The 2nd Annual Grammy Awards were held on November 29, 1959, at

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Hosted by Meredith Willson, this marked the first televised

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

ceremony, and it was aired in episodes as special '' Sunday Showcase''. It was held in the same year as the first Grammy Awards in 1959, and no award ceremony was held in 1960. These awards recognized musical accomplishments by performers for that particular year.

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the " Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular entertainers of the 1940s, 1950s, and ...

and

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was bas ...

each won three awards.

Award winners

Record of the Year The Grammy Award for Record of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without reg ...

Bobby Darin Bobby Darin (born Walden Robert Cassotto; May 14, 1936 – December 20, 1973) was an American musician and actor. He performed jazz, pop, rock and roll, folk, swing, and country music. He started his career as a songwriter for Connie ...

for " Mack the Knife" *

Album of the Year Album of the Year, often abbreviated to AOTY, may refer to: Awards * ARIA Award for Album of the Year, Australia * Brit Award for British Album of the Year, UK * Grammy Award for Album of the Year, US * Juno Award for Album of the Year, CA * Lati ...

for '' Come Dance with Me!'' * Song of the Year **

Jimmy Driftwood James Corbitt Morris (June 20, 1907 – July 12, 1998), known professionally as Jimmy Driftwood or Jimmie Driftwood, was an American folk music songwriter and musician, most famous for his songs "The Battle of New Orleans" and " Tennessee Stud ...

for " The Battle of New Orleans" *

Best New Artist The Grammy Award for Best New Artist has been awarded since 1959. Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were handed out, for records released in the previous year. The award was not presented in 1967. The official guidelines are as ...

Children's

* Best Recording for Children **

Peter Ustinov Sir Peter Alexander Ustinov (born Peter Alexander Freiherr von Ustinov ; 16 April 192128 March 2004) was a British actor, filmmaker and writer. An internationally known raconteur, he was a fixture on television talk shows and lecture circuits ...

for ''

Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, p ...

Peter and the Wolf ''Peter and the Wolf'' ( rus, Петя и Bолк, r="Pétya i volk", p=ˈpʲetʲə i volk, links=no) Op. 67, a "symphonic fairy tale for children", is a musical composition written by Sergei Prokofiev in 1936. The narrator tells a children's s ...

'' performed by

& the

Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Richard Strauss, ...

conducted by

Herbert von Karajan Herbert von Karajan (; born Heribert Ritter von Karajan; 5 April 1908 – 16 July 1989) was an Austrian conductor. He was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 34 years. During the Nazi era, he debuted at the Salzburg Festival, wit ...

Classical

* Best Classical Performance - Orchestra **

Charles Münch Charles Munch (; born Charles Münch, 26 September 1891 – 6 November 1968) was an Alsatian French symphonic conductor and violinist. Noted for his mastery of the French orchestral repertoire, he was best known as music director of the Boston ...

(conductor) & the

Boston Symphony Orchestra The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the " Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in 18 ...

for ''

Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most infl ...

: Images for Orchestra'' * Best Classical Performance - Vocal Soloist (with or without orchestra) **

Jussi Björling Johan Jonatan "Jussi" Björling ( , ; 5 February 19119 September 1960) was a Swedish tenor. One of the leading operatic singers of the 20th century, Björling appeared for many years at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City and less frequen ...

for ''Bjoerling in Opera'' * Best Classical Performance - Opera Cast or Choral **

Erich Leinsdorf Erich Leinsdorf (born Erich Landauer; February 4, 1912 – September 11, 1993) was an Austrian-born American conductor. He performed and recorded with leading orchestras and opera companies throughout the United States and Europe, earning a ...

(conductor), Lisa Della Casa,

Rosalind Elias Rosalind Elias (March 13, 1930 – May 3, 2020) was an American mezzo-soprano who enjoyed a long and distinguished career at the Metropolitan Opera. She was best known for creating the role of Erika in Samuel Barber's '' Vanessa in'' 1958. Early ...

, George London,

Roberta Peters Roberta Peters (May 4, 1930 – January 18, 2017) was an American coloratura soprano. One of the most prominent American singers to achieve lasting fame and success in opera, Peters is noted for her 35-year association with the Metropolitan Oper ...

Giorgio Tozzi Giorgio Tozzi (January 8, 1923 – May 30, 2011) was an American operatic bass. He was a mainstay for many years with the Metropolitan Opera, and sang principal bass roles in nearly every major opera house worldwide. Career Tozzi was born Georg ...

& the

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra The Vienna Philharmonic (VPO; german: Wiener Philharmoniker, links=no) is an orchestra that was founded in 1842 and is considered to be one of the finest in the world. The Vienna Philharmonic is based at the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria. Its ...

for ''

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

The Marriage of Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' ( it, Le nozze di Figaro, links=no, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premi ...

'' * Best Classical Performance - Concerto or Instrumental Soloist (with full orchestral accompaniment) ** Kiril Kondrashin (conductor),

Van Cliburn Harvey Lavan "Van" Cliburn Jr. (; July 12, 1934February 27, 2013) was an American pianist who, at the age of 23, achieved worldwide recognition when he won the inaugural International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958 during the Cold W ...

& the Symphony of the Air Orchestra for ''

Rachmaninoff Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one o ...

: Piano Concerto No. 3'' * Best Classical Performance - Concerto or Instrumental Soloist (other than full orchestral accompaniment) **

Arthur Rubinstein Arthur Rubinstein ( pl, Artur Rubinstein; 28 January 188720 December 1982) was a Polish-American pianist.

for ''

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

: Sonatas No. 21 in C (Waldstein) and No. 18 in E Flat'' * Best Classical Performance - Chamber Music (including chamber orchestra) **

Arthur Rubinstein Arthur Rubinstein ( pl, Artur Rubinstein; 28 January 188720 December 1982) was a Polish-American pianist.

for ''

: Sonatas No. 21 in C (Waldstein) and No. 18 in E Flat''

Comedy

* Best Comedy Performance - Spoken **

Shelley Berman Sheldon Leonard Berman (February 3, 1925 – September 1, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, writer, teacher, and lecturer. In his comedic career, he was awarded three gold records and he won the first Grammy Award for a spoken comedy reco ...

for ''Inside Shelley Berman'' * Best Comedy Performance - Musical **

Homer and Jethro Homer and Jethro were the stage names of American country music duo Henry D. "Homer" Haynes (1920–1971) and Kenneth C. "Jethro" Burns (1920–1989), popular from the 1940s through the 1960s on radio and television for their satirical versi ...

for ''The Battle of Kookamonga''

Composing and arranging

* Best Musical Composition First Recorded and Released in 1959 (more than 5 minutes duration) **

for ''

Anatomy of a Murder ''Anatomy of a Murder'' is a 1959 American courtroom drama and crime film produced and directed by Otto Preminger. The screenplay by Wendell Mayes was based on the 1958 novel of the same name written by Michigan Supreme Court Justice John D. Vo ...

Soundtrack'' * Best Sound Track Album - Background Score from a Motion Picture or Television **

(composer) for ''

'' * Best Arrangement **

Billy May Edward William May Jr. (November 10, 1916 – January 22, 2004) was an American composer, arranger and trumpeter. He composed film and television music for ''The Green Hornet'' (1966), ''The Mod Squad'' (1968), ''Batman'' (with ''Batgirl'' theme ...

(arranger) for " Come Dance with Me" performed by

Country

* Best Country & Western Performance **

Johnny Horton John LaGale Horton (April 30, 1925 – November 5, 1960) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. Initially performing traditional country, Horton later performed rockabilly songs. He is best known for a series of history-inspired narra ...

for " The Battle of New Orleans"

Folk

* Best Performance - Folk **

The Kingston Trio The Kingston Trio is an American folk and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to the late 1960s. The group started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, ...

for ''The Kingston Trio at Large''

Jazz

* Best Jazz Performance - Soloist **

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, in ...

for ''

Ella Swings Lightly ''Ella Swings Lightly'' is a 1958 studio album by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, recorded with the Marty Paich Dek-tette. Ella also worked with Marty Paich on her 1967 album '' Whisper Not''. The album features a typical selection of ...

'' * Best Jazz Performance - Group **

Jonah Jones Jonah Jones (born Robert Elliott Jones; December 31, 1909 – April 29, 2000) was a jazz trumpeter who created concise versions of jazz and swing and jazz standards that appealed to a mass audience. In the jazz community, he is known for his wo ...

for ''I Dig Chicks''

Musical show

* Best Broadway Show Album **

Ethel Merman Ethel Merman (born Ethel Agnes Zimmermann, January 16, 1908 – February 15, 1984) was an American actress and singer, known for her distinctive, powerful voice, and for leading roles in musical theatre.Obituary '' Variety'', February 22, 1984. ...

& the original cast for '' Gypsy'' **The original cast with

Gwen Verdon Gwyneth Evelyn "Gwen" Verdon (January 13, 1925October 18, 2000) was an American actress and dancer. She won four Tony Awards for her musical comedy performances, and served as an uncredited choreographer's assistant and specialty dance coach for t ...

Richard Kiley Richard Paul Kiley (March 31, 1922 – March 5, 1999) was an American stage, film and television actor and singer. He is best known for his distinguished theatrical career in which he twice won the Tony Award for Best Actor In A Musical. Kiley ...

Leonard Stone Leonard Stone (born Leonard Steinbock; November 3, 1923 – November 2, 2011) was an American character actor who played supporting roles in over 120 television shows and 35 films. Early years Stone was born in Salem, Oregon. The son of Mr. and ...

, Doris Rich, Cynthia Latham, Joy Nichols, Bob Dixon & Pat Ferrier for '' Redhead'' * Best Sound Track Album, Original Cast - Motion Picture or Television **

André Previn André George Previn (; born Andreas Ludwig Priwin; April 6, 1929 – February 28, 2019) was a German-American pianist, composer, and conductor. His career had three major genres: Hollywood films, jazz, and classical music. In each he achieved ...

, Ken Darby & the original cast for ''

Porgy and Bess ''Porgy and Bess'' () is an English-language opera by American composer George Gershwin, with a libretto written by author DuBose Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin. It was adapted from Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward's play '' Porgy'', ...

Packaging and notes

* Best Album Cover **Robert M. Jones (art director) for '' Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5'' conducted by Howard Mitchell

Pop

* Best Vocal Performance, Female **

for " But Not for Me" * Best Vocal Performance, Male **

for '' Come Dance with Me!'' * Best Performance by a Vocal Group or Chorus **

Richard P. Condie Richard P. Condie (July 5, 1898 – December 22, 1985) was the Conductor (music), conductor of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in Salt Lake City, Utah from 1957 to 1974. Condie was a graduate of Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1923 and the New Eng ...

(choir director) for "

The Battle Hymn of the Republic The "Battle Hymn of the Republic", also known as "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory" or "Glory, Glory Hallelujah" outside of the United States, is a popular American patriotic song written by the abolitionist writer Julia Ward Howe. Howe wrote her l ...

" performed by the

Mormon Tabernacle Choir The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, formerly known as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, is an American choir, acting as part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It has performed in the Salt Lake Tabernacle for ...

directed by Condie * Best Performance by a Dance Band **

for ''

'' * Best Performance by an Orchestra **

David Rose David Rose may refer to: Business * David Rose (real estate developer) (1892–1986), American real estate developer and philanthropist * David L. Rose (born 1967), American business executive and scientist at MIT Media Lab * David S. Rose (bor ...

for ''Like Young'' performed by Dave Rose and his Orchestra with André Previn * Best Performance by a "Top 40" Artist **

Nat "King" Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...

for " Midnight Flyer"

Production and engineering

* Best Engineering Contribution - Other Than Classical or Novelty **Robert Simpson (engineer) for ''Belafonte at Carnegie Hall'' performed by

Harry Belafonte Harry Belafonte (born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927) is an American singer, activist, and actor. As arguably the most successful Jamaican-American pop star, he popularized the Trinbagonian Caribbean musical style with an internati ...

* Best Engineering Contribution - Classical Recording **Lewis W. Layton (engineer),

Robert Russell Bennett Robert Russell Bennett (June 15, 1894 – August 18, 1981) was an American composer and arranger, best known for his orchestration of many well-known Broadway and Hollywood musicals by other composers such as Irving Berlin, George Gershwi ...

(conductor) & the RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra for ''Victory at Sea, Vol. I'' * Best Engineering Contribution - Novelty Recording **Ted Keep (engineer) for "Alvin's Harmonica" performed by

David Seville David "Dave" Seville is a fictional character, the producer and manager of the fictional singing group ''Alvin and the Chipmunks''. The character was created by Ross Bagdasarian Sr., who had used the name "David Seville" as his stage name prior ...

R&B

* Best Rhythm & Blues Performance **

Dinah Washington Dinah Washington (born Ruth Lee Jones; August 29, 1924 – December 14, 1963) was an American singer and pianist, who has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the 1950s songs". Primarily a jazz vocalist, she performe ...

for "

What a Diff'rence a Day Makes "What a Diff'rence a Day Made", also recorded as "What a Difference a Day Makes", is a popular song originally written in Spanish by María Grever, a Mexican songwriter, in 1934 with the title "Cuando vuelva a tu lado" ("When I Return to Your ...

Spoken

* Best Performance - Documentary or Spoken Word (other than comedy) **

Carl Sandburg Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg ...

for ''A Lincoln Portrait''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grammy Awards 002 002 1959 in Los Angeles 1959 in New York City 1959 music awards 1959 in American music November 1959 events in the United States Events in Los Angeles Events in New York City