Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album

Grammy Award

A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

for Best Spoken Word Album has been awarded since 1959. The award had several minor name changes:

In 1959 the award was known as Best Performance, Documentary or Spoken Word
From 1960 to 1961 it was awarded as Best Performance - Documentary or Spoken Word (other than comedy)
From 1962 to 1963 it was awarded as Best Documentary or Spoken Word Recording (other than comedy)
From 1964 to 1965 it was awarded as Best Documentary, Spoken Word or Drama Recording (other than comedy)
In 1966 it was awarded as Best Spoken Word or Drama Recording
From 1967 to 1968 it was awarded as Best Spoken Word, Documentary or Drama Recording
From 1969 to 1979 it was awarded as Best Spoken Word Recording
From 1980 to 1983 it returned to the title of Best Spoken Word, Documentary or Drama Recording
From 1984 to 1991 it was awarded as Best Spoken Word or Non-Musical Recording
From 1992 to 1997 it was awarded as Best Spoken Word or Non-Musical Album
Since 1998 it has been awarded as Best Spoken Word Album

The category now also includes audio books, poetry readings and story telling.

Three US Presidents have won the awards: Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...

, Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

and Barack Obama

Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

, along with spoken recordings of John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....

and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Four U.S. Senators have won: Obama, Everett Dirksen

Everett Dirksen

Everett McKinley Dirksen was an American politician of the Republican Party. He represented Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate...

, Al Franken

Al Franken

Alan Stuart "Al" Franken is the junior United States Senator from Minnesota. He is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which affiliates with the national Democratic Party....

, and Hillary Clinton (also U.S. Secretary of State and First Lady of the United States

First Lady

First Lady or First Gentlemanis the unofficial title used in some countries for the spouse of an elected head of state.It is not normally used to refer to the spouse or partner of a prime minister; the husband or wife of the British Prime Minister is usually informally referred to as prime...

).

Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were handed out, for a recording released in the previous year.

2010s

Grammy Awards of 2012

Nominees

Tina Fey
Tina Fey
Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer, known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live , the NBC comedy series 30 Rock, and films such as Mean Girls and Baby Mama .Fey first broke into comedy as a featured player in the...

for Bossypants
Nathan Burbank, Bryan Cumming, Dennis Scott & David Toledo (album producers) for Fab Fan Memories - The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

Bond (by Various Artists)
Dan Donohue and various performers for Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...

(William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

)
Betty White
Betty White
Betty White Ludden , better known as Betty White, is an American actress, comedienne, singer, author, and former game show personality. With a career spanning seven decades since 1939, she is best known to modern audiences for her television roles as Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and...

for If You Ask Me (And Of Course You Won't)
Val Kilmer
Val Kilmer
Val Edward Kilmer is an American actor. Originally a stage actor, Kilmer became popular in the mid-1980s after a string of appearances in comedy films, starting with Top Secret! , then the cult classic Real Genius , as well as blockbuster action films, including a supporting role in Top Gun and a...

& Cast for The Mark of Zorro
Zorro
Zorro is a fictional character created in 1919 by New York-based pulp writer Johnston McCulley. The character has been featured in numerous books, films, television series, and other media....

Grammy Awards of 2011
- Jon Stewart
  Jon Stewart
  Jon Stewart is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian...
  
  for The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Presents Earth (The Audiobook)
  Earth (The Book)
  Earth : A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race is a 2010 humor book written by Jon Stewart and other writers of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, a sequel to America ...
Grammy Awards of 2010
- Michael J. Fox
  Michael J. Fox
  Michael J. Fox, OC is a Canadian American actor, author, producer, activist and voice-over artist. With a film and television career spanning from the late 1970s, Fox's roles have included Marty McFly from the Back to the Future trilogy ; Alex P...
  
  for Always Looking Up

2000s

Grammy Awards of 2009
- Beau Bridges
  Beau Bridges
  Lloyd Vernet "Beau" Bridges III is an American actor and director.- Early life :Bridges was born in Los Angeles, the son of actor Lloyd Bridges and his college sweetheart, Dorothy Bridges . He was nicknamed "Beau" by his mother and father after Ashley Wilkes's son in Gone with the Wind, the book...
  
  , Cynthia Nixon
  Cynthia Nixon
  Cynthia Ellen Nixon is an American actress, known for her portrayal of Miranda Hobbes in the HBO series Sex and the City . She has received two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, and a Grammy Award....
  
  and Blair Underwood
  Blair Underwood
  Blair Underwood is an American television and film actor. He is perhaps best known as headstrong attorney Jonathan Rollins from the NBC legal drama L.A. Law, a role he portrayed for seven years. He has gained critical acclaim throughout his career, receiving numerous Golden Globe Award...
  
  for An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It
  An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It
  An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It is a 2006 book by Al Gore released in conjunction with the film An Inconvenient Truth. It is published by Rodale Press in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, in the United States.Based on Gore's lecture tour on the topic...
  
  by Al Gore
  Al Gore
  Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
Grammy Awards of 2008
- Jacob Bronstein for The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
  The Audacity of Hope
  The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream is the second book written by then-Senator Barack Obama. In the fall of 2006 it became number one on both the New York Times and Amazon.com bestsellers lists after Obama was endorsed by Oprah Winfrey. In the book, Obama expounds on...
  
  by Barack Obama
  Barack Obama
  Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
Grammy Awards of 2007
Grammy Awards of 2007
The 49th Annual Grammy Awards was a ceremony honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning September 15, 2005 and ending September 14, 2006 in the United States. The awards were handed out on Sunday February 11, 2007 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. The Dixie Chicks...
- Jimmy Carter
  Jimmy Carter
  James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
  
  for Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis; and
- Ossie Davis
  Ossie Davis
  Ossie Davis was an American film actor, director, poet, playwright, writer, and social activist.-Early years:...
  
  & Ruby Dee
  Ruby Dee
  Ruby Dee is an American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and activist, perhaps best known for co-starring in the film A Raisin in the Sun and the film American Gangster for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.-Early years:Dee was born Ruby...
  
  for With Ossie and Ruby: In This Life Together (Tie)
Grammy Awards of 2006
Grammy Awards of 2006
The 48th Annual Grammy Awards took place on February 8, 2006 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Irish rock band U2 were the big winners, winning five awards including Album of the Year. Mariah Carey, John Legend, and Kanye West each were nominated for eight awards and won three,...
- Barack Obama
  Barack Obama
  Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
  
  for Dreams from My Father
  Dreams from My Father
  Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance is a memoir by United States President Barack Obama. It was first published in July 1995 as he was preparing to launch his political career, five years after being elected the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review in...
Grammy Awards of 2005
Grammy Awards of 2005
The 47th Grammy Awards were held on February 13, 2005 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. They were hosted by Queen Latifah , and televised in the United States by CBS. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year...
- Bill Clinton
  Bill Clinton
  William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
  
  for My Life
  My Life (Bill Clinton autobiography)
  My Life is a 2004 autobiography written by former President of the United States Bill Clinton, who left office on January 20, 2001. It was released on June 22, 2004. The book was published by the Knopf Publishing Group; the book sold in excess of 2,250,000 copies...
Grammy Awards of 2004
Grammy Awards of 2004
The 46th Grammy Awards were held on the February 8, 2004. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. The big winners were Outkast, who won three awards including Album of the Year & Beyoncé Knowles, who won 5 Awards...
- Paul Ruben (producer) & Al Franken
  Al Franken
  Alan Stuart "Al" Franken is the junior United States Senator from Minnesota. He is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which affiliates with the national Democratic Party....
  
  for Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right
  Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them
  Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them is a satirical book on American politics by comedian, political commentator and now Senator Al Franken, published in 2003 by Dutton, a subsidiary in the Penguin Group. Franken had a study group of 14 Harvard graduate students known as "TeamFranken" to help him...
Grammy Awards of 2003
Grammy Awards of 2003
The 45th Grammy Awards were held on February 23, 2003. Musicians accomplishments from the previous year were recognized. Norah Jones was the night's big winner winning five awards including Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Best New Artist, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best Pop Vocal...
- Charles B. Potter (producer) & Maya Angelou
  Maya Angelou
  Maya Angelou is an American author and poet who has been called "America's most visible black female autobiographer" by scholar Joanne M. Braxton. She is best known for her series of six autobiographical volumes, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first and most highly...
  
  for A Song Flung Up to Heaven
  A Song Flung Up to Heaven
  A Song Flung Up to Heaven, published in 2002, is the sixth book in African-American writer and poet Maya Angelou's six-volume autobiography series....
Grammy Awards of 2002
Grammy Awards of 2002
The 44th Grammy Awards were held on February 27, 2002. The biggest was Alicia Keys, winning 5 Grammys, including Best New Artist and Song of the Year for "Fallin'". U2 won 4 awards including Record of the Year and Best Rock Album.-Award winners:...
- Jeffrey S. Thomas, Steven Strassman (engineers) & Elisa Shokoff (producer) & Quincy Jones
  Quincy Jones
  Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...
  
  for Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones
Grammy Awards of 2001
Grammy Awards of 2001
The 43rd Grammy Awards were held on February 21, 2001. Steely Dan was the biggest winner winning three awards including Album of the Year for Two Against Nature. U2 was also a big winner winning three awards as well; including Record of the Year and Song of the Year for Beautiful Day. Dr...
- Rick Harris, John Runnette (producers) & Sidney Poitier
  Sidney Poitier
  Sir Sidney Poitier, KBE is a Bahamian American actor, film director, author, and diplomat.In 1963, Poitier became the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field...
  
  for The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography
  The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography
  The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography is an autobiographical work by Sidney Poitier. On January 26, 2007, Oprah Winfrey chose it for her book club.-Summary:...
Grammy Awards of 2000
Grammy Awards of 2000
The 42nd Grammy Awards were held on February 23, 2000. During the show, Santana won 8 Grammys, tying Michael Jackson's record for most awards won in a single night. Santana's album Supernatural was awarded a total of nine awards....
- LeVar Burton
  LeVar Burton
  Levardis Robert Martyn Burton, Jr. , professionally known as LeVar Burton, is an American actor, director, producer and author who first came to prominence portraying Kunta Kinte in the 1977 award-winning ABC television miniseries Roots, based on the novel by Alex Haley...
  
  for The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
  Martin Luther King, Jr.
  Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...

1990s

Grammy Awards of 1999
Grammy Awards of 1999
The 41st Grammy Awards were held on February 24, 1999. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1998. Lauryn Hill was the nights big winner winning a total of 5 awards including Album of the Year and Best New Artist. Madonna won three awards while country musicians the Dixie...
- Christopher Reeve
  Christopher Reeve
  Christopher D'Olier Reeve was an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, author and activist...
  
  for Still Me
  Still Me
  Still Me is a book written by Christopher Reeve in which he writes about his experiences as an actor and about his horseback riding accident which resulted in his quadriplegia and its effects on his life....
Grammy Awards of 1998
Grammy Awards of 1998
The 40th Grammy Awards were held on February 25, 1998. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Rock icon Bob Dylan, Alison Krauss, and R...
- Charles Kuralt
  Charles Kuralt
  Charles Kuralt was an American journalist. He was most widely known for his long career with CBS, first for his "On the Road" segments on The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite, and later as the first anchor of CBS News Sunday Morning, a position he held for fifteen years.Kuralt's "On the Road"...
  
  for Charles Kuralt's Spring
Grammy Awards of 1997
Grammy Awards of 1997
The 39th Grammy Awards were held on February 26, 1997. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year.- Award winners :*Record of the Year**Babyface & Eric Clapton for "Change the World"*Album of the Year...
- Hillary Rodham Clinton
  Hillary Rodham Clinton
  Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...
  
  for It Takes a Village
  It Takes a Village
  It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us is a book published in 1996 by First Lady of the United States Hillary Rodham Clinton. In it, Clinton presents her vision for the children of America...
Grammy Awards of 1996
Grammy Awards of 1996
The 38th Grammy Awards were held on February 28, 1996. The awards recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Alanis Morissette was the night's big winner, scoring four trophies, including Album of the Year.-Award winners:...
- Maya Angelou
  Maya Angelou
  Maya Angelou is an American author and poet who has been called "America's most visible black female autobiographer" by scholar Joanne M. Braxton. She is best known for her series of six autobiographical volumes, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first and most highly...
  
  for Phenomenal Woman
Grammy Awards of 1995
Grammy Awards of 1995
The 37th Grammy Awards were presented March 1, 1995. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year.-Award winners:*Record of the Year**Bill Bottrell & Sheryl Crow for "All I Wanna Do"*Album of the Year...
- Henry Rollins
  Henry Rollins
  Henry Rollins is an American singer-songwriter, spoken word artist, writer, comedian, publisher, actor, and radio DJ....
  
  for Get in the Van
  Get in the Van
  Get in the Van is a memoir by singer, writer, and spoken word artist Henry Rollins first published in 1994 by Rollins' own company, 2.13.61 Publications. The book is composed of journal entries that Rollins kept while he was lead singer of the band Black Flag from 1981 to its breakup in 1986...
Grammy Awards of 1994
Grammy Awards of 1994
The 36th Grammy Awards were held in 1994. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Whitney Houston is the Big Winner winning 3 awards including Record of the Year and Album of the Year.-Award winners:*Record of the Year...
- Maya Angelou for On the Pulse of Morning
  On the Pulse of Morning
  On the Pulse of Morning is a poem by Maya Angelou. She read it at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton on January 20, 1993. With her public recitation, Angelou became the second poet in history to read a poem at a presidential inauguration...
Grammy Awards of 1993
Grammy Awards of 1993
The 35th Grammy Awards were held in 1993. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Eric Clapton was the night's big winner, winning 6 awards including Album of the Year.-Award winners:*Record of the Year...
- Earvin "Magic" Johnson & Robert O'Keefe for What You Can Do to Avoid AIDS
Grammy Awards of 1992
Grammy Awards of 1992
The 34th Grammy Awards were held on February 26, 1992. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year . Natalie Cole was the big winner winning three awards including Album of the Year.-Award winners:*Record of the Year...
- Ken Burns
  Ken Burns
  Kenneth Lauren "Ken" Burns is an American director and producer of documentary films, known for his style of using archival footage and photographs...
  
  for The Civil War
  The Civil War (documentary)
  The Civil War is a documentary film created by Ken Burns about the American Civil War. It was first broadcast on PBS on five consecutive nights from Sunday, September 23 to Thursday, September 27, 1990. Forty million viewers watched it during its initial broadcast, making it the most-watched...
Grammy Awards of 1991
Grammy Awards of 1991
The 33rd Grammy Awards were held on February 20, 1991. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Quincy Jones was the night's big winner winning a total of six awards including Album of the Year.-Award winners:*Record of the Year...
- George Burns
  George Burns
  George Burns , born Nathan Birnbaum, was an American comedian, actor, and writer.He was one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, film, radio, television and movies, with and without his wife, Gracie Allen. His arched eyebrow and cigar smoke punctuation became...
  
  for Gracie
  Gracie Allen
  Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen , known as Gracie Allen, was an American comedian who became internationally famous as the zany partner and comic foil of husband George Burns...
  
  - A Love Story
Grammy Awards of 1990
Grammy Awards of 1990
The 32nd Grammy Awards were held in 1990. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year.-General:*Record of the Year**Arif Mardin & Bette Midler for "Wind Beneath My Wings"*Album of the Year...
- Gilda Radner
  Gilda Radner
  Gilda Susan Radner was an American comedian and actress, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, for which she won an Emmy Award in 1978.-Early life:...
  
  for It's Always Something

1980s

Grammy Awards of 1989
Grammy Awards of 1989
The 31st Grammy Awards were held in 1989. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year.-Award winners:*Record of the Year**Linda Goldstein & Bobby McFerrin for "Don't Worry, Be Happy"*Album of the Year...
- Jesse Jackson
  Jesse Jackson
  Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. is an African-American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as shadow senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997. He was the founder of both entities that merged to...
  
  for Speech by Rev. Jesse Jackson
Grammy Awards of 1988
Grammy Awards of 1988
The 30th Grammy Awards were held March 2, 1988. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year.- Award winners :*Record of the Year**Paul Simon for "Graceland"*Album of the Year...
- Garrison Keillor
  Garrison Keillor
  Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor is an American author, storyteller, humorist, and radio personality. He is known as host of the Minnesota Public Radio show A Prairie Home Companion Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (born August 7, 1942) is an American author, storyteller, humorist, and radio...
  
  for Lake Wobegon Days
  Lake Wobegon Days
  Lake Wobegon Days is a novel by Garrison Keillor, first published in hardcover by Viking in 1985. Based on material from his radio show A Prairie Home Companion, the book brought Keillor's work to a much wider audience and achieved international success...
Grammy Awards of 1987
Grammy Awards of 1987
The 29th Grammy Awards were held in 1987. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year.-Award winners:*Record of the Year**Russ Titelman , Steve Winwood for "Higher Love"*Album of the Year...
- Johnny Cash
  Johnny Cash
  John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
  
  , Jerry Lee Lewis
  Jerry Lee Lewis
  Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
  
  , Chips Moman
  Chips Moman
  Lincoln Wayne "Chips" Moman is an American record producer, guitarist, and songwriter. As a record producer, Moman is known for recording Elvis Presley, Bobby Womack, Carla Thomas, and Merrilee Rush, as well as guiding the career of the Box Tops in Memphis, Tennessee during the 1960s...
  
  , Ricky Nelson
  Ricky Nelson
  Eric Hilliard Nelson , better known as Ricky Nelson or Rick Nelson, was an American singer-songwriter, instrumentalist, and actor...
  
  , Roy Orbison
  Roy Orbison
  Roy Kelton Orbison was an American singer-songwriter, well known for his distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads. Orbison grew up in Texas and began singing in a rockabilly/country & western band in high school until he was signed by Sun Records in Memphis...
  
  , Carl Perkins
  Carl Perkins
  Carl Lee Perkins was an American rockabilly musician who recorded most notably at Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning during 1954...
  
  & Sam Phillips
  Sam Phillips
  Samuel Cornelius Phillips , better known as Sam Phillips, was an American businessman, record executive, record producer and DJ who played an important role in the emergence of rock and roll as the major form of popular music in the 1950s...
  
  for Interviews From the Class of '55 Recording Sessions
Grammy Awards of 1986
Grammy Awards of 1986
The 28th Grammy Awards were held on February 25, 1986. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year, 1985.- Award winners :*Record of the Year**Quincy Jones for "We Are the World" performed by USA for Africa...
- Mike Berniker
  Mike Berniker
  Michael Berniker was a record producer who was recognized with nine Grammy Awards over the course of his career for his work on albums with such performers as Perry Como, Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gorme, Johnny Mathis and Barbra Streisand, as well as Broadway theatre cast recordings, Latin jazz,...
  
  (producer) & the original Broadway cast for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
  Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
  Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is a 1982 play - one of the ten-play Pittsburgh Cycle by August Wilson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning American playwright - that chronicles the twentieth century African American experience...
Grammy Awards of 1985
Grammy Awards of 1985
The 27th Grammy Awards were held February 26, 1985, and were broadcast live on American television. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1984.- Award winners :*Record of the Year...
- Ben Kingsley
  Ben Kingsley
  Sir Ben Kingsley, CBE is a British actor. He has won an Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards in his career. He is known for starring as Mohandas Gandhi in the film Gandhi in 1982, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor...
  
  for The Words of Gandhi
Grammy Awards of 1984
Grammy Awards of 1984
The 26th Grammy Awards were held on February 28, 1984, and were broadcast live on American television. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1983...
- William Warfield
  William Warfield
  William Caesar Warfield , was an American concert bass-baritone singer and actor.-Early life and career:Warfield was born in West Helena, Arkansas and grew up in Rochester, New York, where his father was called to serve as pastor of Mt. Vernon Church. He gave his recital debut in New York's Town...
  
  for Copland
  Aaron Copland
  Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...
  
  : A Lincoln Portrait
  Lincoln Portrait
  Lincoln Portrait is a classical orchestral work written by the American composer Aaron Copland. The work involves a full orchestra, with particular emphasis on the brass section at climactic moments. The work is narrated with the reading of excerpts of Abraham Lincoln's great documents, including...
Grammy Awards of 1983
Grammy Awards of 1983
The 25th Grammy Awards were held February 23, 1983. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year.-Awards:*Record of the Year**Toto for "Rosanna"*Album of the Year**Toto for Toto IV...
- Tom Voegeli (producer) for Raiders of the Lost Ark
  Raiders of the Lost Ark
  Raiders of the Lost Ark is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by George Lucas, and starring Harrison Ford. It is the first film in the Indiana Jones franchise...
  
  - The Movie on Record performed by various artists
Grammy Awards of 1982
Grammy Awards of 1982
The 24th Grammy Awards were held February 24, 1982, and were broadcast live on American television. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1981...
- Orson Welles
  Orson Welles
  George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
  
  for Donovan's Brain
  Donovan's Brain
  Donovan's Brain is a 1942 science fiction novel by Curt Siodmak.The novel has become something of a cult classic, with fans including Stephen King. King discusses the novel in his own book Danse Macabre and the line Cory uses to resist Donovan is repeated to similar effect in King's horror novel,...
Grammy Awards of 1981
Grammy Awards of 1981
The 23rd Grammy Awards were held February 25, 1981, and were broadcast live on American television. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1980.- Award winners :*Record of the Year...
- Pat Carroll
  Pat Carroll (actress)
  Patricia Ann “Pat” Carroll is an American actress. She performed in numerous stage productions, and portrayed the roles of "Bunny Halper" on CBS's The Danny Thomas Show, Shirley Feeney's mother on ABC's Laverne and Shirley, and is the voice of the villainous Ursula in The Little Mermaid film...
  
  for Gertrude Stein
  Gertrude Stein
  Gertrude Stein was an American writer, poet and art collector who spent most of her life in France.-Early life:...
  
  , Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein
Grammy Awards of 1980
Grammy Awards of 1980
The 22nd Grammy Awards were held February 27, 1980, and were broadcast live on American television. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1979.- Award winners :*Record of the Year...
- John Gielgud
  John Gielgud
  Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...
  
  for Ages of Man - Readings From Shakespeare
  William Shakespeare
  William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

1970s

Grammy Awards of 1979
Grammy Awards of 1979
The 21st Grammy Awards were held in 1979, and were broadcast live on American television. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1978.- Award winners :*Record of the Year**Phil Ramone & Billy Joel for "Just the Way You Are"...
- Orson Welles
  Orson Welles
  George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
  
  for Citizen Kane
  Citizen Kane
  Citizen Kane is a 1941 American drama film, directed by and starring Orson Welles. Many critics consider it the greatest American film of all time, especially for its innovative cinematography, music and narrative structure. Citizen Kane was Welles' first feature film...
  
  Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Grammy Awards of 1978
Grammy Awards of 1978
The 20th Grammy Awards were held February 23, 1978, and were broadcast live on American television. They were hosted by folk music legend John Denver, and recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1977.- Award winners :*Record of the Year...
- Julie Harris
  Julie Harris
  Julia Ann "Julie" Harris is an American stage, screen, and television actress. She has won five Tony Awards, three Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award, and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1994, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts. She is a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame...
  
  for The Belle of Amherst
  The Belle of Amherst
  The Belle of Amherst is a one-woman play by William Luce.Based on the life of poet Emily Dickinson from 1830-1886, and set in her Amherst, Massachusetts home, the play makes use of her work, diaries, and letters to recollect her encounters with the significant people in her life - family, close...
Grammy Awards of 1977
Grammy Awards of 1977
The 19th Grammy Awards were held on February 19, 1977, and were broadcast live on American television . They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1976.-Award winners:*Record of the Year...
- Henry Fonda
  Henry Fonda
  Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...
  
  , Helen Hayes
  Helen Hayes
  Helen Hayes Brown was an American actress whose career spanned almost 70 years. She eventually garnered the nickname "First Lady of the American Theatre" and was one of twelve people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award...
  
  , James Earl Jones
  James Earl Jones
  James Earl Jones is an American actor. He is well-known for his distinctive bass voice and for his portrayal of characters of substance, gravitas and leadership...
  
  & Orson Welles
  Orson Welles
  George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
  
  for Great American Documents
Grammy Awards of 1976
Grammy Awards of 1976
The 18th Grammy Awards were held February 28, 1976, and were broadcast live on American television. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1975.- Award winners :*Record of the Year...
- James Whitmore
  James Whitmore
  James Allen Whitmore, Jr. was an American film and stage actor.-Early life:Born in White Plains, New York, to Florence Belle and James Allen Whitmore, Sr., a park commission official, Whitmore attended Amherst Central High School in Snyder, New York, before graduating from The Choate School in...
  
  for Give 'em Hell, Harry!
  Give 'em Hell, Harry!
  Give 'em Hell, Harry! is a biographical play and 1975 film, written by playwright Samuel Gallu. Both the play and film are a one-man show about former President of the United States Harry S. Truman. Give 'em Hell, Harry! stars James Whitmore and was directed by Steve Binder and Peter H...
Grammy Awards of 1975
Grammy Awards of 1975
The 17th Grammy Awards were presented March 1, 1975, and were broadcast live on American television. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1974.- Award winners :*Record of the Year...
- Peter Cook
  Peter Cook
  Peter Edward Cook was an English satirist, writer and comedian. An extremely influential figure in modern British comedy, he is regarded as the leading light of the British satire boom of the 1960s. He has been described by Stephen Fry as "the funniest man who ever drew breath," although Cook's...
  
  & Dudley Moore
  Dudley Moore
  Dudley Stuart John Moore, CBE was an English actor, comedian, composer and musician.Moore first came to prominence as one of the four writer-performers in the ground-breaking comedy revue Beyond the Fringe in the early 1960s, and then became famous as half of the highly popular television...
  
  for Good Evening
Grammy Awards of 1974
Grammy Awards of 1974
The 16th Grammy Awards were held March 2, 1974, and were broadcast live on American television. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1973.- Award winners :* Record of the Year...
- Richard Harris for Jonathan Livingston Seagull
  Jonathan Livingston Seagull
  Jonathan Livingston Seagull, written by Richard Bach, is a fable in novella form about a seagull learning about life and flight, and a homily about self-perfection...
Grammy Awards of 1973
Grammy Awards of 1973
The 15th Grammy Awards were held on March 3, 1973, and were the first to be broadcast live on CBS, after the first two ceremonies were on ABC. CBS has been the TV home for the Grammy Awards ever since. The awards recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1972...
- Bruce Botnick
  Bruce Botnick
  Bruce Botnick is an American audio engineer and record producer, best known for his work with The Doors, and with Love. He engineered Love's first two albums, and co-produced their third album, Forever Changes, with the band's singer-songwriter, Arthur Lee.In November 1970, he took over production...
  
  (producer) for Lenny performed by the original Broadway cast
Grammy Awards of 1972
Grammy Awards of 1972
The 14th Grammy Awards were held March 15, 1972, and were broadcast live on television in the United States by ABC; the following year, they would move the telecasts to CBS, where they remain to this date...
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
  Martin Luther King, Jr.
  Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
  
  for Why I Oppose the War in Vietnam
Grammy Awards of 1971
Grammy Awards of 1971
The 13th Grammy Awards were held on 16 March 1971, and was the first time the ceremonies were broadcast on television by ABC. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1970...
- Les Crane
  Les Crane
  Les Crane , born Lesley Stein, was a radio announcer and television talk show host, a pioneer in interactive broadcasting who also scored a spoken word hit with his 1971 recording of the poem Desiderata, winning a "Best Spoken Word" Grammy.Born in Long Beach, New York , Crane...
  
  for Desiderata
  Desiderata
  Desiderata is a 1927 prose poem by American writer Max Ehrmann...
Grammy Awards of 1970
Grammy Awards of 1970
The 12th Grammy Awards were held on March 11, 1970. They recognized accomplishments of musicians for the year 1969.-Award winners:*Record of the Year**Bones Howe & The 5th Dimension for "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In"*Album of the Year...
- Art Linkletter
  Art Linkletter
  Arthur Gordon "Art" Linkletter was a Canadian-born American radio and television personality. He was the host of House Party, which ran on CBS radio and television for 25 years, and People Are Funny, on NBC radio-TV for 19 years...
  
  & Diane Linkletter
  Diane Linkletter
  Diane Linkletter was the daughter and youngest child of popular American media personality Art Linkletter, and his wife Lois Foerster...
  
  for We Love You Call Collect

1960s