The Grammy Hall of Fane and Museum

January 25, 2009
The Grammy Museum and Hall of Fame opened its doors to the public on December 6, 2008. The location chosen for this shrine to music's finest artistry is at Olympic and Figueroa, fittingly just steps from LA's Staples Center where Barbra achieved musical triumph in recent years. The Hall of Fame is just one section of the Grammy Museum, a four floor facility that's dedicated to the complete history of the awards. A visit to the museum can take hours as you work your way through each exhibit and learn to navigate their cutting edge touch screen technology. You'll find sections on every major musical genre in the context of the Grammys and the award winning artists. Video screens are everywhere, offering Grammy performances and artist documentaries. As you might expect, music is an integral part of the museum's design and visitors can listen to appropriate selections at specific installations.

Finally, A Real Hall of Fame
As for the Grammy Hall of Fame itself, there aren't any plaques or busts of the inductees. The HOF is a cleverly engineered interactive data base experience.

Your search for Barbra Streisand on the Hall of Fame touch panels will reveal each of her four inductions, prompting you to select one in particular. You listen through the head phones while navigating the screens. A Streisand musical selection accompanies each of her Hall of Fame entries. Depending on which of her honors you select, you'll hear either "People," "The Way We Were," "I'm the Greatest Star" or "Happy Days."

Note: From time to time, the Hall of Fame exhibit may be temporarily closed to facilitate special exhibits. Such is the case during the first half of 2010 while the museum presents its special tribute to Michael Jackson.

Other Notable Grammy Hall of Fame Inductees:
"Am I Blue?" (Ethel Waters)
"Cry Me A River" (Julie London)
"Hello, Dolly!" (Louis Armstrong)
"In The Wee Small Hours" (Frank Sinatra)
"Lover Man, Where Can You Be?" (Billie Holiday)
Moon River" (Henry Mancini)
"My Man" (Fanny Brice)

 

The Official Grammy Hall of Fame Enshrinements

Here is how the Grammy Hall of Fame officially documents each of Barbra Streisand's four inductions:

"People"
(Barbra Streisand)
Columbia 1964
Single (Traditional Pop)
Inducted 1998

"People" was a double-barreled breakthrough vehicle for singer Barbra Streisand in 1964. It was written by composer Jule Styne and lyricist Bob Merrill for the score of Funny Girl, the Broadway musical that starred Barbra Streisand as vaudeville comedienne Fanny Brice. Before the show opened in March 1964, the vocalist recorded a single version of the song which also became the title track for her fourth Columbia studio album.

The song's appealing melody and message, "people who need people are the luckiest people in the world," connected universally. The single became Streisand's first pop hit, reaching #5 on the U.S. singles chart, and her career signature. The album was #1 for five weeks in 1964. It also helped propel Funny Girl to a 1,348 performance Broadway run. The original cast recording of the musical reached #2 on the pop albums chart, and took home the 1964 Grammy for Best Score from an Original Cast Show.

"Funny Girl" Original Broadway Cast
(Barbra Streisand and Sydney Chaplin)
Capitol 1964
Musical Show
Inducted 2004

Vocalist Barbra Streisand had already established herself as one of pop's hit makers with three top-ten albums when she returned to Broadway (where she made a name for herself in 1962's I Can Get It For You Wholesale) in the starring role in Funny Girl.  In the 1964 musical by Jule Styne, Bob Merrill and Isobel Lennart, Streisand portrayed Fanny Brice, the '20s vaudeville comedienne who was tumultuously married to the notorious gambler, Nicky Arnstein.

Streisand's signature role, which won her an Oscar for her 1968 film recreation, also spawned her signature song. Styne and Merrill's "People" was her first major hit. Her Columbia single version, which won the 1964 Grammy as Best Female Vocal Performance, reached #5 on the pop singles chart as the show was opening. Funny Girl ran for 1,348 performances and established Streisand as a do-anything entertainer. Funny Girl was named the Grammy winner for Best Score from an Original Cast Show Album in 1964.

"The Barbra Streisand Album"
(Barbra Streisand)
Columbia 1963
Traditional Pop
Inducted 2006

Barbra Streisand had already made an impression  on theater-goers by the time she signed to Columbia Records in 1962. That year, the vocalist took a featured role in Jerome Weidman and Harold Rome's Broadway musical about the '30s garment trade in New York, I Can Get It For You Wholesale. Streisand's show stealing performance as Miss Marmelstein garnered her a Tony Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress in a Musical - and a recording contract.

She made an even bigger splash with her debut LP, The Barbra Streisand Album. Comprising 11 standards and show tunes by Cole Porter, Harold Arlen and Rodgers & Hart, and others, the collection spotlighted her humor and invention; it was highlighted by her unique downbeat version of "Happy Days Are Here Again." The Album rose to #8 on the pop chart and won three Grammys, including Album of the Year and Best Female Vocal Performance.

"The Way We Were"
(Barbra Streisand)
Columbia 1974
Single (Pop)
Inducted 2008

Singer-actress Barbra Streisand had been a Grammy and Oscar winning star for a decade when she was cast as the female lead in director Sydney Pollack's 1973 drama, The Way We Were. Streisand received an Academy Award nomination for her performance of a woman whose leftist views upsets her romance with a wealthy, politically uncommitted writer (played by Robert Redford) amid the tumult of the House Un-American Activities Committee's anti-communist witch hunts of the late '40s.

Streisand also performed Marvin Hamlisch and Alan & Marilyn Bergman's heart-tugging title ballad which received an Oscar as Best Song. Her single version of the tune became Streisand's very first #1 pop hit. The soundtrack album for The Way We Were reached the top-twenty and received the 1974 Grammy award for Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Special.

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Grammy Lane
In a city obsessed with its sidewalk walks -of-fame, you'll find another one outside of the Grammy Museum. They call it "Grammy Lane" – a sidewalk tribute representing each year the Grammys have been in existence, beginning with 1958.

As you exit the museum, stroll the sidewalk south on Figueroa and follow the sidewalk plaques, year by year. Once you get to 1964, you'll be at the first of two Streisand commemorations (Album of the Year, The Barbra Streisand Album).  Continue on until you arrive at 1974 for the second (Song of the Year, "The Way We Were").