1983 Grammy Award Winners

Winners Announced: February 23, 1983
Held at: Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles
Host: John Denver
Eligibility Year: October 1, 1981 – September 30, 1982

Table of Contents

1983 Grammys Trivia and Noteworthy Moments

King of Pop’s Reign: Michael Jackson’s Thriller snagged eight awards, setting a record for most wins by an artist in a single year.
Toto’s Triumph: The band Toto nabbed several awards, including Record of the Year for “Rosanna.”
Classical Crossover: “Nadia’s Theme,” primarily known as a piece of classical music, won for Best Instrumental Arrangement.
Early Hip-Hop: The Sugarhill Gang’s Rapper’s Delight was one of the first rap songs to be nominated, although it didn’t win.
Female Power: Pat Benatar won Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for “Shadows of the Night,” paving the way for more women in rock.
Double Country Win: Willie Nelson won both Best Country Vocal Performance, Male and Best Country Song for “Always On My Mind.”
Latin Influence: El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico was nominated for Best Tropical Latin Performance, a testament to the growing recognition of Latin genres in mainstream music.

1983 Grammy Winners

Record of the Year:
Rosanna – Toto

Album of the Year:
Toto IV, Toto (Columbia)

Song of the Year:
Always on My Mind – Johnny Christopher, Mark James and Wayne Carson, songwriters

Best New Artist:
Men at Work

Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male:
Truly – Lionel Richie

Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female:
You Should Hear How She Talks About You – Melissa Manchester

Best Pop Performance By a Duo or Group With Vocal:
Up Where We Belong – Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes

Best Pop Instrumental Performance:
Chariots of Fire Theme (dance version), Ernie Watts

Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male:
Hurts So Good – John Cougar

Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female:
Shadows of the Night – Pat Benatar

Best Rock Performance By a Duo or Group With Vocal:
Eye of the Tiger – Survivor

Best Rock Instrumental Performance:
D.N.A. – A Flock of Seagulls

Best Rhythm and Blues Song:
Turn Your Love Around – Jay Graydon, Steve Lukather and Bill Champlin, songwriters

Best Rhythm and Blues Vocal Performance, Male:
Sexual Healing – Marvin Gaye

Best Rhythm and Blues Performance, Female:
And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going – Jennifer Holliday

Best Rhythm and Blues Performance By a Duo or Group With Vocal (tie):
Let It Whip – Dazz Band
Wanna Be With You – Earth, Wind and Fire

Best Rhythm and Blues Instrumental Performance:
Sexual Healing – Marvin Gaye

Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Male:
An Evening With George Shearing and Mel Tormé, Mel Tormé

Best Vocal Jazz Performance, Female:
Gershwin Livel, Sarah Vaughan

Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Duo or Group:
Route 66 – Manhattan Transfer

Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Soloist:
We Want Miles, Miles Davis

Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Group:
More Live, Phil Woods Quartet

Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Big Band:
Warm Breeze, Count Basie and His Orchestra

Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental:
Offramp, Pat Metheny Group

Best Country Song:
Always on My Mind – Johnny Christopher, Mark James and Wayne Carson, songwriters

Best Country Vocal Performance, Male:
Always on My Mind – Willie Nelson

Best Country Vocal Performance, Female:
Break It to Me Gently – Juice Newton

Best Country Performance By a Duo or Group With Vocal:
Mountain Music, Alabama

Best Country Instrumental Performance:
Alabama Jubilee – Roy Clark

Best Gospel Performance, Contemporary:
Age to Age, Amy Grant

Best Gospel Performance, Traditional:
I’m Following You, Blackwood Brothers

Best Soul Gospel Performance, Contemporary:
Higher Plane, Al Green

Best Soul Gospel Performance, Traditional:
Precious Lord, Al Green

Best Latin Recording:
Machito and His Salsa Big Band ’82, Machito (Timeless)

Best Inspirational Performance:
He Set My Life to Music, Barbara Mandrell

Best Traditional Blues Recording:
Alright Again, Clarence Gatemouth Brown (Rounder)

Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording:
Queen Ida and the Bon Temps Zydeco Band on Tour, Queen Ida (GNR/Crescendo)

Best Arrangement on an Instrumental Recording:
Flying – John Williams, arranger

Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s):
Rosanna – Jerry Hey, David Paich and Jeff Porcaro, arrangers

Best Vocal Arrangement for Two or More Voices:
Rosanna – David Paich, arranger

Best Instrumental Composition:
Flying (Theme From E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial), John Williams, composer

Best Cast Show Album:
Dreamgirls, Henry Krieger, composer; Tom Eyen, lyricist (Geffen/Warner Bros.)

Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special:
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, John Williams, composer (MCA)

Best Classical Album:
Bach, The Goldberg Variations, Glenn Gould (CBS)

Best Classical Orchestral Recording:
Mahler, Symphony No. 7 in E Minor, James Levine conducting Chicago Symphony Orchestra (RCA)

Best Chamber Music Performance:
Brahms, The Sonatas for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 120, Richard Stoltzman and Richard Goode

Best Classical Performance, Instrumental Soloist(s) (With Orchestra):
Elgar, Concerto for Violin in B Minor, Itzhak Perlman; Daniel Barenboim conducting Chicago Symphony

Best Classical Performance, Instrumental Soloist(s) (Without Orchestra):
Bach, The Goldberg Variations, Glenn Gould

Best Opera Recording:
Wagner, Der Ring des Nibelungen, Pierre Boulez conducting Bayreuth Festival Orchestra; solos: Jones, Altmeyer, Wenkel, Hofmann, Jung, Jerusalem, Zednik, Mclntrye, Salminen and Becht (Philips)

Best Choral Performance (Other Than Opera):
Berlioz, La Damnation de Faust, Sir Georg Solti conducting Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Margaret Hillis, chorus director, Chicago Symphony Chorus

Best Classical Vocal Soloist Performance:
Leontyne Price Sings Verdi, Leontyne Price; Zubin Mehta conducting Israel Philharmonic Orchestra

Best Comedy Recording:
Live on the Sunset Strip, Richard Pryor (Warner Bros.)

Best Spoken Word, Documentary or Drama Recording:
Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Movie on Record (Columbia)

Best Recording for Children:
In Harmony 2, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, Kenny Loggins, Carly and Lucy Simon, Teddy Pendergrass, Crystal Gayle, Lou Rawls, Deniece Williams, Janis Ian and Dr. John (CBS)

Best Album Package:
Get Closer, Kosh and Ron Larson, art directors (Elektra/Asylum)

Best Album Notes:
Bunny Berigan (Giants of Jazz), John Chilton and Richard Sudhalter, art directors (Time-Life)

Best Historical Album:
The Tommy Dorsey/Frank Sinatra Sessions vols. 1, 2 and 3 (RCA)

Video of the Year:
Olivia Physical – Olivia Newton-John

Producer of the Year (Non-Classical):
Toto

Classical Producer of the Year:
Robert Woods