Carlos Santana, Whitney Houston, Cher among 2026 Lifetime Grammy recipients<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nBut the invitation-only audience at this non-televised event also gave standing ovations to South Miami Senior High School band director Jennifer Jimenez, the 2026 Grammy Music Educator of the Year honoree, as well as 91-year-old computer-music visionary John Chowning and groundbreaking record company executive Sylvia Rhone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI often tell our students that band is a community you get to choose,\u201d said Jimenez, who thanked her husband for being \u201cthe best band-dad any music director could have.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taupin and Rhone both received a Trustees Award, which is given in recognition of extensive major achievements in music by non-performers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been waiting 57 years to get one of these!\u201d said Taupin, who since 1972 has had three Grammy nominations and no wins.<\/p>\n
![\"Bernie](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/SUT-L-MUSIC-LIFETIMEGRAM-0201.jpg\")
Bernie Taupin, Elton John\u2019s longtime songwriting partner, was one of the honorees Saturday at the Grammy Special Merit Awards Ceremony in Los Angeles. (Monica Schipper\/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)<\/p>\n
Rhone, the first Black woman to head a major record label, broke into tears at one point during her acceptance speech. \u201cMusic is not made in silos,\u201d she said. \u201cIt grows through communication \u2026 It tells the story of our collective vision.\u201d<\/p>\n
Curiously, the Trustees Award for non-performers was also given to Palmieri, who formed his first group in 1950 at the age of 14, recorded 45 albums as a band leader, and played concerts up until about 10 months before his death last August at the age of 88.<\/p>\n
Despite this puzzling move, Saturday\u2019s ceremony at the historic Wilshire Ebell Theater was memorable and moving from start to finish. This held true even in the cases of Cher, Paul Simon and former Tijuana guitarist Carlos Santana, none of whom were present to receive their Grammy Lifetime Achievement awards in person.<\/p>\n
In her three-sentence-long video acceptance speech, Cher said: \u201cThe only thing I ever wanted to be is a singer. When I was 4 years old, I\u2019d run around the house \u2014 naked \u2014 singing into a hairbrush. Actually, things haven\u2019t changed that much.\u201d<\/p>\n
Houston\u2019s award was accepted by Pat Houston. She is Whitney Houston\u2019s sister-in-law and the former manager of the vocal superstar, who died at the age of 48 in 2012, just one day before that year\u2019s Grammy Awards.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer voice still soars and her legacy lives on,\u201d Pat Houston said of Whitney. \u201cShe didn\u2019t just sing songs, she told stories.\u201d<\/p>\n
Santana\u2019s award was accepted by his musician son, Salvador, who told the audience: \u201cWhat matters most to my dad isn\u2019t the awards. It\u2019s the connection to people \u2026 My father has always believed music is a spiritual force.\u201d<\/p>\n
Simon\u2019s award was accepted by Michael Ostin, the son of former Warner Bros. Records\u2019 honcho Mo Ostin. Palmieri\u2019s was accepted by his daughter, Eydie,, while four of the late Kuti\u2019s adult children accepted the award on behalf of their father, who died in 1997. He is the first African artist to receive a Lifetime Achievement Grammy.<\/p>\n
The Harry Belafonte Song for Social Change Award went to British singer-songwriter Raye and her co-writers for \u201cIce Cream Man,\u201d Michael Sabath and Michael Tucker. The song was inspired by the physical and emotional trauma Raye suffered after being sexually assaulted by a music producer.<\/p>\n
Khan, who kicks off a mini-concert tour on Feb. 13, earned the loudest and longest ovation of any of Saturday\u2019s honorees.<\/p>\n
\u201cMusic has been my prayer, my healing, my joy, my truth. Through it, I saved my life,\u201d she said. \u201cOver 50 years I am blessed to walk alongside extraordinary artists, musicians, writers, producers and creatives \u2014 and cuckoos!\u201d<\/p>\n
Khan and Taupin were both inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2023. On Saturday, Taupin expressed deep gratitude for his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that I\u2019m blessed to do what I do in a world where so many people hate going to work \u2014 they don\u2019t want to go to work, they can\u2019t stand their jobs.\u201d he said. \u201cSongwriters are the luckiest people in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c]<\/p>\n
Taupin cited some of his biggest songwriting inspirations, including Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, Merle Haggard, Brian Wilson and Leonard Cohen. He then offered some sage advice for songwriters.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlways think out of the box,\u201d Taupin said. \u201cAvoid cliches and predictability. Never write by numbers. Stay out of cubicles! Don\u2019t ever write (songs) in a cubicle. Always throw a curve ball in, even with the most simple songs, because that\u2019s what people will remember.\u201d<\/p>\n
He paused for a perfectly timed beat, then continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t say (in a song) you\u2019re going to die if she leaves you. You won\u2019t. And vice versa.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was not surprising when the audience at the Grammy Recording Academy Special Merit Awards Ceremony in Los…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":559205,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,96302,230275,82870,244039,244330,58740,21043,3549,7264,244329,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,172029],"class_list":{"0":"post-559204","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-carlos-santana","12":"tag-chaka-khan","13":"tag-cher","14":"tag-eddie-palmieri","15":"tag-fela-kuti","16":"tag-grammy","17":"tag-paul-simon","18":"tag-san-diego","19":"tag-sandiego","20":"tag-special-merit-awards","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-united-states-of-america","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-usa","27":"tag-whitney-houston"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115996856416775685","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=559204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/559205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=559204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=559204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=559204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}