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 |
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The Best of the Stan Freberg Shows |
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1960 | Carl Sandburg |
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A Lincoln portrait |
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1961 | Robert Bialek (producer) |
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FDR Speaks |
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1962 | Leonard Bernstein |
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Humor in Music |
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1963 | Charles Laughton |
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The Story Teller: A Session with Charles Laughton |
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1964 | Melinda Dillon , George Grizzard , Uta Hagen and Arthur Hill |
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Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? |
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1965 | That Was The Week That Was Ensemble |
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BBC Tribute to John F. Kennedy |
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1966 | Goddard Lieberson (producer) |
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John F. Kennedy: As We Remember Him |
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1967 | Edward R. Murrow |
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Edward R. Murrow: A Reporter Remembers, Vol. I - The War Years |
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1968 | Everett Dirksen |
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Gallant Men |
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1969 | Rod McKuen |
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Lonesome Cities |
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1970 | Art Linkletter and Diane Linkletter |
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We Love You, Call Collect |
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1971 | Martin Luther King, Jr. |
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Why I Oppose the War in Vietnam |
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1972 | Les Crane |
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Desiderata |
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1973 | Broadway ensemble |
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Lenny |
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1974 | Richard Harris |
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Jonathan Livingston Seagull |
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1975 | Peter Cook and Dudley Moore |
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good evening |
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1976 | James Whitmore |
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Give 'Em Hell, Harry! |
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1977 | Henry Fonda , Helen Hayes , James Earl Jones and Orson Welles |
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Great American Documents |
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1978 | Julie Harris |
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The Belle of Amherst |
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1979 | Orson Welles |
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Citizen Kane (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) |
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1980 | John Gielgud |
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Ages of Man (Readings from Shakespeare) |
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1981 | Pat Carroll |
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Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein |
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1982 | Orson Welles |
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Donovan's Brain |
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1983 | Tom Voegeli |
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Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Movie on Record |
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1984 | William Warfield |
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Copland: Lincoln Portrait |
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1985 | Ben Kingsley |
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The Words of Gandhi |
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1986 | Mike Berniker (producer) and the Broadway ensemble |
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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 |
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Interviews from the Class of '55 Recording Sessions |
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1988 | Garrison Keillor |
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Lake Wobegon Days |
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1989 | Jesse Jackson |
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Speech by Rev. Jesse Jackson, July 27 (from One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism ) |
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1990 | Gilda Radner |
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It's always something |
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1991 | George Burns |
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Gracie: A Love Story |
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1992 | Ken Burns |
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The Civil War |
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1993 | Earvin "Magic" Johnson and Robert O'Keefe |
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What You Can Do to Avoid AIDS |
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1994 | Maya Angelou |
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On the pulse of morning |
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1995 | Henry Rollins |
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Get in the Van: On the Road with Black Flag |
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1996 | Maya Angelou |
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Phenomenal Woman |
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1997 | Hillary Clinton |
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It takes a village |
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1998 | Charles Kuralt |
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Charles Kuralt's Spring |
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1999 | Christopher Reeve |
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Still Me |
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2000 | LeVar Burton |
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The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. |
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2001 | Sidney Poitier |
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The Measure of a Man |
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2002 | Quincy Jones |
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Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones |
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2003 | Maya Angelou |
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A Song Flung Up to Heaven |
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2004 | Al Franks |
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Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them |
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2005 | Bill Clinton |
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My life |
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2006 | Barack Obama |
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Dreams from My Father |
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2007 | Jimmy Carter |
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Our Endangered Values |
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Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee |
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Ossie and Ruby |
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2008 | Barack Obama |
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The Audacity of Hope |
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2009 | Beau Bridges , Cynthia Nixon and Blair Underwood |
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To Inconvenient Truth |
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2010 | Michael J. Fox |
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Always looking up |
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2011 | Jon Stewart and the Daily Show staff |
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Earth (The Audiobook) |
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2012 | Betty White |
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If You Ask Me (and of Course You Won't) |
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2013 | Janis Ian |
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Society's Child |
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2014 | Stephen Colbert |
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America Again: Re-becoming The Greatness We Never Weren't |
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2015 | Joan Rivers |
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Diary of a Mad Diva |
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2016 | Jimmy Carter |
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A Full Life: Reflections at 90 |
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2017 | Carol Burnett |
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In Such Good Company: Eleven Years of Laughter, Mayhem, and Fun in the Sandbox |
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2018 | Carrie Fisher |
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The Princess Diarist |
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2019 | Jimmy Carter |
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Faith: A Journey for All |
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2020 January 26th, 2020 |
Michelle Obama |
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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 .