Conception

In the early 1950?s, a little academy was structured in the name of the music industry. 

A team of major recording industry executives were called, tasked with creating a list of people in the music industry who should have been awarded a Walk of Fame star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 

It soon became apparent, however, that there were too many deserving artists that would not have qualified for a Hollywood Boulevard star. With the rising popularity of home record players, the importance of prominent music artists rose with them. 

This team consisted of MGM Records? Jesse Kaye, Capitol Records? Richard Jones and Lloyd Dunn, Decca Records? Sonny Burke and Milt Gabler, RCA Records? Dennis Farnon and Columbia Records? Axel Stordahl, Paul Weston and Doris Day. 

In 1957, this board of executives founded The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, abbreviated to NARAS. 

The beginning of the academy also brought about the beginning of what they?d become most esteemed for: The Grammy Awards. 

Originally named the ?Gramophone Award? in tribute to the classic record player, the very first Grammy Awards ceremony was held in 1959 to honor and reward the musical accomplishments of artists during 1958. This first ceremony was held in two places at once, in the Beverly Hilton Hotel in California as well as the Park Sheraton Hotel in New York. 

Categories

Initially, there were 109 categories overall for Grammy Awards. This originally covered not just a plethora of music genres, but a distinction between male and female artists for a number of years. 

Lasting for all of the awards? lifetime are the four ?General Field? awards, which are not constrained by a particular music genre. They are as follows: 

  • The Album of the Year Award

  • The Record of the Year Award

  • The Song of the Year Award

  • The Best New Artist Award

These awards have been present since the very first ceremony in 1959 and are still present today. As it would be expected, these awards often reach the hands of separate artists, however there have presently been two occasions of an artist taking all four awards at the same time. 

In 1981, Christopher Cross took all four rewards in one day. On his debut album ?Christopher Cross?, the single ?Sailing? earned a handful of Grammy Awards as the Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Arrangement of the Year and also contributed to Cross? victory on Best New Artist. 

A long 39 years later, Billie Eilish won all four awards in 2020. Her debut studio album ?When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?? took the award for the Album of the Year, ?Bad Guy? took Record of the Year and Song of the Year, and Eilish?s impressive uprising earned her Best New Artist. Just 18 years old, she remains the youngest artist to have ever taken all four of these awards in one day. 

In a similar case, Adele has also won all four of these General Field awards, but did so over the span of 8 years. In 2009 she picked up the Best New Artist award after her debut album ?16? released. Her subsequent albums would release records and singles alike to take home the rest of the General Field awards by 2017. 

There are more specialist awards, such as that for contributions such as artwork, video and even veteran awards for long-lasting figures in the industry. 

In 2012, there was a huge overhaul of the awards. 

109 awards were cut down to just 78. A lot of the cuts were the gender-based awards, removing stipulations such as ?Best Female Artist? and ?Best Male Artist?, as well as such titles tying themselves to genres. Certain genres also had a few awards merge into one, for example rap saw ?Best Rap Soloist? and ?Best Rap Duo or Group? merged into the single category, ?Best Rap Performance?. 

However, this was not the end of changing categories. 

Beyond 2012, a few more changes were made to the categories and genre-related awards. The overall number increased from 79 to 64 in 2019, then again in 2022 the award count rose to 91. It went on to include Americana and alternative music genres, as well as dedicating awards to video game soundtracks thanks to some outstanding performances over the years turning ears towards the talent that also goes on another form of media. 

How Does It Work? 

Members of the NARAS, whether it be a single person or a company, are allowed to submit nominations for consideration. An online application would be made, and a physical copy of the record in question sent to a board of around 150 recording industry experts, who work to ensure entries have been submitted to the correct category. 

When the board have assembled eligible entries, they are sent out to voting members of the academy. These voters may also request nominations into the four general fields, as well as up to nine of the more genre-specific awards. 

The five most highly voted records will go on to become the official nominees. In the case of a tie in votes, the number of nominees is raised up according to the amount of ties. 

After this, the final voting phase begins.

Ballots are sent back around to NARAS voting members. They are allowed to vote in the general pool as well as nine others. The ballots are collected and counted by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and then the winners are revealed at the Grammy Awards show. 

Since there is such a massive number of awards, they aren?t all covered in the show itself. To make time to feature special performances, usually around 10 or 12 of the awards are actually covered in the span of the show. They tend to be for popular music genres, and of course the general awards are presented in this ceremony. The remaining awards are presented in a pre-telecast ?Premiere Ceremony?, just before the Grammy Awards is broadcast. 

We?re Now On The 65th Year of the Grammy Awards

It?s been a long time, over six decades! 

Over this long period of time, we?ve seen artists old and new claim awards. We?ve celebrated quality acts of music. We?ve awarded people within the community for their dedication to the craft. 

Categories have come and gone, and as the music industry evolves, there?s no doubt that more categories will be shuffled, added or removed in the coming years. 

 

But what will always remain is a broadcasted show dedicated to winners, to nominees and to music as a whole.