Throwback Thursday Celebrating The Grammys

A Tradition Is Born

In the beginning, there was heaven and earth and the 1st Annual GRAMMY Awards—more or less in that order.

On May 4, 1959, many of music’s elite—including Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Gene Autry, Johnny Mercer, Henry Mancini and André Previn—gathered for a black-tie dinner and awards presentation inside the Grand Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton. At the same time, other new Academy members were gathering at a function held simultaneously in New York City. “The GRAMMY Awards were a formal event from the beginning and very much in keeping with the times,” says Christine Farnon, who was instrumental in organizing the first show and would go on to become The Academy’s Executive Vice President. “As I recall, no one objected to dressing black-tie back then, though like so much else, that would change eventually.”

Read more about the first awards show: http://bit.ly/1stAnnualGrammys

Take a look back at past awards shows: http://bit.ly/GrammysByYear

Don't miss the GRAMMYs this Sunday at 8PM ET/5PM PT on CBS!

Planet Drum & Global Drum Project

The Grammy Award for Best World Music Album was first presented in 1992 for my album Planet Drum.
The 25th anniversary re-issue is available now on CD and your favorite digital music services here.

In 2009, Global Drum Project would be my second Grammy in the World Music category.