28th Annual Grammy Awards

The 28th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 25, 1986, at Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year, 1985.[1][2]

Album of the Year went to Hugh Padgham and Phil Collins for No Jacket Required, and Song of the Year went to Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie for We Are the World.

The night's big winner was USA For Africa's "We Are The World", which won four awards, including Song of the Year. The latter was awarded to its songwriters, Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson. This was a sweet victory for both, as it marked the first time in their respective careers that they won the coveted Song of the Year category. For Richie, it was his sixth attempt in eight years. The other three awards for the charity single were not given to the performing artist (as is usually the case), but to the song's producer, Quincy Jones. These three Grammy's brought his career total to 19, just one shy of the (then) record holder in the popular genres, Henry Mancini.

Another big winner was Phil Collins, whose No Jacket Required LP amassed three wins: Album of the Year, Producer of the Year and Best Pop Vocal (Male).

There were a number of remarkable wins in the classical field. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's recording of Berlioz: Requiem won three awards, while a different recording by the same orchestra won the Best Orchestral Performance award. These four wins were the result of an unusually large number of nominations for the orchestra (12 in total), including four in the Best Classical Album category which normally holds five nominees (the Recording Academy decided to add a number of nominations to this list to lessen the domination of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in this category). Several sources from the American classical community - including record labels - expressed their dismay with the situation, suggesting that this was the result of many members of the orchestra and other associates joining the Recording Academy in force to be able to vote on nominations and Grammy winners.[3] Despite the controversy, the orchestra's conductor Robert Shaw and their album producer (and record label owner) Robert Woods won three Grammy's each.

Another success story was that of the Manhattan Transfer and their album Vocalese. It had received twelve nominations, which was the second highest number of nominations ever for an album, three fewer than the then-record holder Thriller by Michael Jackson, which was nominated fifteen times in 1984. Their twelve nominations eventually resulted in three Grammy wins, including two for the song "Another Night in Tunisia" (performed and arranged on the album by guest vocalists Jon Hendricks and Bobby McFerrin)

Stevie Wonder finally managed to add another Grammy to his total. After winning fifteen awards in the mid-1970s, he won his first Grammy in nine years for his album In Square Circle. Songwriter Jimmy Webb had to wait even longer as his song "Highwayman" won him his first Grammy in 17 years (after 1969's Up, Up and Away).

There was one posthumous Grammy, for orchestra leader and arranger Nelson Riddle, for his arrangements on Linda Ronstadt's album Lush Life.

There was one new category, Best Polka Recording. It would run until 2009. Of the 24 winning albums, eighteen were made by polka legend Jimmy Sturr.