52nd Annual Grammy Awards

The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards took place on January 31, 2010, at Staples Center in Los Angeles. Neil Young was honored as the 2010 MusiCares Person of the Year on January 29, two days prior to the Grammy telecast. The show was moved to January to avoid competing against the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Only ten of the 109 awards were received during the broadcast. The remaining awards were given during the un-televised portion of the ceremony which preceded the broadcast.

Beyoncé, who also received the most nominations, with ten, won a total of six awards breaking the record for most wins by a female artist in one night. Taylor Swift won four while The Black Eyed Peas, Jay-Z and Kings of Leon won three. Artists who won two awards include A. R. Rahman, Colbie Caillat, Eminem, Kanye West, Lady Gaga, Maxwell, Jason Mraz and Rihanna. Judas Priest, AC/DC, and Imogen Heap each won a Grammy for the first time in their careers.

Taylor Swift's Fearless was awarded the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, the youngest to win the award at age 19. "Use Somebody" by rock band Kings of Leon won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year, while "Single Ladies" by songwriters Thaddis Harrell, Beyoncé Knowles, Terius Nash and Christopher Stewart, was honored with Grammy Award for Song of the Year. Zac Brown Band was presented with the Grammy Award for Best New Artist, becoming the fourth country music act to ever win the award. They follow behind LeAnn Rimes in 1997, Shelby Lynne in 2001 and Carrie Underwood in 2007.

Grammy Award

A Grammy Award (originally called Gramophone Award), or Grammy, is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. The annual presentation ceremony features performances by prominent artists, and the presentation of those awards that have a more popular interest. It shares recognition of the music industry as that of the other performance arts: Emmy Awards (television), the Tony Awards (stage performance), and the Academy Awards (motion pictures).

The first Grammy Awards ceremony was held on May 4, 1959, to honor the musical accomplishments by performers for the year 1958. Following the 2011 ceremony, NARAS overhauled many Grammy Award categories for 2012. The 57th Grammy Awards was held on February 8, 2015, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

History

The Grammys had their origin in the Hollywood Walk of Fame project in the 1950s. As the recording executives chosen for the Walk of Fame committee worked at compiling a list of important recording industry people who might qualify for a Walk of Fame star, they realized there were many more people who were leaders in their business who would never earn a star on Hollywood Boulevard. The music executives decided to rectify this by creating an award given by their industry similar to the Oscars and the Emmys. This was the beginning of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. After it was decided to create such an award, there was still a question of what to call it; one working title was the Eddie, to honor the inventor of the phonograph, Thomas Edison. They finally settled on using the name of the invention of Emile Berliner, the gramophone, for the awards, which were first given for the year 1958.

National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences

The Recording Academy, also known as The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (NARAS), is a U.S. organization of musicians, producers, recording engineers and other recording professionals dedicated to improving the quality of life and cultural condition for music and its makers. The Recording Academy is headquartered in Santa Monica. Neil Portnow is the current president of The Academy.

The Recording Academy, which began in 1957, is known for its Grammy Awards. In 1997, the Recording Academy launched The Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc., which produces the Latin GRAMMY Awards. Michael Greene was the founder and the first President of the Latin Grammys.

History

The origin of the Academy dates back to the beginning of the 1950s Hollywood Walk of Fame project. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce asked the help of major recording industry executives in compiling a list of people in the music business who should be honored by Walk of Fame stars. The music committee, made up of these executives, compiled a list, but as they worked, they realized there were many more talented industry people who would not qualify to be recognized with a Hollywood Boulevard bronze star. The founding committee members included Jesse Kaye, MGM Records; Lloyd Dunn and Richard Jones, Capitol Records; Sonny Burke and Milt Gabler, Decca Records; Dennis Farnon, RCA Records; and Axel Stordahl, Paul Weston, and Doris Day from Columbia Records. This was the start of the Academy and also of the GRAMMY Awards.

Award

An award is something given to a person, a group of people, or an organization to recognize their excellence in a certain field; a certificate of excellence. Awards are often signified by trophies, titles, certificates, commemorative plaques, medals, badges, pins, or ribbons. An award may carry a monetary prize given to the recipient; for example, the Nobel Prize for contributions to society or the Pulitzer Prize for literary achievements. An award may also simply be a public acknowledgment of excellence, without any tangible token or prize.

Overview

Awards can be given by any person or institution, although the prestige of an award usually depends on the status of the awarder. Usually, awards are given by an organization of some sort, or by the office of an official within an organization or government. For instance, a special presidential citation (as given by the President of the United States) is a public announcement giving an official place of honor (e.g., President Ronald Reagan gave a special presidential citation in 1984 to the Disney Channel for its excellent children's television programming.)

Grammy Award for Best Rock Album

The Grammy Award for Best Rock Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality albums in the rock music genre. Honors in several categories are presented at the ceremony annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position".

The award for Best Rock Album was first presented to the band The Rolling Stones in 1995, and the name of the category has remained unchanged since then. According to the category description guide for the 52nd Grammy Awards, the award is presented to "vocal or instrumental rock, hard rock or metal albums containing at least 51% playing time of newly recorded material". Since 1996, award recipients have often included the producers, engineers, and/or mixers associated with the nominated work in addition to the recording artists.