Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album
The Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album , in German "Grammy award for the best spoken album", is a music prize that has been awarded by the American Recording Academy since 1959 for sound recordings of speeches, documentaries, theater performances and audio books.
History and background
Since 1959, the Grammy Awards are presented annually in numerous categories by the Recording Academy in the United States to recognize artistic achievement, technical competence, and overall outstanding performance regardless of album sales or chart position.
One of these categories is the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album. The prize has been awarded annually since 1959.
The award category has seen some minor name changes since it was first awarded:
- It was first awarded in 1959 under the name Grammy Award for Best Performance, Documentary or Spoken Word
- From 1960 to 1961 the award was called the Grammy Award for Best Performance - Documentary or Spoken Word (other than comedy)
- From 1962 to 1963 it was presented as a Grammy Award for Best Documentary or Spoken Word Recording (other than comedy)
- From 1964 to 1965 the category was called Grammy Award for Best Documentary, Spoken Word or Drama Recording (other than comedy)
- In 1966 the award was called the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word or Drama Recording
- From 1967 to 1968 the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word, Documentary or Drama Recording was given
- From 1969 to 1979 the award was called the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Recording
- From 1980 to 1983 it was again called the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word, Documentary or Drama Recording
- From 1984 to 1991 it was called the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word or Non-Musical Recording
- From 1992 to 1997 the award was Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word or Non-Musical Album called
- Since 1998 the award has been given under the name Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album .
The Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album category was given to three US presidents, among others: Jimmy Carter , who has won the award three times, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama . Audio recordings by US Presidents John F. Kennedy and Franklin D. Roosevelt have also received awards.
Winners and nominees
year | winner | nationality | album | Nominees | Picture of the winner (s) |
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1959 | Stan Freberg | United States | The Best of the Stan Freberg Shows |
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1960 | Carl Sandburg | United States | A Lincoln portrait |
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1961 | Robert Bialek (producer) | United States | FDR Speaks |
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1962 | Leonard Bernstein | United States | Humor in Music |
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1963 | Charles Laughton | United States | The Story Teller: A Session with Charles Laughton |
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1964 | Melinda Dillon , George Grizzard , Uta Hagen and Arthur Hill | United States Germany | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? |
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1965 | That Was The Week That Was Ensemble | United Kingdom | BBC Tribute to John F. Kennedy |
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1966 | Goddard Lieberson (producer) | United States | John F. Kennedy: As We Remember Him |
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1967 | Edward R. Murrow | United States | Edward R. Murrow: A Reporter Remembers, Vol. I - The War Years |
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1968 | Everett Dirksen | United States | Gallant Men |
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1969 | Rod McKuen | United States | Lonesome Cities |
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1970 | Art Linkletter and Diane Linkletter | United States Canada | We Love You, Call Collect |
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1971 | Martin Luther King, Jr. | United States | Why I Oppose the War in Vietnam |
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1972 | Les Crane | United States | Desiderata |
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1973 | Broadway ensemble | United States | Lenny |
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1974 | Richard Harris | Ireland | Jonathan Livingston Seagull |
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1975 | Peter Cook and Dudley Moore | United Kingdom | good evening |
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1976 | James Whitmore | United States | Give 'Em Hell, Harry! |
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1977 | Henry Fonda , Helen Hayes , James Earl Jones and Orson Welles | United States | Great American Documents |
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1978 | Julie Harris | United States | The Belle of Amherst |
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1979 | Orson Welles | United States | Citizen Kane (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) |
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1980 | John Gielgud | United Kingdom | Ages of Man (Readings from Shakespeare) |
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1981 | Pat Carroll | United States | Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein |
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1982 | Orson Welles | United States | Donovan's Brain |
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1983 | Tom Voegeli | United States | Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Movie on Record |
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1984 | William Warfield | United States | Copland: Lincoln Portrait |
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1985 | Ben Kingsley | United Kingdom | The Words of Gandhi |
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1986 | Mike Berniker (producer) and the Broadway ensemble | United States | Ma Rainey's Black Bottom |
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1987 | Johnny Cash , Jerry Lee Lewis , Chips Moman , Ricky Nelson , Roy Orbison , Carl Perkins and Sam Phillips | United States | Interviews from the Class of '55 Recording Sessions |
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1988 | Garrison Keillor | United States | Lake Wobegon Days |
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1989 | Jesse Jackson | United States |
Speech by Rev. Jesse Jackson, July 27 (from One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism ) |
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1990 | Gilda Radner | United States | It's always something |
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1991 | George Burns | United States | Gracie: A Love Story |
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1992 | Ken Burns | United States | The Civil War |
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1993 | Earvin "Magic" Johnson and Robert O'Keefe | United States | What You Can Do to Avoid AIDS |
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1994 | Maya Angelou | United States | On the pulse of morning |
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1995 | Henry Rollins | United States | Get in the Van: On the Road with Black Flag |
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1996 | Maya Angelou | United States | Phenomenal Woman |
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1997 | Hillary Clinton | United States | It takes a village |
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1998 | Charles Kuralt | United States | Charles Kuralt's Spring |
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1999 | Christopher Reeve | United States | Still Me |
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2000 | LeVar Burton | United States | The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. |
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2001 | Sidney Poitier | United States | The Measure of a Man |
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2002 | Quincy Jones | United States | Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones |
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2003 | Maya Angelou | United States | A Song Flung Up to Heaven |
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2004 | Al Franks | United States | Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them |
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2005 | Bill Clinton | United States | My life |
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2006 | Barack Obama | United States | Dreams from My Father |
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2007 | Jimmy Carter | United States | Our Endangered Values |
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Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee | United States | Ossie and Ruby | |||
2008 | Barack Obama | United States | The Audacity of Hope |
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2009 | Beau Bridges , Cynthia Nixon and Blair Underwood | United States | To Inconvenient Truth |
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2010 | Michael J. Fox | United States | Always looking up |
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2011 | Jon Stewart and the Daily Show staff | United States | Earth (The Audiobook) |
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2012 | Betty White | United States | If You Ask Me (and of Course You Won't) |
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2013 | Janis Ian | United States | Society's Child |
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2014 | Stephen Colbert | United States | America Again: Re-becoming The Greatness We Never Weren't |
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2015 | Joan Rivers | United States | Diary of a Mad Diva |
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2016 | Jimmy Carter | United States | A Full Life: Reflections at 90 |
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2017 | Carol Burnett | United States | In Such Good Company: Eleven Years of Laughter, Mayhem, and Fun in the Sandbox |
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2018 | Carrie Fisher | United States | The Princess Diarist |
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2019 | Jimmy Carter | United States | Faith: A Journey for All |
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2020 January 26th, 2020 |
Michelle Obama | United States | Becoming |
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Web links
- Official website of the Grammy Awards - Recording Academy, Los Angeles (English)
- Winner of the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album at grammy.com (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Grammy Awards. Retrieved April 8, 2019 .
- ^ The Official Site of the Grammy Awards - Overview. Retrieved April 8, 2019 .
- ^ Winner Best Spoken Word Or Non-musical Album. Retrieved April 8, 2019 .