The Beatles win Grammy Awards for “Michelle”, “Eleanor Rigby” and the Revolver cover

BEATLES: EIGHT MORE AWARDS

THE Beatles’ new single “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane” is released tomorrow (Friday), but at presstime EMI gave advance orders of 200,000 for the disc. The group, who were nominated this week for eight “Grammy” awards in America for “Eleanor Rigby”, “Michelle”, the “Revolver” album and the album’s cover, are still working on their next LP. Press officer Tony Barrow, told the MM: “The album will not be out before April and even that is not definite.”

There is still no date for the start of their third feature film, but it will probably start shooting by summer. Film clips of both sides of the new singles will be shown on Top Of The Pops tonight (Thursday).

From Melody Maker – February 18, 1967

Top disc awards for Lennon, McCartney

BEATLES John Lennon and Paul McCartney have won awards in the American recording industry’s ninth annual Grammy presentations.

Lennon and McCartney won the “song of the year” award for their song Michelle, and Paul McCartney also won the best solo in a vocal group category for Eleanor Rigby.

Six of the awards, presented last night, went to Prank Sinatra. His Strangers in the Night was named best record of the year.

Sinatra, 49, also won awards for the best album, Sinatra: A Man and his Music’*; best male vocal performance, Strangers in the Night; and best album notes, for the album Sinatra at the Sands. Strangers in the Night won two more awards — for best arrangement (by Ernie Freeman) and for the best engineer’s recording in the non-classical category.

The Batman television show also came in for mention when its music, composed by Neal Hefto, won an award as the best instrumental theme.

From Evening Post – March 3, 1967

Beatles, Vaud ‘Grammies’ – but Sinatra gets six

THE Beatles have won two of this year’s Grammy Awards — the pop world’s equivalent of Hollywood’s Oscars. The New Vaudeville Band’s recording of “Winchester Cathedral” also claims a trophy. But Frank Sinatra virtually sweeps the board, with six awards which could be credited to him either directly or indirectly. Herb Alpert and Ray Charles each collect two titles. The honours have just been announced in New York.

John Lennon and Paul McCartney win the composers’ award for “Michelle”, which has been voted Song of the Year. The Best Contemporary Solo Vocal Performance honour goes to Paul for “Eleanor Rigby”. The Vaudeville Band’s success is in the Best Contemporary Recording category.

Klaus Voorman, of the Manfred Mann group, wins an award for the Best Graphic-Art Album Cover — his design for the Beatles’ “Revolver” LP. No other British artists figure in the list of winners.

Frank Sinatra claims three major awards for Record of the Year and Best Male Vocal Performance (both “Strangers In The Night”), and Album of the Year (“Sinatra: A Man And His Music”). His “Strangers” single also collects trophies for the Best Accompanying Arrangement and Best Engineered Record, and his “Sinatra At The Sands” LP has the Best Album Sleeve Notes.

Herb Alpert’s “What Now My Love” is the Best Instrumental Performance and the Best Instrumental Arrangement. Ray Charles’ “Crying Time” comes top of two r-and-b categories — Best Record and Best Solo Vocal.

The awards are presented annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Other winners include Neal Hefti’s “Batman” (Best Instrumental Theme), Eydie Gorme’s “If He Walked Into My Life” (Best Female Vocal), the Anita Kerr Singers’ “A Man And A Woman” (Best Vocal Group Performance), and the Mama’s and Papa’s “Monday Monday” (Best Contemporary Group Performance).

From New Musical Express – March 11, 1967

RCA’s 13 Grammys Lead Labels; Sinatra: Best Recording, Album

NEW YORK — Displaying overwhelming strength in the classical field, RCA Victor Records was associated with nearly one-third (13) of the 42 Grammy awards presented last week (4) by NARAS, the disk awards society, making the label easily victorious in Grammy product for 1966.

Frank Sinatra helped boost the Warner Bros.-Reprise label, with eight awards, into second place. His single, “Strangers In The Night,” was named Record of the Year and his album, “Sinatra: Man & His Music,” won a Grammy as Album of the Year. Columbia Records’ four Grammys gave the label the fourth spot.

“Michelle,” penned by John Lennon & Paul McCartney of the Beatles, got the nod as “Song of the Year.”

David Houston gave the Epic label a total of three Grammys with his reading of “Almost Persuaded,” which was involved in Best Country & Western Recording, Song and Performance by a Male. Other Grammy labels include Capitol (3), A&M (2), ABC-Dunhill (3), MGM/Verve (3), London (1), Verve (1), Fontana (1), Cadet (1), Monument (1).

RCA won seven out of eight Grammys in the classical field, bested only by London Records’ “Die Walkure” (Best Opera Recording). In line with this recording, a Special Trustees Award was presented to conductor Georg Solti and producer John Cul-shaw for their long-range (11 years in the making) project to bring Wagner’s Ring Cycle to disks. D. H. Toller-Bond, president of London, accepted the Grammys for S. and C.

More than 2500 persons attended 9th annual Grammy fetes in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Nashville. A “Best Song on Records” telecast, based on this year’s winners will be shown May 3 on NBC-TV. Timex will again sponsor the show.

During dinner, New York guests were treated to an interesting audiovisual presentation of “Those Wonderful Pre-Grammy Years,” a rundown of classic disk sounds that missed-out on Grammy awards.

From Cashbox – March 11, 1967

….and the Grammy goes to …

Klaus Voormann

9th Annual Grammy Awards March 2, 1967 Los Angeles Beverly Hilton Hotel

Best Album Cover Graphic Arts 1966 REVOLVER – The Beatles

It was the first Grammy awarded to a graphically designed record cover for a rock and pop album. Klaus Voormann’s legendary design stands today as a milestone of album artwork.

The 9th Grammy Award ceremony was held on 2nd March 1967, at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles. The winners included a young graphic designer who, even in his wildest dreams, never expected to win the recording industry’s most prestigious honour.

From 1966 Revolver Cover – Klaus Voormann