The origin of the academy dates back to the beginning of the 1950s
Hollywood Walk of Fame project. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce asked the help of major recording industry executives in compiling a list of people in the music business who should be honored by Walk of Fame stars. The music committee, made up of these executives, compiled a list, but as they worked, they realized there were many more talented industry people who would not qualify to be recognized with a Hollywood Boulevard bronze star. The founding committee members included Jesse Kaye, MGM Records; Lloyd Dunn and Richard Jones, Capitol Records;
Sonny Burke and
Milt Gabler, Decca Records;
Dennis Farnon, RCA Records; and
Axel Stordahl,
Paul Weston, and
Doris Day from Columbia Records. This was the start of the academy and also of the
Grammy Awards. The Recording Academy was formally established in 1957. The
1st Annual Grammy Awards was held simultaneously in two locations on May 4, 1959 – Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, and Park Sheraton Hotel in New York City, and 28 Grammys were awarded. The number of awards given grew and fluctuated over the years with categories added and removed, at one time reaching over 100. The
second Grammy Awards, also held in 1959, was the first ceremony to be televised, but the ceremony was not aired live until the
13th Annual Grammy Awards in 1971. In 1997, the Recording Academy under
Michael Greene launched
The Latin Recording Academy, which produces the
Latin Grammy Awards.
Neil Portnow later served as president and CEO of the academy from 2002 to 2019.
Deborah Dugan was his replacement, taking over on August 1, 2019. and is the first woman to lead the organization.
Harvey Mason Jr. held interim president/CEO duties for the organization from 2020 to 2021. He was named CEO in June 2021. Since Mason's tenure, the Recording Academy has established the following initiatives: • In March 2020, MusiCares established the COVID-19 Relief Fund. According to MusiCares, the fund was created to help struggling music creators through the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. • In May 2020, the organization hired its first-ever Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion officer, Valeisha Butterfield Jones. • In June 2020, the GRAMMYs revised rules and processes ahead of the 63rd GRAMMY Awards. Changes include the removal of the term "urban", renaming Best Urban Contemporary Album to Best Progressive R&B Album, renaming Best Rap/Sung Performance to Best Melodic Rap Performance and within the Latin music field, Latin Pop Album was renamed Best Latin Pop Or Urban Album and Latin Rock, Urban Or Alternative Album was renamed to Best Latin Rock Or Alternative Album. • In July 2020, the Academy joined Representatives
Linda T. Sánchez (D-Calif.) and Representative
Ron Estes (R-Kansas) to introduce the Help Independent Tracks Succeed (HITS) Act. According to the bipartisan bill, it allows independent music makers to expense the cost of new studio recordings on their taxes. • In March 2021, it established the Songwriters & Composers Wing, a new wing made to recognize "all genres of songwriters and amplify their role in policy discussions that seek fair compensation for creators." • In April 2021, the GRAMMYs eliminated the nominations review committee to provide more transparency in its voting process. • In November 2021, ahead of the 64th GRAMMY nominations, the Recording Academy expanded the number of nominees in the General Field categories from eight to ten. According to the organization, the expansion would bring in more genres and make the nominations more representative of the industry. • In June 2025, the Recording Academy introduced two new awards: Best Album Cover (which merged with the
Grammy Award for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package) and
Best Traditional Country Album (and renamed the current Best Country Album Grammy award to
Best Contemporary Country Album). The academy also changed eligibility for the
Grammy Award for Best New Artist, allowing contributors credited on an
Album of the Year–nominated project to qualify for the award if they had not previously been nominated in that category. It also expanded eligibility for packaging Grammy awards to albums sold
directly to fans. In 2022, the academy endorsed the bipartisan Promoting Peace, Education, and Cultural Exchange (PEACE) Through Music Diplomacy Act. In September 2023, it co-launched the
Global Music Diplomacy Initiative in partnership with U.S. Secretary of State
Antony Blinken at the
State Department. ==Grammy Awards==