The 27th Grammy Awards were held in 1985, and were broadcast live on American television. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1984.

Award winners:

• Record of the Year
  • Terry Britten (producer) & Tina Turner for "What's Love Got to Do With It"

• Album of the Year
  • James Anthony Carmichael (producer) & Lionel Richie (producer & artist) for Can't Slow Down

• Song of the Year
  • Terry Britten & Graham Lyle (songwriters) for "What's Love Got to Do With It" performed by Tina Turner

• Best New Artist
  • Cyndi Lauper

Blues

• Best Traditional Blues Recording
  • Sugar Blue , John Hammond, J.B. Hutto & the New Hawks , Luther 'Guitar Junior' Johnson , Koko Taylor & the Blues Machine & Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble for Blues Explosion

Children's

• Best Recording for Children
  • Ron Haffkine (producer) & Shel Silverstein for Where the Sidewalk Ends

Classical

• Best Classical Orchestral Recording
  • Jay David Saks (producer), Leonard Slatkin (conductor) & the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra for Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5 in B Flat
• Best Classical Vocal Performance
  • Pierre Boulez (conductor), Heather Harper, Jessye Norman & Jose Van Dam , the BBC Symphony Orchestra & the Ensemble Intercontemporain for Ravel: Songs of Maurice Ravel
• Best Opera Recording
  • Michel Glotz (producer), Lorin Maazel (conductor), the Choeurs et Maitrise de Radio France & the Orchestre National de France for Bizet: Carmen (Original Soundtrack)
• Best Choral Performance (other than opera)
  • James Levine (conductor), Margaret Hillis (choir director) & the Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Chorus for Brahms: A German Requiem
• Best Classical Performance - Instrumental Soloist or Soloists (with orchestra)
  • Raymond Leppard (conductor), Wynton Marsalis & the English Chamber Orchestra for Wynton Marsalis, Edita Gruberova: Handel, Purcell, Torelli, Fasch, Molter
• Best Classical Performance - Instrumental Soloist or Soloists (without orchestra)
  • Yo-Yo Ma for Bach: The Unaccompanied Cello Suites
• Best Chamber Music Performance
  • The Juilliard String Quartet for Beethoven: The Late String Quartets
• Best New Classical Composition
  • Samuel Barber (composer) & Christian Badea (conductor) for Antony and Cleopatra
• Best Classical Album
  • John Strauss (producer), Neville Marriner (conductor), the Ambrosian Opera Chorus , Choristers of Westminster Abbey & the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields for Amadeus (Original Soundtrack)

Comedy

• Best Comedy Recording
  • Weird Al Yankovic for "Eat It"

Composing and arranging

• Best Instrumental Composition
  • Randy Newman (composer) for "The Natural"
  • John Williams (composer) for "Olympic Fanfare and Theme" the official music of the XXIII Olympiad
• Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or A Television Special
  • Lisa Coleman , John L. Nelson , Prince & Wendy Melvoin (composers) for Purple Rain performed by Prince & the Revolution
• Best Arrangement on an Instrumental
  • Jeremy Lubbock & Quincy Jones (arrangers) for "Grace (Gymnastics Theme)" performed by Quincy Jones
• Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s)
  • David Foster & Jeremy Lubbock (arrangers) for "Hard Habit to Break" performed by Chicago
• Best Vocal Arrangement for Two or More Voices
  • The Pointer Sisters (arrangers) for "Automatic"

Country

• Best Country Vocal Performance, Female
  • Emmylou Harris for "In My Dreams"
• Best Country Vocal Performance, Male
  • Merle Haggard for "That's the Way Love Goes"
• Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
  • The Judds for "Mama He's Crazy"
• Best Country Instrumental Performance
  • Ricky Skaggs for "Wheel Hoss"
• Best Country Song
  • Steve Goodman (songwriter) for "City of New Orleans" performed by Willie Nelson

Folk

• Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording
  • Elizabeth Cotton for Elizabeth Cotten Live!

Gospel

• Best Gospel Performance, Female
  • Amy Grant for "Angels"
• Best Gospel Performance, Male
  • Michael W. Smith for Michael W. Smith
• Best Gospel Performance by a Duo or Group
  • Debby Boone & Phil Driscoll for "Keep The Flame Burning"
• Best Soul Gospel Performance, Female
  • Shirley Caesar for Sailin'
• Best Soul Gospel Performance, Male
  • Andrae Crouch for "Always Remember"
• Best Soul Gospel Performance by a Duo or Group
  • Shirley Caesar & Al Green for "Sailin' on the Sea of Your Love"
• Best Inspirational Performance
  • Donna Summer for "Forgive Me"

Historical

• Best Historical Album
  • J.R. Taylor (producer) for Big Band Jazz performed by Count Basie, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Fletcher Henderson, Chick Webb, Paul Whiteman & others

Jazz

• Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Soloist
  • Wynton Marsalis for Hot House Flowers
• Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Group
  • Art Blakey for "New York Scene" performed by Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers
• Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Big Band
  • Count Basie for 88 Basie Street
• Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
  • Pat Metheny Group for First Circle
• Best Jazz Vocal Performance
  • Joe Williams for Nothin' But the Blues

Latin

• Best Latin Pop Performance
  • Plácido Domingo for Always in My Heart (Siempre en Mi Corazon)
• Best Tropical Latin Performance
  • Eddie Palmieri for Palo Pa Rumba
• Best Mexican-American Performance
  • Sheena Easton & Luis Miguel for "Me Gustas Tal Como Eres"

Musical Show

• Best Cast Show Album
  • Stephen Sondheim (composer & lyricist), Thomas Z. Shepard (producer) & the original cast for Sunday In the Park With George

Music Video

• Best Video, Short Form
  • David Bowie for "David Bowie"
• Best Video Album
  • Michael Jackson for Making Michael Jackson's Thriller

Packaging and Notes

• Best Album Package
  • Janet Perr (art director) for She's So Unusual performed by Cyndi Lauper
• Best Album Notes
  • Gunther Schuller & Martin Williams (notes writers) for Big Band Jazz performed by Paul Whiteman, Fletcher Henderson, Chick Webb, Tommy Dorsey, Count Basie, Benny Goodman & others

Pop

• Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female
  • Tina Turner for "What's Love Got to Do With It"
• Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male
  • Phil Collins for "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)"
• Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
  • The Pointer Sisters for "Jump (For My Love)"
• Best Pop Instrumental Performance
  • Ray Parker Jr. for "Ghostbusters (Instrumental)"

Production and engineering

• Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical
  • Humberto Gatica (engineer) for 17 performed by Chicago
• Best Engineered Recording, Classical
  • Paul Goodman (engineer), Leonard Slatkin (conductor) & the Saint Louis Symphony for Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5 in B Flat, Op. 100
• Producer of the Year (Non-Classical)
  • James Anthony Carmichael & Lionel Richie
  • David Foster
• Classical Producer of the Year
  • Steven Epstein

R&B

• Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female
  • Chaka Khan for "I Feel for You"
• Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male
  • Billy Ocean for "Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)"
• Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
  • James Ingram & Michael McDonald for "Yah Mo B There"
• Best R&B Instrumental Performance
  • Herbie Hancock for Sound System
• Best Rhythm & Blues Song
  • Prince (songwriter) for "I Feel For You" performed by Chaka Khan

Reggae

• Best Reggae Recording
  • Black Uhuru for Anthem

Rock

• Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female
  • Tina Turner for "Better Be Good to Me"
• Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male
  • Bruce Springsteen for "Dancing in the Dark"
• Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
  • Prince & the Revolution for Purple Rain - Music From the Motion Picture
• Best Rock Instrumental Performance
  • Yes for "Cinema"

Spoken

• Best Spoken Word or Non-musical Recording
  • Ben Kingsley for The Words of Gandhi