23rd annual grammy awards • 1981 Telecast

Honoring recordings released between Oct 1, 1979 – Sep 30, 1980

Winner
Nominees
Winner
Nominees
  • Christopher Cross

    Christopher Cross

  • Glass Houses (Album)

    Billy Joel

  • Guilty (Album)

    Barbra Streisand

  • The Wall (Album)

    Pink Floyd

  • Trilogy: Past, Present And Future (Album)

    Frank Sinatra

Winner
Nominees
  • Fame (Single)

    Michael Gore, Dean Pitchford

  • Lady (Single)

    Lionel Richie

  • The Rose (Single)

    Amanda McBroom

  • Theme From New York, New York (Single)

    Fred Ebb, John Kander

  • Woman In Love (Single)

    Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb

Winners

Category Winner Work Actions
Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical James Guthrie The Wall All Nominees
Best Engineered Album, Classical Karl-August Naegler Berg: Lulu (Complete Version) All Nominees
Producer Of The Year, Classical Robert Woods All Nominees
Best Instrumental Composition John Williams The Empire Strikes Back All Nominees
Best Arrangement, Instrumental Or A Cappella Jerry Hey, Quincy Jones Dinorah, Dinorah All Nominees
Best Arrangement, Instruments And Vocals Christopher Cross, Michael Omartian Sailing All Nominees
Record Of The Year Christopher Cross Sailing All Nominees
Album Of The Year Christopher Cross Christopher Cross All Nominees
Song Of The Year Christopher Cross Sailing All Nominees
Best New Artist Christopher Cross All Nominees
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance Bette Midler The Rose All Nominees
Best Male Pop Vocal Performance Kenny Loggins This Is It All Nominees
Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal Barbra Streisand, Barry Gibb Guilty All Nominees
Best Pop Instrumental Performance Bob James, Earl Klugh One On One All Nominees
Best Female Rock Vocal Performance Pat Benatar Crimes Of Passion All Nominees
Best Male Rock Vocal Performance Billy Joel Glass Houses All Nominees
Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal Bob Seger Against The Wind All Nominees
Best Rock Instrumental Performance Police Reggatta De Blanc All Nominees
Best Female R&B Vocal Performance Stephanie Mills Never Knew Love Like This Before All Nominees
Best Male R&B Vocal Performance George Benson Give Me The Night All Nominees
Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal Manhattans Shining Star All Nominees
Best R&B Instrumental Performance (orchestra,group or soloist) George Benson Off Broadway All Nominees
Best R&B Song Reggie Lucas, James Mtume Never Knew Love Like This Before All Nominees
Best Female Country Vocal Performance Anne Murray Could I Have This Dance? All Nominees
Best Male Country Vocal Performance George Jones He Stopped Loving Her Today All Nominees
Best Country Performance By A Duo or Group With Vocal Emmylou Harris, Roy Orbison That Lovin' You Feelin' Again All Nominees
Best Country Instrumental Performance Gilley's Urban Cowboy Band Orange Blossom Special/Hoedown All Nominees
Best Country Song Willie Nelson On The Road Again All Nominees
Best Jazz Fusion Performance Manhattan Transfer Birdland All Nominees
Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Female Ella Fitzgerald A Perfect Match - Ella And Basie All Nominees
Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Male George Benson Moody's Mood All Nominees
Best Jazz Performance Bill Evans I Will Say Goodbye All Nominees
Best Jazz Instrumental Album Bill Evans We Will Meet Again All Nominees
Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album Count Basie On The Road All Nominees
Best Gospel Other: Incl. Sacred, Religious or Inspirational Recording, Musical or Non-Musical Debby Boone With My Song I Will Praise Him All Nominees
Best Gospel Performance, Contemporary or Inspirational Reba Rambo, Dony McGuire, B.J. Thomas, Andrae Crouch, Walter Hawkins, Tramaine Hawkins, Cynthia Clawson, Archers The Lord's Prayer All Nominees
Best Gospel Performance, Traditional Blackwood Brothers We Come To Worship All Nominees
Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album James Cleveland, Charles Fold Singers Lord, Let Me Be An Instrument All Nominees
Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album Shirley Caesar Rejoice All Nominees
Best Latin Recording Cal Tjader La Onda Va Bien All Nominees
Best Traditional Folk Album incl. Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording/Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording (Various Artists) Rare Blues All Nominees
Best Recording For Children - Single or Album, Musical or Spoken (Various Artists) In Harmony/A Sesame Street Record All Nominees
Best Spoken Word Or Non-musical Album Pat Carroll Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein All Nominees
Best Comedy Album Rodney Dangerfield No Respect All Nominees
Best Musical Theater Album Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice Evita - Premier American Recording All Nominees
Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media John Williams The Empire Strikes Back All Nominees
Best Arrangement For Voices Janis Siegel Birdland All Nominees
Best Album Package - Incl. Album Cover, Graphic Arts, Photography Roy Kohara Against The Wind All Nominees
Best Album Notes David McClintick Trilogy: Past, Present And Future All Nominees
Best Historical Album Andres Segovia Segovia - The EMI Recordings 1927-39 All Nominees
Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical Phil Ramone All Nominees
Best Classical Album Pierre Boulez, Gunther Breest, Michael Horwath Berg: Lulu (Complete Version) All Nominees
Best Orchestral Performance Georg Solti Bruckner: Symphony No. 6 In A All Nominees
Best Opera Recording Pierre Boulez, Gunther Breest, Michael Horwath Berg: Lulu (Complete Version) All Nominees
Best Choral Performance Norbert Balatsch, Carlo Maria Giulini Mozart: Requiem All Nominees
Best Classical Performance-Instrumental Soloist(s) (with orchestra) Itzhak Perlman Berg: Violin Concerto/Stravinsky: Violin Concerto In D All Nominees
Best Classical Performance-Instrumental Soloist(s) (with orchestra) Itzhak Perlman, Mstislav Rostropovich Brahms: Violin And Cello Concerto In A Minor (Double Concerto) All Nominees
Best Classical Performance-Instrumental Soloist(s) (without orchestra) Itzhak Perlman The Spanish Album All Nominees
Best Chamber Music Performance Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman Play Music For Two Violins (Moszkowski: Suite For Two Violins/Shostakovich: Duets/Prokofiev: Sonata For Two Violins) All Nominees
Best Classical Vocal Performance Leontyne Price, soprano Prima Donna, Vol. 5 - Great Soprano Arias From Handel To Britten All Nominees

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