Annual Awards and Tribute Concert to be filmed as part of “Great Performances” Series on PBS
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 11, 2019, 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™. 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 Eckstein; 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.
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.
A production of THIRTEEN LLC for WNET, “GRAMMY Salute To Music Legends” on “Great Performances” will be written by David Wild and directed for television by David Horn, with Mitch Owgang as producer and David Horn and Neil Portnow as executive producers.
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.
About the Honorees
From their power riffs to their dark, gothic imagery, Black Sabbath arguably invented the heavy metal signposts and influenced every heavy rock band that followed.
Among the most sampled acts of the funk/R&B era, George Clinton & Parliament-Funkadelic‘s spacey and masterfully played funk has laid the foundation for countless hip-hop hits.
Singer Billy Eckstine* helped break ground for African-American artists in the ’40s and ’50s as a distinctive jazz singer and bandleader who crossed over to an equally dazzling career in pop.
Donny Hathaway* was a versatile soul stylist who built his legend singing both urban protest songs as well as smooth, signature duets with the likes of Roberta Flack, despite his far-too-short career.
Perhaps the most successful Latin crossover artist of his time, Julio Iglesias became an enduring star on the world stage and Latin music’s most popular ambassador of his era.
Known as Double Dynamite and the inspiration for The Blues Brothers, Sam & Dave (Sam Moore & Dave Prater* Jr.) brought the fire and brimstone of gospel to the soul genre on their rise to international acclaim, crossing over with multi-million selling hits that helped break down the racial barriers during the Civil Rights era.
Singing the songs of Burt Bacharach and Hal David in the ’60s, and then scoring hits that bridged pop and R&B in the ’70s and ’80s, Dionne Warwick has carved out a unique and stellar career among pop/soul singers.
From the Monterey Pop Festival to L.A.’s iconic Roxy Theatre to the careers of the Mamas And The Papas, Carole King, and Cheech & Chong, among others, Lou Adler is one of music’s most noted impresarios.
Nickolas Ashford* & Valerie Simpson were among the elite songwriting teams at Motown Records, penning modern classics such as “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and “You’re All I Need To Get By.”
A versatile composer, arranger, and jazz musician, Johnny Mandel‘s credits include playing in the bands of Jimmy Dorsey and Count Basie and composing immortal movie and television music such as the M*A*S*H theme “Suicide Is Painless.”
Saul Walker* was a career-long audio innovator, teacher, and mentor. From his early work in rocket telemetry to founding API in 1969, his designs continue to influence the music recording industry.
Dr. Jeffery Redding is the director of Choral Activities at West Orange High School in Winter Garden, Florida, and has led his choirs in performance at state, regional, and national conventions of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA).
*Denotes posthumous award honoree.
About the Recording Academy
The Recording Academy represents the voices of performers, songwriters, producers, engineers, and all music professionals. Dedicated to ensuring the recording arts remain a thriving part of our shared cultural heritage, the Academy honors music’s history while investing in its future through the GRAMMY Museum®, advocates on behalf of music creators, supports music people in times of need through MusiCares, and celebrates artistic excellence through the GRAMMY Awards®—music’s only peer-recognized accolade and highest achievement. As the world’s leading society of music professionals, we work year-round to foster a more inspiring world for creators.
For more information about the Academy, please visit www.grammy.com.
