Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album
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The Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album has been awarded since 1959. The award had several minor name changes:
- In 1959 the award was known as Best Performance, Documentary or Spoken Word
- From 1960 to 1961 it was awarded as Best Performance - Documentary or Spoken Word (other than comedy)
- From 1962 to 1963 it was awarded as Best Documentary or Spoken Word Recording (other than comedy)
- From 1964 to 1965 it was awarded as Best Documentary, Spoken Word or Drama Recording (other than comedy)
- In 1966 it was awarded as Best Spoken Word or Drama Recording
- From 1967 to 1968 it was awarded as Best Spoken Word, Documentary or Drama Recording
- From 1969 to 1979 it was awarded as Best Spoken Word Recording
- From 1980 to 1983 it returned to the title of Best Spoken Word, Documentary or Drama Recording
- From 1984 to 1991 it was awarded as Best Spoken Word or Non-Musical Recording
- From 1992 to 1997 it was awarded as Best Spoken Word or Non-Musical Album
- Since 1998 it has been awarded as Best Spoken Word Album
The category now also includes audio books, poetry readings and story telling.
Three US Presidents have won the awards: Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, along with spoken recordings of John F. Kennedy and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Four U.S. Senators have won: Barack Obama, Everett Dirksen, Al Franken, and Hillary Clinton.
Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were handed out, for a recording released in the previous year. Winners are indicated in boldface.
2010s[edit]
| Year | Album | Performer | Author |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 (59th) |
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| (Winner TBA on 12 February 2017) | |||
| The Girl With the Lower Back Tattoo | Amy Schumer | ||
| In Such Good Company: Eleven Years of Laughter, Mayhem, and Fun in the Sandbox | Carol Burnett | ||
| M Train | Patti Smith | ||
| Under the Big Black Sun: A Personal History of L.A. Punk | Various Performers; John Doe, Tom DeSavia, Scott Sherratt & Dan Zitt (producers) | ||
| Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink | Elvis Costello | ||
| 2016 (58th) |
|||
| A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety | Jimmy Carter | ||
| Blood on Snow | Patti Smith | Jo Nesbø | |
| Brief Encounters: Conversations, Magic Moments, and Assorted Hijinks | Dick Cavett | ||
| Patience and Sarah | Janis Ian & Jean Smart | Isabel Miller | |
| Yes Please | Amy Poehler | ||
| 2015 (57th) |
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| Diary of a Mad Diva | Joan Rivers | (2015 Nominations list did not credit any author) | |
| Actors Anonymous | James Franco | ||
| A Call to Action | Jimmy Carter | ||
| Carsick: John Waters Hitchhikes Across America | John Waters | ||
| A Fighting Chance | Elizabeth Warren | ||
| We Will Survive: True Stories of Encouragement, Inspiration and The Power of Song | Gloria Gaynor | ||
| 2014 (56th) |
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| America Again: Re-becoming The Greatness We Never Weren't | Stephen Colbert | (2014 Nominations list did not credit any author) | |
| Carrie and Me | Carol Burnett | ||
| Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls | David Sedaris | ||
| Still Foolin' Em | Billy Crystal | ||
| The Storm King | Pete Seeger | ||
| 2013 (55th) |
|||
| Society's Child | Janis Ian | Janis Ian | |
| American Grown | Scott Creswell and Dan Zitt* | Michelle Obama | |
| Back to Work | Bill Clinton | Bill Clinton | |
| Drift | Rachel Maddow | Rachel Maddow | |
| Seriously…I'm Kidding | Ellen DeGeneres | Ellen DeGeneres | |
| 2012 (54th) |
|||
| If You Ask Me (and of Course You Won't) | Betty White | Betty White | |
| Bossypants | Tina Fey | Tina Fey | |
| Fab Fan Memories: The Beatles Bond | Nathan Burbank, Bryan Cumming, Dennis Scott, and David Toledo* | – | |
| Hamlet | Dan Donohue | William Shakespeare | |
| The Mark of Zorro | Val Kilmer and cast | Yuri Rasovsky | |
| 2011 (53rd) |
|||
| Earth (The Audiobook) | Jon Stewart and The Daily Show staff | Jon Stewart and The Daily Show staff | |
| American on Purpose | Craig Ferguson | Craig Ferguson | |
| The Bedwetter | Sarah Silverman | Sarah Silverman | |
| A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future… | Michael J. Fox | Michael J. Fox | |
| This Time Together | Carol Burnett | Carol Burnett | |
| The Woody Allen Collection | Woody Allen | Woody Allen | |
| 2010 (52nd) |
|||
| Always Looking Up | Michael J. Fox | Michael J. Fox | |
| The Lincoln–Douglas Debates | Richard Dreyfuss and David Strathairn | Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas | |
| Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon | Yuri Rasovsky and Josh Stanton* | Dashiell Hammett | |
| A Very Special Time | Jonathan Winters | Jonathan Winters | |
| We Can Have Peace in the Holy Land | Jimmy Carter | Jimmy Carter | |
| Wishful Drinking | Carrie Fisher | Carrie Fisher |
* Album producers; performed by various artists.
2000s[edit]
| Year | Album | Performer | Author |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 (51st) |
|||
| An Inconvenient Truth | Beau Bridges, Cynthia Nixon, and Blair Underwood | Al Gore | |
| Born Standing Up | Steve Martin | Steve Martin | |
| I Am America (and So Can You!) | Stephen Colbert and The Colbert Report cast | Stephen Colbert and The Colbert Report cast | |
| Life Beyond Measure | Sidney Poitier | Sidney Poitier | |
| When You Are Engulfed in Flames | David Sedaris | Davis Sedaris | |
| 2008 (50th) |
|||
| The Audacity of Hope | Barack Obama | Barack Obama | |
| Celebrations | Maya Angelou | Maya Angelou | |
| Giving | Bill Clinton | Bill Clinton | |
| Sunday Mornings in Plains | Jimmy Carter | Jimmy Carter | |
| Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself | Alan Alda | Alan Alda | |
| 2007 (49th) |
|||
| Our Endangered Values | Jimmy Carter | Jimmy Carter | |
| With Ossie and Ruby | Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee | Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee | |
| I Shouldn't Even Be Doing This! | Bob Newhart | Bob Newhart | |
| New Rules | Bill Maher | Bill Maher | |
| The Truth (with Jokes) | Al Franken | Al Franken | |
| 2006 (48th) |
|||
| Dreams from My Father | Barack Obama | Barack Obama | |
| The Adventures of Guy Noir | Garrison Keillor | Garrison Keillor | |
| The Al Franken Show Party Album | Al Franken | Al Franken | |
| Chronicles - Volume One | Sean Penn | Bob Dylan | |
| When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? | George Carlin | George Carlin | |
| 2005 (47th) |
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| My Life | Bill Clinton | Bill Clinton | |
| Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim | David Sedaris | David Sedaris | |
| Live & Kickin' at the National Storytelling Festival | David Holt & Zeb Holt | David Holt & Zeb Holt | |
| The Pleasure of My Company | Steve Martin | Steve Martin | |
| The World According to Mr. Rogers | Tyne Daly, John Lithgow, Joanne Rogers, Lily Tomlin & Andre Watts | Fred Rogers | |
| 2004 (46th) |
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| Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them | Al Franken | Al Franken | |
| Fear Itself | Don Cheadle | Walter Mosley | |
| Living History | Hillary Clinton | Hillary Rodham Clinton | |
| The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection | Nikki Giovanni | Nikki Giovanni | |
| When You Ride Alone You Ride with bin Laden | Bill Maher | Bill Maher | |
| 2003 (45th) |
|||
| A Song Flung Up to Heaven | Maya Angelou | Maya Angelou | |
| The Great Gatsby | Tim Robbins | F. Scott Fitzgerald | |
| The Kid Stays in the Picture | Robert Evans | Robert Evans | |
| Lucky Man | Michael J. Fox | Michael J. Fox | |
| Nothing Is Impossible | Christopher Reeve | Christopher Reeve | |
| 2002 (44th) |
|||
| Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones | Quincy Jones | Quincy Jones | |
| An Hour Before Sunlight | Jimmy Carter | Jimmy Carter | |
| Lake Wobegon Summer 1956 | Garrison Keillor | Garrison Keillor | |
| Letters from the Earth: Uncensored Writings by Mark Twain | Carl Reiner | Mark Twain | |
| War Letters: Extraordinary Correspondence from American Wars | Various artists including Rob Lowe, Noah Wyle, Joan Allen & Tom Brokaw; narrated by Harry Smith | Andrew Carroll (editor) | |
| 2001 (43rd) |
|||
| The Measure of a Man | Sidney Poitier | Sidney Poitier | |
| The Complete Shakespeare Sonnets | Various artists including Kathleen Turner, Patrick Stewart & Al Pacino | William Shakespeare | |
| Married to Laughter: A Love Story | Jerry Stiller & Anne Meara | Jerry Stiller | |
| On the Road | Matt Dillon | Jack Kerouac | |
| Shopgirl | Steve Martin | Steve Martin | |
| 2000 (42nd) |
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| The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. | LeVar Burton | Martin Luther King | |
| The Chieftains: The Unauthorized Biography | Nanci Griffith | John Glatt | |
| The Diaries of Adam & Eve: Translated by Mark Twain | Mandy Patinkin & Betty Buckley with Walter Cronkite | Mark Twain | |
| Merle Haggard's My House of Memories | Merle Haggard | Merle Haggard & Tom Carter | |
| 'Tis | Frank McCourt | Frank McCourt |
1990s[edit]
- Grammy Awards of 1999
- Christopher Reeve for Still Me
- Toni Morrison for Beloved
- David Holt & Bill Mooney for Spiders in the Hairdo: Modern Urban Legends
- Jimmy Carter for The Virtues of Aging
- Garrison Keillor for Wobegon Boy
- Grammy Awards of 1998
- Charles Kuralt for Charles Kuralt's Spring
- Jodie Foster for Contact
- Maya Angelou for Even the Stars Look Lonesome
- Jimmy Carter for Living Faith
- Walter Cronkite for A Reporter's Life
- Grammy Awards of 1997
- Hillary Clinton for It Takes a Village
- Garrison Keillor for The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
- Charles Kuralt for Charles Kuralt's America
- Edward Asner, Ellen Burstyn, CCH Pounder & Alfre Woodard for Grow Old Along with Me, The Best Is Yet to Be
- Lauren Bacall, Martin Landau, Jack Lemmon & Gregory Peck for Harry S Truman: A Journey to Independence
- Grammy Awards of 1996
- Maya Angelou for Phenomenal Woman
- Garrison Keillor for Guy Noir: Radio Private Eye
- Leonard Nimoy for I Am Spock
- Danny Glover for Long Walk to Freedom
- Grammy Awards of 1995
- Henry Rollins for Get in the Van: On the Road with Black Flag
- Ken Burns for Baseball
- Gregory Peck for The Bible (The New Testament)
- Kenneth Branagh and the Renaissance Theatre Company for Hamlet
- Ben Kingsley for Schindler's List
- Grammy Awards of 1994
- Maya Angelou for On the Pulse of Morning
- Arlo Guthrie for Bound for Glory
- Emma Thompson for Howards End
- Levar Burton for Miles: The Autobiography
- Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward for Mr. and Mrs. Bridge
- Grammy Awards of 1993
- Earvin "Magic" Johnson & Robert O'Keefe for What You Can Do to Avoid AIDS
- Fannie Flagg for Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
- Garrison Keillor for Stories
- Ken Nordine for Devout Catalyst
- Patrick Stewart for A Christmas Carol
- Orson Welles and Peter Bogdanovich for This Is Orson Welles
- Grammy Awards of 1992
- Grammy Awards of 1991
- George Burns for Gracie - A Love Story
- Grammy Awards of 1990
1980s[edit]
- Grammy Awards of 1989
- Jesse Jackson for Speech by Rev. Jesse Jackson
- John Gielgud for A Christmas Carol
- Jonathan Winters for Winters' Tale
- various artists, Garrison Keillor for A Prairie Home Companion: The 2nd Annual Farewell Performance
- John Cleese for The Screwtape Letters
- Grammy Awards of 1988
- Garrison Keillor for Lake Wobegon Days
- Katharine Hepburn for Lincoln Portrait - track from Aaron Copland: Lincoln Portrait and Other Works
- Lauren Bacall for Lauren Bacall by Myself
- Leonard Nimoy for Whales Alive
- Leonard Nimoy, George Takei for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
- Grammy Awards of 1987
- Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chips Moman, Ricky Nelson, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins & Sam Phillips for Interviews From the Class of '55 Recording Sessions
- Bill Cosby for Hardheaded Boys
- F. Murray Abraham for Interview with the Vampire
- John Gielgud for Gulliver
- Ray Bradbury for The Stories of Ray Bradbury
- Grammy Awards of 1986
- Mike Berniker (producer) & the original Broadway cast for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
- Alan Arkin for Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
- Dick Cavett for The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
- John Le Carre for The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John Le Carre
- Philip Roth for Zuckerman Bound by Philip Roth
- Grammy Awards of 1985
- Ben Kingsley for The Words of Gandhi
- Jeremy Irons, Glenn Close for The Real Thing (Broadway Cast)
- John Lennon, Yoko Ono for Heart Play (Unfinished Dialogue)
- Rev. Jesse Jackson for Our Time Has Come
- Grammy Awards of 1984
- William Warfield for Copland: A Lincoln Portrait
- Jane Fonda, Femmy De Lyser for Jane Fonda's Workout Record for Pregnancy, Birth and Recovery
- John Gielgud, Irene Worth for Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats
- Steve Allen, Jayne Meadows for Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Home Computers
- Grammy Awards of 1983
- Tom Voegeli (producer) for Raiders of the Lost Ark - The Movie on Record performed by various artists
- Grammy Awards of 1982
- Orson Welles for Donovan's Brain
- Paul McCartney; Vic Garbarini (interviewer) for The McCartney Interview
- E.G. Marshall for Justice Holmes' Decisions
- Ed McMahon for 'Twas the Night Before Christmas
- James Mason for Vladimir Nabokov: Lolita
- Grammy Awards of 1981
- Pat Carroll for Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein
- Mahalia Jackson for I Sing Because I'm Happy, Vols. 1 and 2
- original cast with narration - Adventures of Luke Skywalker: The Empire Strikes Back
- Orson Welles for Obediently Yours/Orson Welles
- Peter Ustinov for A Curb in the Sky (James Thurber)
- Grammy Awards of 1980
- John Gielgud for Ages of Man Ages of Man - Readings From Shakespeare
- Henry Fonda for The Ox-Bow Incident
- Jim Morrison for An American Player
- Ken Nordine for Stare with Your Ears
- Original motion picture soundtrack for Apocalypse Now
- Orson Welles, Helen Hayes for Orson Welles/Helen Hayes at Their Best
1970s[edit]
- Grammy Awards of 1979
- Orson Welles for Citizen Kane Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
- original soundtrack for Television - Roots
- Judith Anderson, Claire Bloom, James Mason, George Rose, Gordon Gould for Wuthering Heights
- Henry Fonda for John Steinbeck: The Grapes of Wrath
- Richard Nixon, David Frost for The Nixon Interviews with David Frost
- Grammy Awards of 1978
- Julie Harris for The Belle of Amherst
- Alex Haley for Alex Haley Tells the Story of His Search for Roots
- Harry Truman speaking with Ben Gradus The Truman Tapes
- original cast, Ntozake Shange (writer) For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf
- Christopher Tolkien for J.R.R. Tolkien: The Silmarillion of Beren and Luthien
- Grammy Awards of 1977
- Henry Fonda, Helen Hayes, James Earl Jones & Orson Welles for Great American Documents
- Charlton Heston for Hemingway: The Old Man and the Sea
- James Mason for Dickens: A Tale of Two Cities
- Ray Bradbury for Fahrenheit 451
- William Shatner for Asimov: Foundation: The Psychohistoricans
- Grammy Awards of 1976
- James Whitmore for Give 'em Hell, Harry!
- Alistair Cooke for Talk About America
- Claudia McNeil for The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
- Maureen Stapleton for To Kill a Mockingbird
- Orson Welles for Immortal Sherlock Holmes Mercury Theatre on the Air
- Richard Harris for The Prophet
- Grammy Awards of 1975
- Peter Cook & Dudley Moore for Good Evening
- Eric Sevareid for An Ear to the Sounds of Our History
- Rod McKuen for Autumn
- Sam Ervin for Senator Sam at Home
- Grammy Awards of 1974
- Richard Harris for Jonathan Livingston Seagull
- Billie Holiday for Songs and Conversations
- John Wayne for America, Why I Love Her
- Kurt Vonnegut Jr. for Slaughterhouse Five
- Vincent Price for Witches, Ghosts and Goblins
- Grammy Awards of 1973
- Bruce Botnick (producer) for Lenny performed by the original Broadway cast
- Angela Davis for Angela Davis Speaks
- Rod McKuen for The Word
- Yevgeny Yevtushenko for Yevtushenko
- Grammy Awards of 1972
- Les Crane for Desiderata
- James Whitmore for Will Rogers' U.S.A.
- Richard Chamberlain for Hamlet
- Stacy Keach, Robert Ryan, Geraldine Fitzgerald for Long Day's Journey Into Night
- Walter Cronkite for I Can Hear It Now/The Sixties
- Grammy Awards of 1971
- Martin Luther King, Jr. for Why I Oppose the War in Vietnam
- Apollo 8, 11, 12 astronauts, Presidents Kennedy and Nixon for In the Beginning
- Ambrose, Dryden, Hecht, Molloy, Seeger for Poems and Ballads from 100-Plus American Poets
- Bill Cosby for Grover Henson Feels Forgotten
- Everett Dirksen for Everett Dirksen's America
- Grammy Awards of 1970
- Art Linkletter & Diane Linkletter for We Love You Call Collect
- James Earl Jones for The Great White Hope
- Walter Cronkite for Man On The Moon
1960s[edit]
- Grammy Awards of 1969
- Rod McKuen for Lonesome Cities
- Martin Luther King Jr. for I Have a Dream
- Martin Starkie for The Canterbury Pilgrims
- Paul Scofield for Murder in the Cathedral
- Grammy Awards of 1968
- Everett Dirksen for Gallant Men
- Hal Holbrook for Mark Twain Tonight, Vol. 3
- James Dickey for Poems of James Dickey
- Patrick Magee, Cyril Cusack for The Balcony
- Paul Scofield, Wendy Hiller, Robert Shaw for A Man For All Seasons
- Rod McKuen for The Earth
- Victor Lundberg for An Open Letter to My Teenage Son
- Grammy Awards of 1967
- Edward R. Murrow for Edward R. Murrow - A Reporter Remembers, Vol. I The War Years
- Buddy Starcher for History Repeats Itself
- Johnny Sea for Day for Decision
- Lee J. Cobb, Mildred Dunnock for Death of a Salesman
- Grammy Awards of 1966
- Goddard Lieberson (producer) for John F. Kennedy - As We Remember Him
- Adlai Stevenson for The Voice of the Uncommon Man
- Alec Guinness for A Personal Choice
- Chet Huntley, David Brinkley for A Time to Keep:'64
- Margaret Webster for The Brontes
- National Theatre of Great Britain for Much Ado About Nothing
- Grammy Awards of 1965
- That Was The Week That Was for BBC Tribute to John F. Kennedy performed by the That Was the Week That Was cast
- John F. Kennedy, narrated by David Brinkley, introduction by Adlai Stevenson for The Kennedy Wit
- original cast with Alec Guinness, Kate Reid for Dylan
- Richard Burton (original cast: Hume Cronyn, John Gielgud, Alfred Drake, George Voskovec, Eileen Herlie, William Redfield, George Ross) - Shakespeare: Hamlet
- Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole - Dialogue Highlights from Becket
- Grammy Awards of 1964
- Edward Albee (playwright) for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? performed by Melinda Dillon, George Grizzard, Uta Hagen & Arthur Hill
- Bertolt Brecht, (playwright) for Brecht on Brecht (original cast with Dane Clark, Anne Jackson, Lotte Lenya, Viveca Lindfors)
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (with Joan Baez, Marian Anderson, Odetta, Rabbi Joachim Prinz, Bob Dylan) for We Shall Overcome (The March on Washington, August 28,'63)
- Goddard Leiberson, producer (Pete Seeger and others) for The Badmen
- Norman Weiser, producer (David Teig, narrator) for John F. Kennedy - The Presidential Years
- Grammy Awards of 1963
- Charles Laughton for The Story-Teller: A Session With Charles Laughton
- Carl Sandburg for Carl Sandburg Reading His Poetry
- Claude Rains, reader; Glenn Gould, pianist for Enoch Arden (music by R. Strauss; poem by Alfred Tennyson)
- Laurence Harvey for This Is My Beloved
- Stan Kenton for Mama Sang a Song
- Grammy Awards of 1962
- Leonard Bernstein for Humor in Music
- Sandburg, Shapley, Jawaharlal Nehru, Lipschitz for Wisdom, Vol. 1
- Alexander Scourby for The Coming of Christ
- Dorothy Parker for The World of Dorothy Parker
- Hal Holbrook for More of Hal Holbrook in Mark Twain Tonight!
- Grammy Awards of 1961
- Robert Bialek (producer) for FDR Speaks
- John Gielgud for Ages of Man, Vol. 2 (One Man in His Time) Part 2 - Shakespeare
- Archibald MacLeish for J.B.
- Henry Fonda for Voices of the Twentieth Century
- Grammy Awards of 1960
- Carl Sandburg for A Lincoln Portrait
- Basil Rathbone - for Basil Rathbone Reads Sherlock Holmes
- Hal Holbrook - for Mark Twain Tonight
- John Gielgud - for Ages of Man
- Tony Schwartz - for New York Taxi Driver
1950s[edit]
- Grammy Awards of 1959
- Stan Freberg for The Best of the Stan Freberg Shows
- Henry Jacobs for Two Interviews of Our Time
- Marian Anderson for The Lady from Philadelphia
- Melvyn Douglas, Vincent Price, Carl Sandburg, Ed Begley for Great American Speeches
- Stan Freberg for Green Christmas
See also[edit]