Edison Award Edison Award The Edison Award is an annual Dutch music prize awarded for outstanding achievements in the music industry. It is one of the oldest music awards in the world, having been presented since 1960. The first Edisons — named after the inventor of the phonograph, Thomas Alva Edison — were awarded in October 1960 at the inaugural "Grand Gala du Disque", held at the Kurhaus hall in the coastal resort of Scheveningen. The broadcast, which was a joint venture of TV broadcaster AVRO and the Netherlands' major record companies, featured dozens of acts and went on for hours. In
Thomas Edison Thomas Edison's son, Thomas Alva Edison Jr.. became a problem for his father and his father's business. Starting in the 1890s, Thomas Jr. became involved in snake oil products and shady and fraudulent enterprises producing products being sold to the public as ""The Latest Edison Discovery"". The situation became so bad that Thomas Sr. had to take his son to court to stop the practices, finally agreeing to pay Thomas Jr. an allowance of $35.00 () per week, in exchange for not using the Edison name; the son began using aliases, such as Burton Willard. Thomas Jr., suffering from alcoholism,