The 33rd Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 20, 1991. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Quincy Jones was the night's biggest winner, winning a total of six awards including Album of the Year.
Performers Artist(s) Song(s) Bette Midler "From a Distance" MC Hammer "U Can't Touch This" Mariah Carey "Vision of Love" En VogueTake 6 "Who's Loving You""Something Within Me" Tracy Chapman "Imagine" Aerosmith "Come Together" Phil CollinsDavid Crosby "Another Day in Paradise" Garth Brooks "Friends in Low Places" The Judds "Love Can Build a Bridge" Bob Dylan "Masters of War" Tony Bennett "When Do the Bells Ring for Me?" Harry Connick, Jr. "We Are in Love" Living Colour "Time's Up" Wilson Phillips "Hold On" Kathleen Battle ""In the Silence of the Secret Night" (from Six Songs Op. 4, no. 3 by Sergei Rachmaninoff)
Presenters Sting & Gloria Estefan – Best Pop Vocal Performance Male Young MC & Bobby Brown – Best Rap Solo Performance Regina Belle & Michael Bolton – Best R&B Vocal Performance Male En Vogue & Take 6 – Best New Artist Richard Gere – Presents Lifetime Achievement Award to John Lennon. Yoko Ono accepts the award on his behalf. Bonnie Raitt & Don Henley – Album of the Year James Ingram & Natalie Cole – Song of the Year The Judds – Best Country Vocal Performance Male Randy Travis & Vince Gill – Best Country Performance by Duo or Group The Kentucky Headhunters & Lisa Stansfield – Best Rock Vocal Performance Male Maria Conchita Alonso & Edward James Olmos – Best Tropical Latin Performance Bernadette Peters & Tommy Tune – Best Musical Cast Show Album Vanilla Ice & Debbie Gibson – Best Pop Vocal Performance Female Jack Nicholson – Presents Lifetime Achievement Award to Bob Dylan Stanley Jordan & Quincy Jones – Best Jazz Vocal Performance Male Cyndi Lauper & The B-52s – Best Hard Rock Performance and Best Rock Performance by Duo or Group Quincy Jones – Presents the President of the Recording Academy Graham Nash & Johnny Gill – Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group Diana Ross & Jon Bon Jovi – Record of the Year
Award winners General Record of the Year "Another Day in Paradise" – Phil Collins Hugh Padgham & Phil Collins, producers "Vision of Love" – Mariah Carey Rhett Lawrence & Narada Michael Walden, producers "U Can't Touch This" – MC Hammer MC Hammer, producer "From a Distance" – Bette Midler Arif Mardin, producer "Nothing Compares 2 U" – Sinéad O'Connor Sinéad O'Connor & Nellee Hooper, producers
Album of the Year Back on the Block – Quincy Jones Quincy Jones, producer ...But Seriously – Phil Collins Phil Collins & Hugh Padgham, producers Mariah Carey – Mariah Carey Mariah Carey, Rhett Lawrence, Ric Wake, Narada Michael Walden, Ben Margulies & Walter Afanasieff, producers Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em – MC Hammer Felton Pilate & James Earley, producers Wilson Phillips – Wilson Phillips Glen Ballard, producer
Song of the Year "From a Distance" Julie Gold, songwriter (Bette Midler) "Vision of Love" Mariah Carey & Ben Margulies, songwriters (Mariah Carey) "Another Day in Paradise" Phil Collins, songwriter (Phil Collins) "Nothing Compares 2 U" Prince, songwriter (Sinéad O'Connor) "Hold On" Chynna Phillips, Glen Ballard & Carnie Wilson, songwriters (Wilson Phillips)
Best New Artist Mariah Carey Lisa Stansfield The Black Crowes The Kentucky Headhunters Wilson Phillips
Alternative Best Alternative Music Album I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got – Sinéad O'Connor Strange Angels – Laurie Anderson The Sensual World – Kate Bush All Shook Down – The Replacements Goodbye Jumbo – World Party
Blues Best Traditional Blues Recording Live at San Quentin – B. B. King Standing My Ground – Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown "T'aint Nobody's Bizness If I Do" – Ruth Brown & Linda Hopkins "Coming to Town" – John Lee Hooker, Earl Palmer, Tim Drummond, Miles Davis & Roy Rogers Too Much Pain – Little Milton
Best Contemporary Blues Recording Family Style – Jimmie Vaughan & Stevie Ray Vaughan Midnight Stroll – The Robert Cray Band featuring The Memphis Horns Jump for Joy – Koko Taylor "Red Hot & Blue" – B.B. King and Lee Atwater Stickin' to My Guns – Etta James
Children's Best Recording for Children The Little Mermaid – Alan Menken (composer) & Howard Ashman (lyricist) Doc Watson Sings Songs for Little Pickers – Doc Watson How the Leopard Got His Spots – Danny Glover & Ladysmith Black Mambazo The Little Mermaid: Read Along – Roy Dotrice The Rock-A-Bye Collection, Volume 2 – Tanya Goodman
Classical Best Orchestral Performance Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 7 Leonard Bernstein, conductor & the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 7 in A & 8 in F Georg Solti, conductor & the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Hanson: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 6 Gerard Schwarz, conductor & the Seattle Symphony Orchestra Ives: Symphony No. 2; The Gong on the Hook and Ladder; Central Park in the Dark; The Unanswered Question Leonard Bernstein, conductor & the New York Philharmonic Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8, Op. 65 Leonard Slatkin, conductor & the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra
Best Classical Vocal Performance Carreras, Domingo, Pavarotti in Concert Zubin Mehta, conductor, José Carreras, Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, & the Orchestra Del Maggio Musicale Schubert: The Complete Songs, Vol. 7 Elly Ameling Berlioz: Les Nuits d Ete, Op. 7; Mahler: 5 Wunderhorn Songs and 5 Ruckert Songs Jan DeGaetani Songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn (Mahler, Brahms, Schumann, Loewe, Strauss, Zemlinsky, von Weber) Thomas Hampson Adams: The Wound-Dresser Sanford Sylvan
Best Opera Recording Wagner: Das Rheingold James Levine (conductor), Siegfried Jerusalem, Christa Ludwig, Kurt Moll, James Morris, Jan Hendrik Rootering, Ekkehard Wlaschiha, Heinz Zednik; Cord Garben, producer (Metropolitan Opera Orchestra) Weill: The Threepenny Opera Mario Adorf, Helga Dernesch, René Kollo, Ute Lemper, John Mauceri & Milua; Michael Haas, producer (Berlin Sinfonietta) Verdi: Attila Ernesto Gavazzi, Riccardo Muti, Samuel Ramey, Neil Shicoff, Cheryl Studer, Giorgio Surian & Giorgio Zancanaro; David Groves, producer (Milano Teatro Alla Scala Chorus; Milano Teatro Alla Scala Orchestra) Prokofiev: The Love for Three Oranges Gabriel Bacquier, Jules Bastin, Catherine Dubosc, Georges Gautier, Kent Nagano & Jean-Luc Viala; Arend Prohmann, producer (Lyon Opera Chorus; Orchestra De Lyon) Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov Nicolai Gedda, Paul Plishka, Ruggero Raimondi, Kenneth Riegel, Mstislav Rostropovich, Romauld Tesarowicz & Galina Vichnievskaia; Michel Garcin, producer (National Symphony Orchestra)
Best Choral Performance (other than opera) Walton: Belshazzar's Feast/Bernstein: Chichester Psalms; Missa Brevis Robert Shaw, conductor; the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chorus Bach: St Matthew Passion John Eliot Gardiner, conductor; London Oratory Choir & Monteverdi Choir; English Baroque Soloists Handel: Susanna Nicholas McGegan, conductor; U. C. Berkeley Chamber Choir; Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 1 (Sea Symphony) Bernard Haitink, conductor; London Philharmonic Choir; London Philharmonic Rachmaninoff: Vespers Robert Shaw, conductor; Robert Shaw Festival Singers
Best Classical Performance, Instrumental Soloist (with orchestra) Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 1 in A Minor/ Glazunov: Violin Concerto in A Minor Itzhak Perlman, soloist; Israel Philharmonic Orchestra; Zubin Mehta, conductor Hanson: Fantasy Variations On A Theme of Youth Gerard Schwarz, soloist; Carol Rosenberger, conductor Lazarof: Tableaux (After Kandinsky) Garrick Ohlsson, soloist; Seattle Symphony Orchestra; Gerard Schwarz, conductor Stravinsky: Works for Piano and Orchestra Paul Crossley, soloist; London Sinfonietta; Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor Trumpet Concertos (Haydn, Hummel, Tartini, Torelli, and Bellini) Rolf Smedvig, soloist; Scottish Chamber Orchestra; Jahja Ling, conductor
Best Classical Performance, Instrumental Soloist (without orchestra) The Last Recording – Vladimir Horowitz Carter: Night Fantasies; Adams: Phrygian Gates – Ursula Oppens Debussy: 12 Piano Études – Mitsuko Uchida Mozart: Piano Sonatas K. 283, 331, 332, 333 – Alicia de Larrocha Paganini: 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1 – Midori
Best Chamber Music or Other Small Ensemble Performance Brahms: The Three Violin Sonatas Daniel Barenboim & Itzhak Perlman Arensky: Piano Trio No. 2 in D Minor; Tchaikovsky: Piano Trio in A Minor Mona Golabek, Andres Cardenes & Jeffrey Solow Bartók: Contrasts; Stravinsky: L'Histoire du Soldat-Suite; Ives: Largo, Songs Richard Stoltzman, Richard Goode & Lucy Chapman Stoltzman Crumb: Black Angels; Tallis: Spem in Alium; Marta: Doom. A Sigh; Ives: They Are There!; Shostakovich: Quartet No. 8 Kronos Quartet Haydn: The Seven Last Words of Christ Juilliard String Quartet, Benita Valente, Jan DeGaetani, Jon Humphrey, Thomas Paul
Best Contemporary Composition Bernstein: Arias & Barcarolles Leonard Bernstein, composer Adams: The Wound-Dresser John Adams, composer Lazarof: Tableaux (After Kandinsky) For Piano And Orchestra Henri Lazarof, composer Riley: Salome Dances For Peace Terry Riley, composer Zwilich: Symphony No. 2 Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, composer
Best Classical Album Ives: Symphony No. 2; The Gong on the Hook and Ladder; Central Park in the Dark; The Unanswered Question Hans Weber, producer; Leonard Bernstein, conductor & the New York Philharmonic Adams: Fearful Symmetries; The Wound-Dresser John Adams, conductor; Sanford Sylvan Carreras, Domingo, Pavarotti in Concert Christopher Raeburn, producer; Zubin Mehta, conductor; José Carreras, Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti Hanson: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 6; Fantasy Variations on a Theme of Youth Adam Stern, producer; Gerard Schwarz, conductor; Carol Rosenberger The Last Recording Thomas Frost, producer; Vladimir Horowitz Rachmaninoff: Vespers Robert Woods, producer; Robert Shaw, conductor
Comedy Best Comedy Recording Peter Schickele for P. D. Q. Bach: Oedipus Tex and Other Choral Calamities
Composing and arranging Best Instrumental Composition Pat Metheny (composer) for "Change of Heart" performed by Roy Haynes, Dave Holland & Pat Metheny Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television Alan Menken (composer) & Howard Ashman (lyricist) for "Under the Sea" performed by various artists Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television James Horner (composer) for Glory performed by James Horner & the Boys Choir of Harlem Best Arrangement on an Instrumental Jerry Hey, Quincy Jones, Ian Prince & Rod Temperton (arrangers) for "Birdland" performed by Quincy Jones Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s) Glen Ballard, Jerry Hey, Quincy Jones & Clif Magness (arrangers) for "The Places You Find Love" performed by Siedah Garrett & Chaka Khan
Country Best Country Vocal Performance, Female Kathy Mattea for "Where've You Been" Best Country Vocal Performance, Male Vince Gill for "When I Call Your Name" Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal The Kentucky Headhunters for Pickin' on Nashville Best Country Vocal Collaboration Chet Atkins & Mark Knopfler for "Poor Boy Blues" Best Country Instrumental Performance Chet Atkins & Mark Knopfler for "So Soft, Your Goodbye" Best Country Song Don Henry & Jon Vezner (songwriters) for "Where've You Been" performed by Kathy Mattea Best Bluegrass Recording Alison Krauss for I've Got That Old Feeling
Folk Best Traditional Folk Recording Doc Watson for On Praying Ground Best Contemporary Folk Recording Shawn Colvin for Steady On
Gospel Best Pop Gospel Album Sandi Patti for Another Time... Another Place Best Rock/Contemporary Gospel Album Petra for Beyond Belief Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album Tramaine Hawkins for Tramaine Hawkins Live Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album Take 6 for So Much 2 Say