Henry Mancini won the first Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1959 with The Music from Peter Gunn.
The album was a jazz-influenced soundtrack connected to the television detective series Peter Gunn, created by composer Blake Edwards. Mancini’s stylish score helped establish a modern sound for television music and became one of the ceremony’s notable early successes.
The 1959 ceremony was the first Grammy Awards event. Mancini won multiple awards that night, including Record of the Year and Best Arrangement, further establishing him as a major figure in film and television composition.
A common mix-up is confusing this award with the first Grammy ceremony’s other famous winners, such as Domenico Modugno, who won Record of the Year for “Nel blu, dipinto di blu.” The Album of the Year winner was Mancini.