There is something for everyone. The Grammy Awards are known as “music’s biggest night,” but the Recording Academy also hands out a ton of trophies in non-musical categories — and you might be surprised to find out who’s won them.
Best Spoken Word Album is a major source of unusual Grammy winners, first awarded in 1959. This prize has been awarded to statesmen reading speeches (Martin Luther King Jr.), poets reciting works (Maya Angelou), and, more recently, actors and authors reading audiobooks (.LeVar Burton, Cynthia Nixon, Michael J. Fox… and many other things.
It’s certainly not easy to win a Grammy, but the sheer breadth of categories has helped a number of stars complete their EGOT: the showbiz feat of winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony.
For example, Audrey Hepburn won an Oscar in 1953. Roman HolidayTony, 1954. OndineIn 1993, an Emmy was awarded Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn. Finally, in 1994, Breakfast at Tiffany’sStar won the Grammy for Best Spoken Word Record for Children. This made her the first person to win all four posthumously. (She died one-month before the ceremony.
Liza MinnelliAfter winning a Tony in 1965 and an Oscar in 1972, and an Emmy in 1973, she also received her Grammy last. The Cabaret actress took home a Grammy Legend Award in 1990, making her an official EGOT winner — a feat that even her mother, Judy Garland, didn’t achieve. (The late Judy Garland. Wizard of OzStar was nominated three times for Emmys, but never won any.
The Grammys have also honored former presidents, former first ladies, and other non-Hollywood figures. Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton Barack Obama.
Jimmy CarterThe current record for most Presidential Grammys holds three wins. But the The courage to believeThe 64th Annual Grammy Awards will air in April 2022 and the author could tie the Georgia native. The former senator from Illinois is nominated as Best Spoken Word Album in the audiobook version his 2020 memoir. A Promised Land.
He’s not the only Grammy winner at home, either. His wife, Michelle Obama, won the 2020 gold medal for the audiobook version of her memoir. Becoming. This honor was given to her one year after she surprised everyone at the ceremony. Lady Gaga, Alicia Keys, Jennifer Lopez Jada pinkett Smith.
“From the Motown records I wore out on the South Side [of Chicago] to the ‘Run the World’ songs that fueled me through this last decade, music has always helped me tell my story,” the Illinois native said in February 2019 to rapturous applause. “Whether we like country or rap or rock, music helps us share ourselves, our dignity and sorrows, our hopes and joys. It allows us all to hear each other, to invite each others. Music shows us that all of it matters.”
Continue scrolling to see the most surprising Grammy winners throughout the years:
