Pick a Day

Music History Events: Awards and Honors

December 17, 1970 The Beach Boys play a Royal Command Performance for Princess Margaret at London's Royal Albert Hall.

October 11, 1970 Elvis Presley is made an honorary "special" deputy sheriff of Bel Air, California.

June 9, 1970 Bob Dylan receives an honorary Doctorate of Music from Princeton University. Dylan attends the ceremony on a hot day, during which the noise made by 17-year cicadas apparently drowns out his introduction. The experience inspires his 1970 song "Day Of The Locusts."

March 11, 1970 The 5th Dimension win the Record of the Year Grammy for "Aquarius/Let The Sun Shine In." Blood, Sweat & Tears, nominated for a record 11 awards, win three, including Album of the Year. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young win Best New Artist.

December 31, 1969 A BBC TV special declares John Lennon Man Of The Decade on the same day that Rolling Stone names him Man Of The Year and New Musical Express quotes him as saying he's thinking of leaving The Beatles.

April 14, 1969 Barbra Streisand (in Funny Girl) ties Katherine Hepburn (in The Lion In Winter) for the Best Actress Academy Award.

March 12, 1969 Simon & Garfunkel are among the winners at the Grammy Awards, taking Record of the Year for "Mrs. Robinson." Glen Campbell wins Album of the Year for By The Time I Get To Phoenix.

November 19, 1968 Onstage with The Supremes at the Royal Command Variety Performance in London, Diana Ross interrupts the show with a plea for greater interracial understanding. She receives a two-minute ovation from the audience, which includes members of the royal family. Queen Elizabeth II herself stands after Ross' moving performance of West Side Story's "Somewhere."

November 2, 1968 Cream is presented with a Platinum album for Wheels Of Fire at the Madison Square Garden stop of their farewell tour.

June 4, 1967 The Monkees, starring the eponymous band, wins an Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series.

May 9, 1967 "Damita Jo Day" is held in the singer's hometown of Austin, Texas.

September 19, 1966 Herb Alpert performs for Princess Grace Kelly at her Monaco palace.

June 24, 1966 The Richard Carpenter Trio (with sister Karen on drums) wins a "Battle Of The Bands" at the Hollywood Bowl.

March 15, 1966 Big winners at the Grammy Awards are Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, who take Record of the Year for "A Taste of Honey." Frank Sinatra wins Album of the Year for September Of My Years, and Tom Jones wins Best New Artist.

November 8, 1965 The Dave Clark Five perform for Queen Elizabeth II at London's annual Royal Variety Performance.

October 26, 1965 The Beatles are awarded Members of the British Empire (MBE) medals from Queen Elizabeth II in a ceremony held at Buckingham Palace. John Lennon claims they smoked marijuana in the bathroom before receiving the awards, although George Harrison said it was just tobacco. Harrison and Paul McCartney put the awards on their jackets for the Sgt. Pepper album cover; Lennon sends his back in 1969.

July 20, 1965 Frank Sinatra appears at the famous Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, where he leaves his handprints in the cement outside.

June 1, 1965 Art Garfunkel graduates from Columbia University in New York.

February 17, 1965 "Tennessee Waltz" is declared the eponymous state's official song.

March 28, 1964 The Beatles become the first Rock Stars displayed in Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in London. They later use their wax versions on the cover of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album.

March 21, 1964 Dean Martin leaves his handprints at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

March 19, 1964 The British Prime Minister Harold Wilson, the "Mr. Wilson" in the Beatles song "Taxman," presents the group with the Show Business Personalities of 1963 award at the Variety Club of Great Britain Annual Show Business Awards.

December 30, 1963 The Beatles win Group and Record Of The Year ("She Loves You") in British music newspaper New Musical Express' annual year-end poll.

December 27, 1963 London's Sunday Times names Paul McCartney and John Lennon the Outstanding Composers of 1963.

June 12, 1963 Brenda Lee graduates from the showbiz-friendly high school Hollywood Professional, having already earned 12 Top 10 records.

May 15, 1963 At the fifth Annual Grammy Awards, The First Family, an album of comedy bits that pokes fun at President John F. Kennedy and his family, wins Album Of The Year, the only time a comedy or spoken-word album has ever won that award. Tony Bennett's "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" takes Record of the Year, Ray Charles' "I Can't Stop Loving You" gets Best R&B Recording, and Bent Fabric's instrumental "Alley Cat" takes Best Rock and Roll Record.

April 8, 1963 Patty Duke wins the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for The Miracle Worker.

November 30, 1962 For the first time, The Beatles make the "favourite group" list in the New Musical Express' reader's poll.

May 29, 1962 Henry Mancini's "Moon River" wins a Grammy for Record of the Year, and Judy Garland's Judy at Carnegie Hall wins a Grammy for Album of the Year.

May 27, 1962 At the Grammy Awards in New York, Andy Williams' "Moon River" from the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's is named both Record and Song of the Year.