The Grammy’s were launched on this day (May 4th) in 1959. Even though the first winner was “Tequila” by The Champs – not exactly an R&B song – the awards have evolved into a staple in the industry.
The Grammy was originally called called a Gramophone Award, after Emile Berliner’s Gramophone.
Emile Berliner, was a German living in Washington D.C., when he invented gramophone. He patented the instrument in the United States under patent no 372786 dated the 8th of November, in 1887.
Scientists were trying to invent the voice recording instrument from the eighteenth century. In 1806, Thomas Young developed the sound wave theory to represent the sounds of drum in a graphical manner.
