1974 Grammy Award Winners

Winners Announced: March 2, 1974
Held at: Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles, California
Host: Andy Williams
Eligibility Year: October 16, 1972 – October 15, 1973

Table of Contents

Trivia and Details

The album Innervisions by Stevie Wonder was one of the stars of the night, snagging Album of the Year, among other accolades.
The evening’s host, Andy Williams, was no stranger to the Grammys. He had been nominated multiple times, although he never won a Grammy during his career.
This year, it marked the second consecutive hosting gig for Andy Williams at the Grammys, making him one of the recurring faces of the ceremony during this period.
The hit single Killing Me Softly with His Song, performed by Roberta Flack, won Song of the Year and Record of the Year, making it one of the most celebrated songs of the ceremony.
Charlie Rich’s Behind Closed Doors won Best Country Vocal Performance, Male, and also won the Best Country Song award. Rich himself would go on to host the next year’s ceremony.
Bette Midler, known for her multi-faceted talents, won the Best New Artist award.
Millie Jackson, primarily an R&B singer, was nominated for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance but lost to Aretha Franklin. This was one of several Grammy nods Jackson received throughout her career, although she never won.
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1974 Grammy Winners

Record of the Year:
Killing Me Softly With His Song – Roberta Flack

Album of the Year:
Innervisions, Stevie Wonder (Tamla/Motown)

Song of the Year:
Killing Me Softly With His Song – Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox, songwriters

Best New Artist of the Year:
Bette Midler

Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male:
You Are the Sunshine of My Life – Stevie Wonder

Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female:
Killing Me Softly With His Song – Roberta Flack

Best Pop Vocal Performance By a Duo, Group or Chorus:
Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye), Gladys Knight and the Pips

Best Pop Instrumental Performance:
Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001) – Eumir Deodato

Best Rhythm and Blues Song:
Superstition – Stevie Wonder, songwriter

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

Best Rhythm and Blues Vocal Performance, Female:
Master of Eyes – Aretha Franklin

Best Rhythm and Blues Vocal Performance By a Duo, Group or Chorus:
Midnight Train to Georgia – Gladys Knight and the Pips

Best Rhythm and Blues Instrumental Performance:
Hang on Sloopy – Ramsey Lewis

Best Jazz Performance By a Soloist:
God Is in the House, Art Tatum

Best Jazz Performance By a Group:
Supersax Plays Bird, Supersax

Best Jazz Performance By a Big Band:
Giant Steps, Woody Herman

Best Country Song:
Behind Closed Doors – Kenny O’Dell, songwriter

Best Country Vocal Performance, Male:
Behind Closed Doors – Charlie Rich

Best Country Vocal Performance, Female:
Let Me Be There – Olivia Newton-John

Best Country Vocal Performance By a Duo or Group:
From the Bottle to the Bottom – Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge

Best Country Instrumental Performance:
Dueling Banjos – Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell

Best Gospel Performance:
Release Me (From My Sin), Blackwood Brothers

Best Soul Gospel Performance:
Loves Me Like a Rock – Dixie Hummingbirds

Best Inspirational Performance:
Let’s Just Praise the Lord, Bill Gaither Trio

Best Ethnic or Traditional Recording:
Then and Now, Doc Watson (United Artists)

Best Instrumental Arrangement:
Summer in the City – Quincy Jones, arranger

Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist:
Live and Let Die – George Martin, arranger

Best Instrumental Composition:
Last Tango in Paris – Gato Barbiera, composer

Best Score From an Original Cast Show Album:
A Little Night Music, Stephen Sondheim, composer

Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special:
Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Neil Diamond, composer

Album of the Year, Classical:
Bartók, Concerto for Orchestra, Pierre Boulez conducting New York Philharmonic Orchestra (Columbia)

Best Classical Performance, Orchestra:
Bartók, Concerto for Orchestra, Pierre Boulez conducting New York Philharmonic Orchestra

Best Chamber Music Performance:
Joplin, The Red Back Book, Gunther Schuller and the New England Conservatory Ragtime Ensemble

Best Classical Performance, Instrumental Soloist (With Orchestra):
Beethoven, Concerti (5) for Piano and Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy; Sir Georg Solti conducting Chicago Symphony

Best Classical Performance, Instrumental Soloist (Without Orchestra):
Scriabin, Horowitz Plays Scriabin, Vladimir Horowitz

Best Opera Recording:
Bizet, Carmen, Leonard Bernstein conducting The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Manhattan Opera Chorus; solos: Horne, McCracken, Maliponte and Krause (Deutsche Grammophon/Polydor)

Best Choral Performance, Classical:
Walton, Belshazzar’s Feast, André Previn conducting London Symphony Orchestra; Arthur Oldham conducting London Symphony Orchestra Chorus

Best Classical Vocal Soloist Performance:
Puccini, Heroines (La Bohème, Tosca, Manon Lescaut), Leontyne Price; Downes conducting New Philharmonia

Best Comedy Recording:
Los Cochinos, Cheech and Chong (Ode)

Best Spoken Word Recording:
Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Richard Harris (Columbia)

Best Recording for Children:
Sesame Street Live, Sesame Street cast (Columbia)

Best Album Package:
Tommy, Wilkes and Braun, Inc., art director (Ode)

Best Album Notes:
God Is in the House, Dan Morgenstern, annotator (Onyx)

Best Album Notes, Classical:
Hindemith, Sonatas for Piano (Complete), Glenn Gould, annotator (Columbia)