Buzz
It’s no coincidence that the Oscars, Emmys, and Tonys all bear names typically associated with people (though not all are named after specific individuals). However, the fact that the Grammys resemble a name meant to honor someone's grandmother is purely coincidental.
In 1957, America’s music industry created the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS, now known as the Recording Academy) in response to similar bodies in film and television. “We believe it’s time for the record industry to mature and earn recognition for its contributions to the entertainment world,” said Paul Weston, the newly appointed president of NARAS’s Hollywood chapter, to the press at the time.
The Academy’s primary goal was to recognize musical achievements with an extravagant awards ceremony—but first, they needed to figure out what to call the awards. One option was “the Eddies,” in honor of Thomas Edison, a key figure in the early development of recorded music. Emile Berliner improved upon Edison’s phonograph to create the gramophone. (You can view how this device operated in the video below.)
NARAS chose the design of gramophones for the statuettes. However, as the spring of 1959 approached and the first ceremony loomed, they still had not settled on a name. So, they turned to the public for ideas. “Weston offers 25 albums to anyone who sends in the best suggestion to the Recording Academy at 9157 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood,” wrote Bob Thomas from the Associated Press in early April of that year. “What about disky?”
Naturally, both disky and Eddie were rejected, and Grammy—a name submitted by several people—was chosen instead. Rosejay Elizabeth “Jay” Danna, who had sent her letter in first, won the grand prize. A New Orleans resident in her thirties, Danna was inspired by memories of her childhood when a gramophone was often heard in the living room.
“I used to play that little machine all the time,” she told the Associated Press in 1983. “And sometimes it got too loud, and my mother would shout, ‘Turn down the Grammy.’” When Danna found out she had won, she requested something beyond the 25 LPs promised: she asked for a Grammy of her own. However, the academy informed her that “only winners are allowed to own Grammys,” a rule she recalled.
The inaugural Grammy Awards ceremony took place on May 4, 1959, with a formal banquet in Los Angeles (and a simultaneous event for NARAS members in New York City). The winners that year ranged from Ella Fitzgerald and Henry Mancini to Alvin and the Chipmunks—or, more accurately, Ross Bagdasarian, the creator and voice behind the beloved characters. The band, then known as “David Seville and the Chipmunks,” earned three golden gramophones for their song “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late).”
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