The Grammy Dude

John Billings has thousands of Grammys but hasn’t won a single one as a drummer for the Harry Harpoon Band. Instead, he crafts the miniature gramophones for the annual Grammy Awards.

A blanket of thick, inky darkness covers the winter sky as Billings climbs into his truck at 7 a.m. and rattles down the road to his art studio. The studio is in the basement of a weathered turquoise building across from the famed Sherbino Theater in the small mountain town of Ridgway, Colo. (pop. 713). He’ll work nonstop until midnight, repeating the ritual six days a week.

The seventh day is Sabbath—that’s when he plays in his band. “We’ve got a CD out and we’re working on distribution,” says Billings, a soft-spoken man with long hair and a mustache, who is a dead ringer for Wild West hero Buffalo Bill Cody. “It’s sort of Americana, with blues and ballads.” The CD, released in July, is called Sorry I Missed You.

The Grammy Dude, as he’s affectionately referred to around town, is up to his ears preparing for the awards given for excellence in recording and performing on Feb. 27 this year.

Table after table in the basement studio overflows with pieces and parts as Billings, 55, works to handcraft 350 of the miniature gramophones. He casts the horn from spun brass. The cabinet, tone arm, and base are cast from a custom alloy called grammium that is mostly zinc. Then he paints the base with black lacquer and plates the rest with 24-karat gold.

He also makes 225 Latin Grammy awards and other awards such as the NCAA women’s basketball Athlete of the Year. Billings says that means he’s working on the awards pretty much 12 months out of the year, with the help of his older brother, Larry, and bandleader Harry Harpoon.

Larry helps cast, prime, putty, sand, assemble, and polish the music awards.

“I figure it’s probably about a million and a half motions like wax on, wax off ... so I am real good at that,” quips Larry. “Five different steps with primer and four coats of black lacquer and they come out looking better than a new Cadillac.”

Billings grew up in Van Nuys, Calif., next door to the original Grammy man himself, Bob Graves.

“At that time, Bob was a mold maker,” recalls Billings. “He made the original mold for the Emmy award.”

After graduating from high school, Billings worked his way up to manager of shipping and receiving at a loading dock while making silver and turquoise jewelry on the side. He enrolled in dental school to learn how to make teeth and did a stint as a dry cleaner.

Then Graves, whose health was failing, asked Billings if he wanted to learn how to make the Grammy awards. Graves needed an apprentice who would be willing to learn the trade and pass it on.

Billings completed his apprenticeship before Graves died in 1984, leaving a legacy that Billings hopes one day to pass along to his son.

“There is a lot of love and pride in making it,” Billings says. “There is not a lot of glory, and I am not out for the glory.”

Right before an awards show, there isn’t much time to ponder that legacy. Billings must pack up the 48 blank Grammys and ship them in time for the awards ceremony. These blank awards are handed out to winners, since Billings can’t engrave the real Grammys before the secret ballots are revealed the night of the show. Once he gets the list of winners, he engraves the Grammys. He then drives 20 hours to Santa Monica, Calif., with 300 gold-plated Grammys in tow, stopping briefly to get some shut-eye at a rest area and eat breakfast at his mom’s house in Barstow, Calif. The Recording Academy sends out those awards several weeks after the show.

Billings stays in touch with Graves’ widow about his work with the Grammys.

“She always lets me know Bob would be happy. She has seen what I’ve done and how things have grown and that I still care about it. Bob is resting easy and proud.”

Lori Cumpston is a writer based in Grand Junction, Colo.

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