A Grammy Award (originally called Gramophone Award), or Grammy, is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. The annual presentation ceremony features performances by prominent artists, and the presentation of those awards that have a more popular interest. It shares recognition of the music industry as that of the other performance arts: Emmy Awards (television), the Tony Awards (stage performance), and the Academy Awards (motion pictures).

The first Grammy Awards ceremony was held on May 4, 1959, to honor the musical accomplishments by performers for the year 1958. Following the 2011 ceremony, NARAS overhauled many Grammy Award categories for 2012. The 57th Grammy Awards was held on February 8, 2015, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

History

The Grammys had their origin in the Hollywood Walk of Fame project in the 1950s. As the recording executives chosen for the Walk of Fame committee worked at compiling a list of important recording industry people who might qualify for a Walk of Fame star, they realized there were many more people who were leaders in their business who would never earn a star on Hollywood Boulevard. The music executives decided to rectify this by creating an award given by their industry similar to the Oscars and the Emmys. This was the beginning of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. After it was decided to create such an award, there was still a question of what to call it; one working title was the Eddie, to honor the inventor of the phonograph, Thomas Edison. They finally settled on using the name of the invention of Emile Berliner, the gramophone, for the awards, which were first given for the year 1958.

The 11th Annual Grammy Awards were held on March 12, 1969. They recognized accomplishments of musicians for the year 1968.

Award winners

Classical

The 28th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 25, 1986 at Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year, 1985.

Album of the Year went to Hugh Padgham and Phil Collins for No Jacket Required, and Song of the Year went to Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie for We Are the World.

The night's big winner was USA For Africa's "We Are The World", which won four awards, including Song of the Year. The latter was awarded to its songwriters, Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson. This was a sweet victory for both, as it marked the first time in their respective careers that they won the coveted Song of the Year category. For Richie, it was his sixth attempt in eight years. The other three awards for the charity single were not given to the performing artist (as is usually the case), but to the song's producer, Quincy Jones. These three Grammy's brought his career total to 19, just one shy of the (then) record holder in the popular genres, Henry Mancini.

The 55th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 10, 2013, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The show was broadcast on CBS at 8 p.m. ET/PT and was hosted for the second time by LL Cool J. The "Pre-Telecast Ceremony" was streamed live from LA's Nokia Theater at the official Grammy website. Nominations were announced on December 5, 2012 on prime-time television as part of "The GRAMMY Nominations Concert Live! – Countdown to Music's Biggest Night", a one-hour special co-hosted by LL Cool J & Taylor Swift and broadcast live on CBS from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.Fun, Frank Ocean, Mumford & Sons, Jay-Z, Kanye West and Dan Auerbach received the most nominations with six each, all of whom were male artists.

Gotye and Kimbra won the Record of the Year for "Somebody That I Used to Know", becoming the second Australian and first New Zealand act to win the award. Mumford & Sons won the Album of the Year for Babel, and Fun won the Song of the Year (with Jeff Bhasker) for "We Are Young" as well as the Best New Artist.Kelly Clarkson won the Best Pop Vocal Album for Stronger, becoming the first and only artist to win the award twice. Dan Auerbach won the most number of awards during the ceremony, with five (including three as part of The Black Keys); followed by The Black Keys, Gotye, Jay-Z, Skrillex, Kanye West, with three each. Other multiple winners include: Chick Corea, Fun, Kimbra, Mumford & Sons, Frank Ocean, Matt Redman and Esperanza Spalding with two awards each.