Who was the first Black artist to win a Grammy Award?

The influence of Black artists is everywhere across the landscape of contemporary music, and quite frankly, we would be nothing without it. Over the realms of jazz to Motown to R&B, instances of Black excellence commanding the industry are many and massive, even if the damning effects of cultural and institutional racism have all too often attempted to tarnish this seismic impact.

Of course, to this day, the main means of musical recognition of the highest order is through the Grammys, but with the awards body having frequently been subject to discriminatory racial biases over its nearly 70-year history, it has been made appallingly more difficult for Black artists to receive the same level of plaudits as their white musical counterparts over time.

With only 11 Black artists having ever won its most coveted ‘Album of the Year’ prize, it is plain to see that the Grammys still has a long road to travel in terms of its recognition and reverence of the Black musical landscape and the monumental role it indeed plays across the modern sonic realm as a whole.

However, to this end, the first Black artist to be awarded a Grammy stands out as a true beacon of hope and representation, which the industry has both followed and taken constant inspiration from ever since.

So, when was a Grammy award first given to a Black artist?

That would be Ella Fitzgerald, the pioneering jazz queen and ‘First Lady of Song’, who incidentally, living up to her nickname, also became the first-ever Black artist to win a Grammy award at its inaugural ceremony in 1959. She took home two of the prizes for ‘Best Vocal Performance, Female’ for Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Irving Berlin Songbook and ‘Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Individual’ for Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Duke Ellington Songbook.

As the Grammys evolved as an entity over the years Fitzgerald’s influence never waned in the force she presented to the musical world. To this day she remains the singular most celebrated female artist in the Grammy Hall of Fame, with nine songs inducted starting with ‘A-Tisket, A-Tasket’ alongside Chick Webb and his Orchestra in 1986.

Fitzgerald’s early command of the Grammy scene set a precedent for Black artists to achieve and be rightfully recognised for their innovations and talents in the music industry, though at times, it has taken a shamefully long process to reach that. It wasn’t until 1974 that a Black artist won the prestigious ‘Album of the Year’ award in the form of Stevie Wonder and his seminal record Innervisions, and over the 50-year period since, there have only been ten other Black singers who have joined Wonder in that rank.

Although without question, the likes of Wonder, Quincy Jones, and Whitney Houston absolutely own their place in Grammy history for the unmistakable impact they have each played in modern music, it was Fitzgerald who, by charging at the scene first, paved the way for a whole range of other Black artists to gain their grip on the industry. Like so much of the sonic culture we now adore, it all comes down to the groundbreaking efforts of those who came before us in raising their voice.

Related Topics