The strangest Grammy winners ever, from Gorbachev to the Baha Men

The Grammy awards historically collate the music industry’s heaviest-hitting impresarios, so most of the ceremony’s past winners are instantly recognisable, or at least unsurprising, household names. Still, even the most bombastic, if artistically staid, awards shows include their share of Muppets, the world’s most powerful political leaders reading folk stories, and the Baha Men. The following 10 victories represent these and the otherwise most arcane, esoteric, under-sung and bizarre winners to receive a golden phonograph.

1. Mikhail Gorbachev, Bill Clinton, and Sophia Loren

Unlike some of the other honorees on this list, you’re likely familiar with the ancillary occupational accomplishments of the main bastion of the Soviet Union, the 44th leader of the free world, and one of the 20th century’s most globally decorated actresses, respectively. All can agree, though, that each member of this trio’s career reached its apex as clinched by their collaborative 2004 win for best spoken word children’s album for Peter and the Wolf. Who else to give new voice to a fable about provincial animals written in 1936 than these three, given their abundance of spare time?

2. Baha Men

Many would agree that Baha Men, the culprits behind the 2000s international smash/trash hit Who Let the Dogs Out? put the “junk” in “junkanoo”, the traditional Bahamian genre of dance music after which they named the debut album on which this song appears. The Grammy voters who named this track best dance recording that year are not among those dissenters. American kids agreed: the win propelled the group to cinematic musical successes, mostly in the form of their songs’ appearances in children’s movies like Shrek, Rugrats in Paris and Garfield: the Movie.

3. Orson Welles

Welles’ talents as a director and radio producer were manifold – when the classic film Citizen Kane and broadcast drama War of the Worlds are just two among your many prodigious achievements, you’re far from obligated to prove your legitimacy by earning a Grammy as well. Welles won three. He dominated the best spoken word album category in 1977, along with co-winners Henry Fonda, James Earl Jones and Helen Hayes, for Great American Documents; capitalised on perhaps his greatest claim to fame once again for the Citizen Kane soundtrack in 1979; and garnered his final award for his voice acting when Donovan’s Brain, a fictional sci-fi radio special which he originally recorded in 1944, was re-released in 1982.

4. Starland Vocal Band

One path to the pinnacle of musical fame and recognition: write a loving paean to getting a little high-noon action. Make sure to utilize plenty of euphemisms involving sparks and aerospace travel, just to really ignite/elevate your point. That’s how this band won two Grammys for Afternoon Delight in 1977, taking home the best new artist and best pop performance by a duo or group with vocals titles. Sadly, the group couldn’t replicate their sensuous success with follow-up singles such as Liberated Woman and Mr Wrong, two of four singles that failed to chart in 1977 and 1978. Starland will always have those two Grammys, though – and that one idyllic afternoon.

5. The Swingle Singers

Led by Ward Swingle, this Parisian jazz group comprised an alternating company of singers and scatters who performed reworked editions of pieces by classical musicians like Bach and Mozart to enormous popularity throughout the 1960s. They earned a total of five Grammys throughout the 1960s, beginning with Bach’s Greatest Hits in 1963, which earned them best new artist and best performance by a chorus. The moral: don’t let anyone tell you you can’t improve upon the masters. Even if you’re doing it with abstract a cappella vocalizations.

6. Patti Page

Though she was the US’s best-selling female musical artist in the 1950s, Patti Page’s name is widely unknown among modern Grammy viewers, despite her also receiving the show’s lifetime achievement award in 2013. Prior to this, she earned her Grammy bona fides by taking 1999’s best traditional vocal pop album title with Live at Carnegie Hall: the 50th Anniversary Performance. Page’s relative obscurity and lack of Grammy recognition outside of these categories is strange, given her huge successes and classic recordings, which include Tennessee Waltz and (How Much Is That) Doggie in the Window?

7. José Feliciano

Not only did this Puerto Rican singer and guitarist dominate 1969’s best new pop artist of the year and best pop recording of the year categories, but he did it on the strength of a cover – namely, the Doors’ Light My Fire. He swapped the druggy, skittering melodies of the original for a creamy guitar line backed with some very 60s flute accompaniment, and the resulting recording catapulted Feliciano to fame as a pioneer of Latin/English language pop fusion. This is further evinced by the perennial ubiquity of the Christmas hit Feliz Navidad, which he recorded in 1970.

8. The Funk Brothers

This group of session musicians is credited with playing on most of the songs released on Motown, appearing on I Heard It Through the Grapevine, Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours, My Girl, and scads of other jukebox stalwarts. The catch: no one can say for sure who they all were. When they were honoured for the 2004 Grammy lifetime achievement award, the organisation was able to identify only 13 of the fraternity’s surviving members, although it is believed that the group included dozens of others over the years. Since session musicians didn’t receive credit for their Motown work until 1971, with the release of Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On, many in this revered group will remain anonymous despite their Grammy recognition.

9. Vaughn Meader

This star’s bread and butter was also his downfall. Meader’s uncanny impression of then-president John F Kennedy earned his wildly popular record The First Family the album of the year prize in 1963. It, and Meader, fell out of favour when JFK was assassinated the same year. Meader’s records were immediately pulled and his live performances canned – including one at the 1964 Grammys. Meader attempted to revive his career, but was too sharply reminiscent of a national tragedy. It’s hard to imagine a more grimly ironic victory taking place in one of the Grammys’ top categories today.

10. Elmo

As if the Grammys weren’t confusing enough, a giggly red puppet has won a golden megaphone no fewer than three times: in 1999, 2000, and 2002, each for best musical album for children. Music’s highest honor is not, apparently, reserved for human beings, although Elmo shares this distinctive honour with venerated musicians like the pop megastar Linda Ronstadt (Dedicated to the One I Love, 1997; she was cruelly unaware that in just two years, a new Muppet sheriff would sweep the category), critical darling-weirdos They Might Be Giants (Here Come the 123s, 2009), and folk hero Pete Seeger (Tomorrow’s Children, 2011). All of these people likely understood when this award was retired, as no one could possibly top Elmo.