The Recording Academy announced the winners of its Special Merit Awards and will hand out Lifetime Achievement Grammys to Herbie Hancock; Jefferson Airplane; Run-D.M.C.; Earth, Wind & Fire; Linda Ronstadt; Celia Cruz; and Ruth Brown.
Avant garde composer John Cage; music entrepreneur Fred Foster; and Arhoolie Records founder Chris Strachwitz will receive a Trustees Award. Dr. Harvey Fletcher, the “father of stereophonic sound,” and Berlin turntable company EMY will receive the Technical Grammy Awards.
As for the Lifetime Achievement honorees, they include some of music’s most influential figures who had somehow not received one yet. Brown is best known for hits like “I’ll Wait For You,” “Mambo Baby” and “I Know.” Cruz is one of salsa’s most popular singers and known as the “Queen of Salsa.”
Earth, Wind & Fire is one of the great pop/R&B groups. “That’s The Way of the World” and “Shining Star” are both part of the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Hancock is a 14-time Grammy winner and won an Oscar for Round Midnight (1986). He is also a Kennedy Center Honoree in recognition of his impact on jazz and R&B.
Jefferson Airplane scored hits throughout the Summer of Love, performing at Monterey, Woodstock and Altamont. Their most famous songs remain “Somebody To Love” and “White Rabbit.”
Ronstadt is one of the greatest female pop singers ever, scoring hits throughout the 1970s and 1980s with a mix of pop and folk. She has won 10 Grammys.
Run-D.M.C. is responsible for bringing rap to the mainstream with their hit 1984 debut album and were the first rap group to be nominated for a Grammy. They were also the first hip-hop group to score a platinum record.
The Grammys are on CBS on Feb. 15.