1977 Grammy Award Winners

Winners Announced: February 19, 1977
Held at: Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles, California
Host: Andy Williams
Eligibility Year: October 16, 1975 – September 30, 1976

Trivia and Details

The eligibility year for this Grammy Awards was a bit shorter than usual, ending on September 30 instead of mid-October. The change was to align the Grammy eligibility year with the calendar year.
The Song of the Year went to “I Write the Songs,” performed by Barry Manilow but ironically not written by him. Bruce Johnston penned the song.
Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life won Album of the Year and earned three other awards. The album itself was a double LP, quite a monumental feat for a Grammy-winning project.
Natalie Cole, daughter of the legendary Nat King Cole, was awarded Best New Artist, making her own mark in the music industry.
Jazz great Chick Corea won the award for Best Jazz Performance by a Group for The Leprechaun, showing that the Grammys weren’t solely the domain of pop and rock.
The Eagles were awarded Record of the Year for their hit “New Kid in Town,” a song that showcased the band’s trademark harmonies and intricate guitar work.
Andy Williams, the host, was an interesting choice as he was primarily known for his work in the ’50s and ’60s, making him somewhat of a throwback figure for a ceremony celebrating contemporary music.

1977 Grammy Winners

Record of the Year:
This Masquerade – George Benson

Album of the Year:
Songs in the Key of Life, Stevie Wonder (Tamla/Motown)

Song of the Year:
I Write the Songs – Bruce Johnston, songwriter

Best New Artist of the Year:
Starland Vocal Band

Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male:
Songs in the Key of Life, Stevie Wonder

Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female:
Hasten Down the Wind, Linda Ronstadt

Best Pop Vocal Performance By a Duo, Group or Chorus:
If You Leave Me Now – Chicago

Best Pop Instrumental Performance:
Breezin’, George Benson

Best Rhythm and Blues Song:
Lowdown – Boz Scaggs and David Paich, songwriters

Best Rhythm and Blues Vocal Performance, Male:
I Wish – Stevie Wonder

Best Rhythm and Blues Vocal Performance, Female:
Sophisticated Lady (She’s a Different Lady), Natalie Cole

Best Rhythm and Blues Vocal Performance By a Duo, Group or Chorus:
You Don’t Have to Be a Star (to Be in My Show), Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr.

Best Rhythm and Blues Instrumental Performance:
Theme From Good King Bad – George Benson

Best Jazz Vocal Performance:
Fitzgerald and Pass Again, Ella Fitzgerald

Best Jazz Performance By a Soloist:
Basie and Zoot, Count Basie

Best Jazz Performance By a Big Band:
The Ellington Suites, Duke Ellington

Best Country Song:
Broken Lady – Larry Gatlin, songwriter

Best Country Vocal Performance, Male:
(I’m a) Stand By My Woman Man – Ronnie Milsap

Best Country Vocal Performance, Female:
Elite Hotel, Emmylou Harris

Best Country Vocal Performance By a Duo or Group:
The End Is Not in Sight (The Cowboy Tune), Amazing Rhythm Aces

Best Country Instrumental Performance:
Chester and Lester, Chet Atkins and Les Paul

Best Gospel Performance:
Where the Soul Never Dies – Oak Ridge Boys

Best Soul Gospel Performance:
How I Got Over, Mahalia Jackson

Best Latin Recording:
Unfinished Masterpiece, Eddie Palmieri (Coco)

Best Inspirational Performance:
The Astonishing, Outrageous, Amazing, Incredible, Unbelievable, Different World of Gary S. Paxton, Gary S. Paxton

Best Ethnic or Traditional Recording:
Mark Twang, John Hartford (Flying Fish)

Best Instrumental Arrangement:
Leprechaun’s Dream – Chick Corea, arranger

Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists:
If You Leave Me Now – Jimmy Haskell and James William Guercio, arrangers

Best Arrangement for Voices:
Afternoon Delight – Starland Vocal Band, arrangers

Best Instrumental Composition:
Bellavia, Chuck Mangione, composer

Best Cast Show Album:
Bubbling Brown Sugar, various composers (H&L)

Album of Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special:
Car Wash, Norman Whitfield, composer (MCA)

Album of the Year, Classical:
Beethoven, Five Piano Concertos, Artur Rubinstein; Daniel Barenboim conducting London Philharmonic (RCA)

Best Classical Orchestral Performance:
Strauss, Also Sprach Zarathustra, Sir Georg Solti conducting Chicago Symphony

Best Chamber Music Performance:
The Art of Courtly Love, David Munrow conducting Early Music Consort of London

Best Classical Performance, Instrumental Soloist (With Orchestra):
Beethoven, The Five Piano Concertos, Artur Rubinstein; Daniel Barenboim conducting London Philharmonic

Best Classical Performance, Instrumental Soloist (Without Orchestra):
Horowitz Concerts 1975/76, Vladimir Horowitz

Best Opera Recording:
Gershwin, Porgy and Bess, Lorin Maazel conducting Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus (London)

Best Choral Performance, Classical:
Rachmaninoff, The Bells, Arthur Oldham, Chorus master of London Symphony Chorus; André Previn conducting London Symphony Orchestra

Best Classical Vocal Soloist Performance:
Music of Victor Herbert, Beverly Sills

Best Comedy Recording:
Bicentennial Neggir, Richard Pryor (Warner Bros.)

Best Spoken Word Recording:
Great American Documents, Orson Welles, Henry Fonda, Helen Hayes and James Earl Jones (CBS)

Best Recording for Children:
Prokofiev, Peter and the Wolf; Saint-Saëns, Carnival of the Animals; Hermione Gingold, narrator; Karl Bohm, conductor (Deutsche Grammophon)

Best Album Package:
Chicago X, John Berg, art director (Columbia)

Best Album Notes:
The Changing Face of Harlem, the Savoy Sessions, Dan Morgenstern, annotator (Savoy)

Best Producer of the Year:
Stevie Wonder