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Prince, the Clash, and the Four Seasons’ Frankie Valli are among the artists who will receive lifetime achievement awards at the Grammys’ upcoming Special Merit Awards ceremony, the Recording Academy announced Friday.
Pioneering Juice Crew rapper Roxanne Shante, Maze’s Frankie Beverly, blues great Taj Mahal, and gospel singer Dr. Bobby Jones will also be given lifetime achievement awards at the Feb. 1 event, while jazz legend Erroll Garner, Cuban composer Tania Leon, and producer Glyn Johns will receive the Recording Academy’s trustees award.
“It’s an amazing privilege to honor this eclectic group of music icons during the year’s biggest week in music,”Harvey Mason Jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, said in a statement. “Each of this year’s Special Merit Award recipients has left an indelible mark on music, from paving the way for others to innovation that forever has changed the trajectory of the musical landscape. We can’t wait to celebrate this group and their achievements in February.”
Prince, the Clash’s Joe Strummer, and Frankie Beverly — who died in Sept. 2024 — will all receive the award posthumously. Prince — already an inductee into the Grammys’ Hall of Fame — as well as the Clash and Valli are also inductees of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In recent years, Grammy Lifetime Achievement award recipients have included Nirvana, Nile Rodgers, N.W.A., Donna Summer, Tammy Wynette, and the Supremes. The Special Merit Awards will take place at Los Angeles’ Wilshire Ebell Theater on Feb. 1, one day before the 2025 Grammys themselves go down at the Crypto .com Arena on Feb. 2.
