Album, Dramatic Picture Score Or Original Cast’
- Andre Previn – Gigi – WINNER
- Alfred Newman – South Pacific
- Jonny Mandel – I Want to Live
- Malcolm Arnold – The Bridge on the River Kwai
- Ray Heindorf Orchestra – Auntie Mame
