8th Annual Grammy Awards

The 8th Annual Grammy Awards were held March 15, 1966, at Chicago, Los Angeles, Nashville and New York. They recognized accomplishments of musicians for the year 1965. Roger Miller topped off the Grammys by winning 5 awards, whereas Herb Alpert and Frank Sinatra each won 4 awards.

8th Annual Grammy Awards
Date	March 15, 1966
Location	Radio City Music Hall, New York City
Hosted by	Jerry Lewis
Television/radio coverage
Network	ABC

Award winners

• Record of the Year
  • Jerry Moss (producer) & Herb Alpert (producer and artist) for "A Taste of Honey" performed by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass
• Album of the Year
  • Sonny Burke (producer) & Frank Sinatra for September of My Years
• Song of the Year
  • Johnny Mandel & Paul Francis Webster (songwriters) for "The Shadow of Your Smile" (Love Theme From The Sandpiper) performed by Tony Bennett
• Best New Artist
  • Tom Jones

Children's

• Best Recording for Children
  • Marvin Miller for Dr. Seuss Presents "Fox in Socks" and "Green Eggs and Ham"

Classical

• Best Classical Performance - Orchestra
  • Leopold Stokowski (conductor) & the American Symphony Orchestra for Ives: Symphony No. 4
• Best Classical Vocal Soloist Performance
  • Erich Leinsdorf (conductor), Leontyne Price & the Boston Symphony Orchestra for Strauss: Salome (Dance of the Seven Veils, Interlude, Final Scene)/The Egyptian Helen (Awakening Scene)
• Best Opera Recording
  • Karl Böhm (conductor), Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Evelyn Lear, Fritz Wunderlich & the German Opera Orchestra & Chorus for Berg: Wozzeck
• Best Classical Choral Performance (other than opera)
  • Robert Shaw (conductor), the Robert Shaw Chorale & the RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra for Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms/Poulenc: Gloria
• Best Classical Performance - Instrumental Soloist or Soloists (with orchestra)
  • Erich Leinsdorf (conductor), Arthur Rubinstein & the Boston Symphony Orchestra for Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G
• Best Classical Performance - Instrumental Soloist or Soloists (without orchestra)
  • Vladimir Horowitz for Horowitz at Carnegie Hall - An Historic Return
• Best Classical Chamber Music Performance - Instrumental or Vocal
  • The Juilliard String Quartet for Bartók: The Six String Quartets
• Best Composition by a Contemporary Classical Composer
  • Charles Ives (composer) for Ives: Symphony No. 4 conducted by Leopold Stokowski
• Album of the Year - Classical
  • Thomas Frost (producer) & Vladimir Horowitz for Horowitz at Carnegie Hall - An Historic Return
• Most Promising New Classical Recording Artist
  • Peter Serkin

Comedy

• Best Comedy Performance
  • Bill Cosby for Why Is There Air?

Composing and arranging

• Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Show
  • Johnny Mandel (composer) for The Sandpiper performed by the Robert Armbruster Orchestra
• Best Instrumental Arrangement
  • Herb Alpert (arranger) for "A Taste of Honey" performed by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass
• Best Arrangement Accompanying a Vocalist or Instrumentalist
  • Gordon Jenkins (arranger) for "It Was a Very Good Year" performed by Frank Sinatra

Country

• Best Country & Western Vocal Performance - Female
  • Jody Miller for "Queen of the House"
• Best Country and Western Vocal Performance, Male
  • Roger Miller for "King of the Road"
• Best Country & Western Single
  • Roger Miller for "King of the Road"
• Best Country & Western Album
  • Roger Miller for The Return of Roger Miller
• Best New Country & Western Artist
  • The Statler Brothers

Folk

• Best Folk Recording
  • Harry Belafonte & Miriam Makeba for An Evening with Belafonte/Makeba

Gospel

• Best Gospel or Other Religious Recording (Musical)
  • Anita Kerr & George Beverly Shea for Southland Favorites

Jazz

• Best Instrumental Jazz Performance - Small Group or Soloist With Small Group
  • Ramsey Lewis for "The "In" Crowd" performed by the Ramsey Lewis Trio
• Best Instrumental Jazz Performance - Large Group or Soloist with Large Group
  • Duke Ellington for Ellington '66
• Best Original Jazz Composition
  • Lalo Schifrin (composer) for Jazz Suite on the Mass Texts performed by Paul Horn

Musical show

• Best Score from an Original Cast Show Album
  • Alan J. Lerner, Burton Lane (composers), & the original cast (Barbara Harris, John Cullum, Tito Vandis, Byron Webster & William Daniels) for On a Clear Day

Packaging and notes

• Best Album Cover, Graphic Arts
  • George Estes (art director) & James Alexander (graphic artist) for Bartók: Concerto No. 2 for Violin/Stravinsky: Concerto for Violin performed by Joseph Silverstein & conducted by Erich Leinsdorf
• Best Album Cover, Photography
  • Robert M. Jones (art director) & Ken Whitmore (photographer) for Jazz Suite on the Mass Texts performed by Paul Horn
• Best Album Notes
  • Stan Cornyn (notes writer) for September of My Years performed by Frank Sinatra

Pop

• Best Vocal Performance, Female
  • Barbra Streisand for My Name Is Barbra
• Best Vocal Performance, Male
  • Frank Sinatra for "It Was a Very Good Year"
• Best Performance by a Vocal Group
  • The Anita Kerr Singers for "We Dig Mancini"
• Best Performance by a Chorus
  • Ward Swingle for Anyone for Mozart? performed by the Swingle Singers
• Best Instrumental Performance
  • Herb Alpert for "A Taste of Honey" performed by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass
• Best Contemporary (R&R) Vocal Performance - Female
  • Petula Clark for "I Know a Place"
• Best Contemporary (R&R) Vocal Performance - Male
  • Roger Miller for "King of the Road"
• Best Contemporary (R&R) Performance - Group (Vocal or Instrumental)
  • The Statler Brothers for "Flowers on the Wall"
• Best Contemporary (R&R) Single
  • Roger Miller for "King of the Road"

Production and engineering

• Best Engineered Recording - Non-Classical
  • Larry Levine (engineer) for "A Taste of Honey" performed by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass
• Best Engineered Recording, Classical
  • Fred Plaut (engineer) & Vladimir Horowitz for Horowitz at Carnegie Hall - An Historic Return

R&B

• Best Rhythm & Blues Recording
  • James Brown for "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag"

Spoken

• Best Spoken Word or Drama Recording
  • Goddard Lieberson (producer) for John F. Kennedy - As We Remember Him