30 Interesting facts about the Grammys!

1. The first Grammy awards were held on May 4, 1959, incredibly, as a way to keep the newly emerging Rock & Roll threat at bay.

2. Perry Como and Ella Fitzgerald one best male and female artists at the first Grammys.

3. The first year, there were only 22 awards. These days, there are more than one hundred every show.

4. That didn’t last long, as a Best Rock & Roll award was added in 1962. In 1974, a Latin music category was added to the Grammys.

5. The most prestigious honor in music is to win the Big Four Grammy awards: album of the year, recording of the year, song of the year, and best new artist.

6. Only two artists have done it: Christopher cross in 1981, and Norah Jones in 2003.

7. The first rap music award was given in 1989, which Dj Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince won.

8.  Michael Jackson won the most Grammys in one night with eight awards in 1983, followed by Santana in 1999.

9. Sinead O’Conner won best alternative album but refused the award and boycotted the Grammys because of their  ‘extreme commercialism.’

10. Believe it or not, Elvis Presley never won a rock & roll Grammy. He was nominated and won three in the Gospel genre.

11. The Beatles, for all of their decades of success and hit songs, only won eight Grammys total.

A category for heavy metal was added in 1989, with the first award going to Jethro Tull.

12. Classical conductor Sir George Solti has the most lifetime Grammys, with 74 nominations and 31 awards.

13. Quincy Jones holds the record for the most nominations with 79.

14. Billy Gillman was the youngest to ever win a Grammy at 12 years old, followed by LeAnn Rimes at 14.

15. Snoop Dogg has never won a Grammy, despite his career longevity and popularity. He has, however, been nominated for 12.

16. That’s not the record for futility; Brian McKnight has been nominated 16 times and never won.

17. U2 is the only band to win 22 Grammy awards.

18. Stevie Wonder has the most ever Grammys for an artist with 28.

19. 1971 was the first year the Grammys were broadcast live with musical performances.

20. The name ‘Grammy’ was actually chosen from entries in a contest. A normal music fan named 

21. Jay Danna was the winner, and he received 25 LP’s for his contribution.

22. Before that, it was called the Gramaphone Awards.

23. Those little Grammy statues weigh 5 lbs., 2 ounces each!

24. Can you believe that Led Zeppelin, The Who, the Beach Boys, Jimi Hendrix, The Grateful Dead, Bob Marley, and Chuck Berry never won a Grammy?!

25. The awards are chosen through a voting system conducted by the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences.

26. The Academy passes out 20,000 ballots to musicians and music professionals every year. 

27. On average, they get about 7,000 ballots back to determine the winners.

28. Milli Vanilli is the only Grammy winner to have their award revoked.

29. Kanye west went on stage TWICE to interrupt awards to other artist he though weren't deserving; first with Taylor Swift, and now with Beck.

30. He's now the first artist to our knowledge to be banned from all future award shows!