The Recording Academy will honor its 2019 Special Merit Awards recipients with Grammy Salute To Music Legends, an awards ceremony and live tribute concert on Saturday, May 11th at Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. This year’s Lifetime Achievement Award honorees are Black Sabbath, George Clinton & Parliament-Funkadelic, Billy Eckstine, Donny Hathaway, Julio Iglesias, Sam & Dave, and Dionne Warwick. Lou Adler, Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson, and Johnny Mandel are Trustees Award honorees; and Saul Walker is the Technical Grammy Award recipient. Also being honored is Jeffery Redding, this year’s recipient of the Music Educator Award presented by The Recording Academy and Grammy Museum. Led by Grammy-nominated industry icon Greg Phillinganes as musical director, the tribute concert will feature rare performances by honorees and never-seen renditions by those they’ve inspired. Currently scheduled to appear are Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Clinton; Grammy winner Bootsy Collins, who will salute Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic; five-time Grammy winner Lalah Hathaway and Kenya Hathaway, who will pay tribute to their father Donny; past Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Johnny Mathis, who will honor Warwick; Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Sam Moore; two-time Grammy winner Gregory Porter, who will pay tribute to Eckstine; Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Simpson; past Grammy nominee Snoop Dogg, who will salute Clinton and PARLIAMENT-FUNKADELIC; and Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Warwick. Presenters for the evening will include Grammy winners Cheech & Chong. Additional performers and presenters will be announced shortly. Tickets for the event will be on sale via a Ticketmaster pre-sale, beginning today at 10 a.m. PT. The password to access the pre-sale is LEGENDS.
The Recording Academy will produce Grammy Salute To Music Legends in partnership with Thirteen as part of the Great Performances series on PBS, set to air later this year. Previously held during Grammy Week, this is the fourth year The Recording Academy has celebrated the Special Merit Awards with a stand-alone TV event and musical tribute. In addition to the tribute concert, special celebrity guests will present recipients their award statues and guests will enjoy never-before-seen video packages celebrating each of the honorees’ contributions to the music industry and our cultural heritage.
The Lifetime Achievement Award honors performers who have made contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording, while the Trustees Award recognizes such contributions in areas other than performance. Both awards are determined by a vote of The Recording Academy’s National Board of Trustees. Technical Grammy Award recipients are determined by vote of the Academy’s Producers & Engineers Wing Advisory Council and Chapter Committees and ratified by the Trustees. The award is presented to individuals and companies who have made contributions of outstanding technical significance to the recording field. The Music Educator Award is selected by a Blue Ribbon Committee and is approved by the National Board of Trustees.