Grammy Awards of 1961

The 3rd Grammy Awards were held in 1961. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year.

Children's

Best Recording for Children - Single or Album, Musical or Spoken
- Ross Bagdasarian Sr for Let's All Sing With The Chipmunks performed by David Seville and the Chipmunks

Classical

Best Classical Orchestral Performance
- Chicago Symphony Orchestra for Bart�k: Music For Strings, Percussion And Celeste conducted by Fritz Reiner
Best Opera Recording
- Rome Opera Orchestra for Puccini: Turandot conducted by Erich Leinsdorf
Best Choral Performance, Classical
- Royal Philharmonic Orchestra & Chorus for Handel: Messiah conducted by Thomas Beecham
Best Classical Performance-Instrumental Soloist(s) (with orchestra)
- Sviatoslav Richter for Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2 In B Flat
Best Classical Performance-Instrumental Soloist(s) (without orchestra)
- Laurindo Almeida for The Spanish Guitars Of Laurindo Alemida
Best Chamber Music Performance
- Laurindo Almeida for Conversations With The Guitar
Best Classical Vocal Performance
- Leontyne Price for A Program Of Song - Leontyne Price Recital
Best Classical Contemporary Composition
- Boston Symphony Orchestra for Orchestral Suite From Tender Land Suite conducted by Aaron Copland

Comedy

Best Spoken Comedy Album
- Bob Newhart for The Button-Down Mind Strikes Back!
Best Musical Comedy Album
- Paul Weston for Jonathan And Darlene Edwards In Paris performed by Jonathan & Darlene Edwards (Jo Stafford & Paul Weston)

Composing and arranging

Best Arrangement Accompanying a Vocalist or Instrumentalist
- Henry Mancini for ''Mr. Lucky'
Best Instrumental Composition Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television
- Ernest Gold for Exodus

Country

Folk

Jazz

Best Instrumental Jazz Performance, Individual or Group
- Andre Previn for West Side Story
Best Large Jazz Ensemble Performance
- Henry Mancini for Blues And The Beat
Best Original Jazz Composition
- Gil Evans for Sketches of Spain performed by Gil Evans & Miles Davis

Musical Show

Best Sound Track Album
- Cole Porter (composer) for Can Can performed by Frank Sinatra & the original cast
Best Musical Show Album
- Oscar Hammerstein II & Richard Rodgers (composers) for The Sound Of Music performed by Mary Martin & the original Broadway cast

Packaging and Notes

Best Album Package - Incl. Album Cover, Graphic Arts, Photography
- Marvin Schwartz (art director) for Latin A La Lee performed by Peggy Lee

Pop

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, Single or Track
- Ella Fitzgerald for "Mack The Knife"
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, Album
- Ella Fitzgerald Mack The Knife - Ella In Berlin
Best Male Pop Vocal Performance Single or Track)]]
- Ray Charles "Georgia On My Mind"
Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, Album
- Ray Charles for Genius Of Ray Charles
Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
- Eydie Gorme & Steve Lawrence for "We Got Us"
Best Performance By a Chorus
- Norman Luboff for Songs Of The Cowboy performed by the Norman Luboff Choir
Best Performance By a Band for Dancing
- Count Basie for Dance With Basie
Best Pop Instrumental Performance
- Henry Mancini for Mr. Lucky
Best Performance By a Pop Single Artist
- Ray Charles for "Georgia On My Mind"

Production and engineering

Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical
- Luis P. Valentin (engineer) for Ella Fitzgerald Sings The George And Ira Gershwin Songbook performed by Ella Fitzgerald
- John Kraus (engineer) for The Old Payola Roll Blues performed by Stan Freberg
Best Classical Engineered Recording
- Hugh Davies (engineer) for The Spanish Guitars Of Laurindo Almeida performed by Laurindo Almeida

R&B

Spoken

Best Spoken Word or Non-musical Album
- Robert Bialek (producer) for FDR Speaks