Grammys history and winners through the years

May 4, 1959

Record industry joins the awards club

Paul We­st­on, pres­id­ent of the re­cord­ing academy’s L.A.chapter, em­cees the in­aug­ur­al ban­quet and hands out 28 awards at the Beverly Hilton hon­or­ing mu­sic from 1958. “The Chip­munk Song” wins three awards, which trig­gers wide­spread fury among mu­sic crit­ics be­cause the in­dustry does not re­cog­nize rock ‘n’ roll and sub­sti­tutes the Chip­munks to rep­res­ent mu­sic by young people.

Re­cord: “Nel Blu, Dip­into Di Blu (Volare),” Domen­ico Mod­ugno
Al­bum: “The Mu­sic From Peter Gunn,” Henry Man­cini
Song: “Volare,” song­writer Domen­ico Mod­ugno

Nov. 29, 1959

Best new artist: Bobby Darin

The show is tele­cast for the first time, on an epis­ode of NBC’s “Sunday Show­case.” Frank Sinatra — who was largely snubbed in the first ce­re­mony but won for an al­bum cov­er he didn’t design — col­lects the first of his three al­bum of the year awards, for “Come Dance With Me!” The awards are presen­ted at the Beverly Hilton and the Wal­dorf As­tor­ia in New York.

Re­cord: “Mack the Knife,” Bobby Dar­in
Al­bum: “Come Dance with Me!,” Frank Sinatra
Song: “The Battle of New Or­leans,” song­writer Jimmy Drift­wood

April 12, 1961

Best new artist: Bob Newhart

About 400 people at­tend the black-tie din­ner held at the Beverly Hills Hotel for the third ce­re­mony. Em­cee Mort Sahl, ref­er­en­cing the in­fam­ous Nikita Kruschev shoe-banging in­cid­ent, cracks that “that fel­low in Rus­sia should be voted for the best solo of the year.” Bob Ne­whart takes home awards for his com­edy al­bum “The But­ton-Down Mind of Bob Ne­whart.”

Re­cord: “Theme From ‘A Sum­mer Place,’” Percy Faith
Al­bum: “The But­ton-Down Mind of Bob Ne­whart,” Bob Ne­whart
Song: “Theme From Ex­odus,” song­writer Ern­est Gold

May 29, 1962

Best new artist: Peter Nero

Pro­du­cer Henry Man­cini takes home the most awards for his “Break­fast at Tiffany’s” film score and song, “Moon River,” after his two Oscar wins one month earli­er. Ce­re­mon­ies are held in Chica­go, L.A. and New York.

Re­cord: “Moon River,” Henry Man­cini
Al­bum: “Judy at Carne­gie Hall,” Judy Gar­land
Song: “Moon River,” song­writers Henry Man­cini, Johnny Mer­cer

May 15, 1963

Best new artist: Robert Goulet

Tony Ben­nett and Ella Fitzger­ald lock in vo­cal per­form­ance awards while win­ners are an­nounced at din­ners in New York, Chica­go and in Los Angeles at the Beverly Hilton. Elsa Lanchester ac­cepts an award for her late hus­band Charles Laughton for best doc­u­ment­ary or spoken word re­cord­ing for “The Storyteller.”

Re­cord: “I Left My Heart in San Fran­cisco,” Tony Ben­nett
Al­bum: “The First Fam­ily,” Vaughn Mead­er
Song: “What Kind of Fool Am I?,” song­writers Leslie Bri­cusse, An­thony New­ley

May 12, 1964

Best new artist: Ward Swingle

Some 550 mem­bers gath­er at the Beverly Hilton, and oth­ers gath­er in Chica­go and New York. Bar­bra Streis­and is honored for her “un­ortho­dox vo­cal­iz­ing,” The Times writes, win­ning Grammys for al­bum of the year and fe­male vo­cal per­form­ance. The Swingle Sing­ers are re­cog­nized for their swing in­ter­pret­a­tion of “Bach’s Greatest Hits.”

Re­cord: “Days of Wine and Roses,” Henry Man­cini
Al­bum: “The Bar­bra Streis­and Al­bum,” Bar­bra Streis­and
Song: “Days of Wine and Roses,” song­writers Henry Man­cini, Johnny Mer­cer

April 13, 1965

Best new artist: The Beatles

Though Stan Getz and As­trud Gil­berto’s “The Girl From Ipan­ema” is a run­away hit, this is the be­gin­ning of a Brit­ish in­va­sion. Grammy voters may not have no­ticed, though. The Beatles win for per­form­ance by a vo­cal group for “A Hard Day’s Night” but don’t win for re­cord of the year for “I Want to Hold Your Hand” or for song of the year.

Re­cord: “The Girl From Ipan­ema,” Stan Getz and As­trud Gil­berto
Al­bum: “Getz/Gil­berto,” Stan Getz & Joao Gil­berto
Song: “Hello, Dolly!,” song­writer Jerry Her­man

March 15, 1966

Best new artist: Tom Jones

Frank Sinatra not only wins al­bum of the year but is also awar­ded the Life­time Achieve­ment Award. Be­moan­ing the 47 cat­egor­ies that the Grammys go through while com­par­ing “or­anges to lem­ons and tan­ger­ines,” the L.A. Times’ Charles Champ­lin writes that there were all of these choices, “yet nary a single one for Bob Dylan,” whom he calls the most in­flu­en­tial mu­si­cian of the last year.

Re­cord: “A Taste of Honey,” Herb Alp­ert and the Tijuana Brass
Al­bum: “Septem­ber of My Years,” Frank Sinatra
Song: “The Shad­ow of Your Smile,” song­writers Paul Fran­cis Web­ster, Johnny Man­del