From Pandit Ravi Shankar to music composer Ricky Kej, many Indian musicians have done the country proud by winning the prestigious Grammy Awards. The Grammy Awards are given by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences in the US in recognition of outstanding achievement in the field of music.
Winners of the golden gramophones are selected from over 25 fields, including genres such as rock, pop, rap, country, reggae, R&B, classical, jazz and gospel. Awards are also given for production and post-production work.
Four general awards are also given out every year, which are not restricted by genre. These comprise the Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artiste.
Here is a list of celebrated Indian musicians who have won a Grammy so far:
Ravi Shankar
Sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar became the first Indian to win a Grammy in 1968. The celebrated musician and composer collected four golden gramophones, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, and received 10 nominations. He has also won the Best World Music Album, Album of the Year and Best Chamber Music Performance Grammy awards.
Ricky Kej
Indian music composer Ricky Kej won the Grammy twice for his contribution to the music industry. In 2022, Kej won the Best New Age Album for Divine Tides along with drummer Steward Copeland from rock band The Police. In 2015, Kej bagged the award for his album, Winds of Samsara, in the Best New Age Album category.
Zakir Hussain
In 2013, tabla virtuoso Ustad Zakir Hussain won the Grammy in the Best Contemporary World Music Album category for his Global Drum Project.
Vishwa Mohan Bhatt
Classical guitar virtuoso Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt won the music world's most cherished award along with American musician Ry Cooder for the Best Album of the Year in the world music category for their recording, A Meeting by the River.
A.R. Rahman
Apart from the two Oscar Awards, music composer A.R. Rahman also received two Grammys in 2008 in the Best Compilation Soundtrack Album and Best Song Written for Visual Media categories for Danny Boyle’s film Slumdog Millionaire.
Gulzar
At the 52nd Annual Grammy Award, legendary lyricist Gulzar brought home the golden gramophone for Best Song Written for Visual Media for the song Jai Ho in the movie Slumdog Millionaire.
Sridhar and P.A. Deepak
Sound engineer H. Sridhar and mix engineer and record producer P.A. Deepak each won a Grammy for their work with A.R. Rahman in Slumdog Millionaire. They won the Grammy in the Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for Visual Media category.
Also read: After Oscars, Grammy Awards leave out Lata Mangeshkar, Bappi Lahiri from 'In Memoriam' section
Tanvi Shah
Tanvi Shah was the first Indian woman to win the Grammy Award for writing the Spanish lyrics for Jai Ho. She shared the award in the Best Song Written for Visual Media category with A.R. Rahman and Gulzar.
Neela Vaswani
Musician Neela Vaswani won the Grammy award at the 57th Grammy awards ceremony in the category of Best Children’s Album for I Am Malala.
