The Beatles fail to win any Grammy Awards

On 13 February 1966 The Beatles were nominated in 10 of the categories for the 8th Grammy Awards. The ceremony took place in the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hills Hilton Hotel, New York.

Six of the nominations were for ‘Yesterday’, while the other four were for the Help! album. Sadly, however, The Beatles failed to win any of the awards. The nominations, with the winner in brackets, were as follows:

• Album of the year: The Beatles, Help! (Frank Sinatra, September Of My Years)
• Record of the year: The Beatles, Yesterday (Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, A Taste Of Honey)
• Song of the year: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Yesterday (The Shadow Of Your Smile)
• Best vocal performance, male: Paul McCartney, Yesterday (Frank Sinatra, It Was A Very Good Year)
• Best performance by a vocal group: The Beatles, Help! (Anita Kerr Quartet, We Dig Mancini)
• Best contemporary (rock and roll) single: Paul McCartney, Yesterday (Roger Miller, King Of The Road)
• Best contemporary (rock and roll) vocal performance, male: Paul McCartney, Yesterday (Roger Miller, King Of The Road)
• Best contemporary (rock and roll) performance by a group, vocal or instrumental: The Beatles, Help! (Statler Brothers, Flowers On The Wall)
• Best arrangement accompanying a vocalist or instrumentalist: George Martin, Yesterday (Gordon Jenkins, It Was A Very Good Year)
• Best original score, motion picture or TV show: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ken Thorne, Help! (Robert Arnbruster Orchestra, The Sandpiper)

The next day Capitol Records’ president Alan Livingston issued a protest that Yesterday had been denied the Song of the year award. “It makes a mockery of the whole event,” he said. The following year they won three awards.