22 Celebrities You Probably Had No Idea Are Grammy Award Winners

Michelle Obama has one, but Snoop Dogg doesn't.

Ayoub

• Published in Film & TV
• April 14, 2022

It is true that The Grammy Awards are known as “music’s biggest night,” but it is much more than that. Many more trophies are handed out by the Recording Academy in non-musical categories and when you find out who won them, it is even more surprising.

These unusual Grammy winners mostly come from one main source, the Best Spoken Word Album award which was first awarded in 1959. Many statesmen won the prize thanks to their speeches as well as poets, authors, and actors for reading audiobooks.

Winning a Grammy is no easy job, however, the sheer breadth of categories has helped stars complete their full EGOT (basically winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony). Many former presidents and former first ladies were honored by the Grammys, which helped increase the non-Hollywood crowd.

For instance, Jimmy Carter is currently the President with the most wins with 3 Grammys. Both Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama also have Grammys.

Scroll down and check out some of the most surprising Grammy wins that you probably have not heard about before. We are mostly focused on singers when it comes to Grammys, so excluding these people is not that strange after all.

1. Bo Burnham - Best Song Written for Visual Media in 2022

For his song “All Eyes On Me,” which was included in his Netflix special Inside.

3. Louis C.K. - Best Comedy Album in 2022

For Sincerely Louis C.K., his first special since 2017.

3. Michelle Obama - Best Spoken Word Album in 2020

For the audiobook of Becoming.

4. Carrie Fisher - Best Spoken Word Album award in 2018

For the audiobook of her memoir The Princess Diarist.

5. Lily Tomlin - Best Comedy Album in 1972 for This Is a Recording.

6. Martin Scorsese - Best Music Film for No Direction Home

7. Rashida Jones - Best Music Film in 2019

8. Tiffany Haddish - Best Comedy Album for Black Mitzvah.

9. Robin Williams - 9 Grammy nominations and won 5 awards

The awards included Best Comedy Recording for Reality … What a Concept and Best Spoken Comedy Album for Robin Williams Live on Broadway.

10. Bradley Cooper - Best Pop Duo/Group Performance with Lady Gaga

11. Steve Jobs - The Recording Academy’s Trustees Award in 2012.

12. Magic Johnson - Best Spoken Word or Non-Musical Album in 1993

The formal NBA player, who also happens to be HIV-positive, won the award for his What You Can Do to Avoid AIDS audiobook.

13. Martin Luther King Jr. - Best Spoken Word Recording in 1971

It was for his speech "Why I Oppose the War in Vietnam." It was his 3rd nomination but his only win.

14. Audrey Hepburn - Best Spoken Word Album for Children in 1994

15. Barack Obama - Back-To-Back Grammys for Best Spoken Word Album

The former president won the two Grammys for his books Dreams From My Father in 2006 and The Audacity of Hope in 2007.

16. Betty White - Best Spoken Word Album in 2011

17. Stephen Colbert - Nominated for 3, won 2

In 2010, he won Best Comedy Album for A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All! and Best Spoken Word Album for America Again: Re-Becoming The Greatness We Never Weren’t in 2014.

18. Hillary Clinton - Best Spoken Word or Non-Musical Album for It Takes a Village in 1997

19. Bill Clinton - Nominated 4 times, won twice.

In 2004 he won Best Spoken Word Album for Children for Wolf Tracks and Peter and the Wolf and Best Spoken Word Album for his audiobook My Life in 2005.

20. Zach Braff - A single Grammy win.

In 2005, he won Best Compilation Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television, or Other Visual Media for Garden State.

21. Kate Winslet - Best Spoken Word Album for Children in 1999

22. Whoopi Goldberg - Best Comedy Recording in 1986

Props to the Recording Academy for also including these categories that are as important as all the others. This helped diversify the winners of this award by acknowledging greatness in all shapes and forms.

However, it still feels strange to say that some of these people have Grammys when we are mostly used to musicians winning the award most of the time. But still, congrats to all of them for the amazing achievements they did to deserve this prestigious award. People need to be given the praise they deserve to encourage more greatness.

Ayoub