George Clinton

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Black Sabbath, George Clinton & Parliament-Funkadelic & More To Be Honored At GRAMMY Salute To Music Legends

Additional honorees are Billy Eckstine, Donny Hathaway, Julio Iglesias, Sam & Dave, and Dionne Warwick

GRAMMYs

Apr 11, 2019 - 6:38 pm

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, at Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

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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.

Dionne Warwick, Donny Hathaway & More To Receive Special Merit Awards

Dionne Warwick

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Dionne Warwick, Donny Hathaway & More To Receive Special Merit Awards

The Recording Academy has announced this year's crop of Lifetime Achievement Award, Trustees Award and Technical GRAMMY Award recipients

Nate Hertweck

Recording Academy

Dec 19, 2018 - 6:31 am

What do Black Sabbath, Sam & Dave and Julio Iglesias all have in common? They are among this year's Recording Academy Special Merit Awards recipients. Today, the Academy announced a prestigious crop of recipients for its Lifetime Achievement Award, Trustees Award and Technical GRAMMY Award.

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, Ashford & Simpson and Johnny Mandel are Trustees Award honorees; and Saul Walker is the Technical GRAMMY Award recipient.

From their power riffs to their dark, gothic imagery, Black Sabbath arguably invented the heavy-metal signposts and influenced every hard-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.

Soul duo Sam & Dave (Sam Moore and Dave Prater) were one of the primary chart stars at the Stax and Atlantic labels in the '60s, bringing the passion of gospel to their wailing soul sides.

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 and 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.

A special award presentation ceremony and concert celebrating the honorees will be held on May 11, 2019, in Los Angeles. Additional details regarding the ceremony will be announced in the coming weeks.

Emilio And Gloria Estefan $200,000 Music Scholarship Announced

Black Sabbath in 1970

Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

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Black Sabbath On Their Legacy: "We've Already Influenced A Lot Of Bands" | GRAMMY Salute To Music Legends

Watch GRAMMY Salute To Music Legends on Fri. Oct. 18 at 9 p.m. ET on PBS (check your local listings)

Ana Monroy Yglesias

GRAMMYs

Oct 17, 2019 - 5:05 pm

Moments before they received the Recording Academy's high honor, the Lifetime Achievement Award, Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi and Bill Ward of GRAMMY-winning metal group Black Sabbath took a moment to reflect on their influential half-century-long career.

"It's great, after all these years. We were written off as nothing when we first started out, and here we are getting a GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award," Butler shared backstage at the 2019 GRAMMY Salute To Music Legends, where the awards were given to a handful of music icons.

Black Sabbath Discuss Their Legacy

"As for the future generations, we've already influenced a lot of bands, a lot of bands that are out now and starting out now and citing us as their main influence," Butler added when asked about their hope to influence the next group of hard rockers.

During the show, Rival Sons, who toured as main support for Sabbath's The End Tour, paid tribute with a medley sampling a few of their big songs.

Read: GRAMMY Facts: Black Sabbath's GRAMMY-winning "God Is Dead"

Black Sabbath were part of a handful of artists presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award during this year's show. George Clinton & the Parliament-Funkadelic, Donny Hathaway, Billy Eckstine, Donny Hathaway, Julio Iglesias, Sam & Dave and Dionne Warwick are the other 2019 recipients.

The other honors bestowed to life-long music industry influencers included the Trustees Awards, given to Lou Adler, Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson, and Johnny Mandel this year, celebrated exemplary contributors to music, outside of performance. Additionally, the Technical GRAMMY Award was presented (posthumously) to API Audio Co-Founder Saul Walker and Florida high school choir director Jeffery Redding was celebrated with the Music Educator Award.

Watch GRAMMY Salute To Music Legends on Fri. Oct. 18 at 9 p.m. ET on PBS (check your local listings).

Bootsy Collins Shares Gratitude For Loyal Fans | GRAMMY Salute To Music Legends

Sheila E. & Snoop Dogg

Photo: Amy Sussman/Getty Images

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"GRAMMY Salute To Music Legends" To Air Oct. 16 On PBS

The tribute concert will honor the Recording Academy's 2019 Special Merit Awards recipients, including Black Sabbath, Donny Hathaway, Dionne Warwick and more...

Nate Hertweck

GRAMMYs

Aug 27, 2019 - 10:01 am

Get ready! The fourth annual "GRAMMY Salute To Music Legends" in collaboration with PBS' "Great Performances" series is set to air on Oct. 18 on PBS. The all-star concert will honor the Academy's 2019 Special Merit Awards recipients, including Black Sabbath, George Clinton & Parliament-Funkadelic, Billy Eckstine, Donny Hathaway, Julio Iglesias, Sam & Dave, and Dionne Warwick.

"GRAMMY Salute To Music Legends" To Air Oct. 18

Led by GRAMMY-nominated industry icon Greg Phillinganes as musical director and hosted by past GRAMMY nominee Sheila E, the celebration and tribute concert features rare performances by honorees and never-before-seen renditions of their classic songs by those they've inspired.

The Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement recognizes musical artists that have made significant contributions to the recording field. 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. The Trustees Award honors areas outside of performance. Lou Adler, Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson, and Johnny Mandel are Trustees Award honorees. The Technical GRAMMY Award recognizes people and companies who have made outstanding contributions of technical significance to the recording field. Saul Walker is this year's Technical GRAMMY Award recipient

Also being honored is Jeffery Redding, this year's recipient of the Music Educator Award, which is presented by the Recording Academy and GRAMMY Museum.

Performance List (honoree in bold)

Dionne Warwick
"Walk On By" (performed by Johnny Mathis)
"What The World Needs Now" (performed by Dionne Warwick)

Sam & Dave
Medley: "Hold On, I'm Comin'"/"Soul Man" (performed by Sam Moore and Garth Brooks)
"I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down" (performed by Sam Moore)

Lou Adler
"I Feel The Earth Move"/"It's Too Late" (performed by Jessie Mueller)

Julio Iglesias
"Caruso" (performed by Julio Iglesias)

Ashford & Simpson
Medley: "You're All I Need To Get By"/"Ain't No Mountain High Enough" (performed by Valerie Simpson and Kenny Lattimore)

Johnny Mandel
"How Do You Keep The Music Playing" (performed by Patti Austin and Greg Phillinganes)
Medley: "The Shadow Of Your Smile"/"Suicide Is Painless" (performed by Patti Austin)

Black Sabbath
Medley: "War Pigs"/"Paranoid" (performed by Rival Sons)

Donny Hathaway
"A Song For You" (performed by Lalah Hathaway)
"Where Is The Love" (performed by Lalah Hathaway and Kenya Hathaway)

Billy Eckstine
"Everything I Have Is Yours" (performed by Gregory Porter)
"Dedicated To You" (performed by Gregory Porter and Patti Austin)

George Clinton & Parliament-Funkadelic
Medley: "One Nation Under A Groove"/"Mothership Connection"/"Flash Light" (performed by George Clinton, William "Bootsy" Collins, Sativa, Eddie M, Sheila E., and Snoop Dogg)

The concert will air at 9 p.m. on Oct. 18 (check your local listings) and will be available via pbs.org/gperf and the PBS Video app.

Black Sabbath, George Clinton & Parliament-Funkadelic & More To Be Honored At GRAMMY Salute To Music Legends

Allen Grubman, Neil Portnow, Michael Reinhart, 2018

(L-R) President's Merit Award winner Allen Grubman, Recording Academy President/CEO Neil Portnow, 2018 Entertainment Law Initiative Service Award recipient Michael Reinert

Photo: Michael Kovac/WireImage.com

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Entertainment Law Initiative Event Honors Music Advocates, Present & Future

Amidst a critical moment in the fight for music creators' rights, the Recording Academy celebrates the difference-makers in entertainment law

Nate Hertweck

GRAMMYs

Jan 26, 2018 - 5:29 pm

The Recording Academy's Entertainment Law Initiative event and scholarship presentation turned the focus of GRAMMY Week toward today's crucial creator's rights issues. As the nation's preeminent gathering for entertainment attorneys, this event provides an annual opportunity to unite a community of professionals, honor those doing excellent work in the field, and award scholarships to outstanding law students via a writing competition.

2018 Entertainment Law Initiative Event

"I think Entertainment Law Initiative manifests, generally, what we do as an Academy," says Recording Academy President/CEO Neil Portnow. "We look retrospectively, and we honor our past, we study our past, and we learn from our past. But we also are there to nurture and develop the next generations of music makers, but also everybody that's in the infrastructure of the music business."

This year's event honored two such difference-makers in the entertainment law community. First, Michael Reinert, a partner at Fox Rothschild, LLP, received the 2018 ELI Service Award for advancing and supporting the music community through service. Reinert's award presentation served as a highlight of the ceremony, complete with a hilarious mock biopic movie trailer (Michael Reinert is "Michael Reinert") and a personalized congratulations video from GRAMMY-winner Stevie Wonder. Who says lawyers don't know how to have fun?

"It's very humbling and very overwhelming to be considered in the group of names of these people who have come before me, so many of whom I've grown up admiring, almost in awe of," Reinert says, mentioning previous honorees Julie Swidler and Elliot Groffman as predecessors whom he respects.

Additionally, Allen Grubman, a partner at Grubman, Shire, Meiselas, & Sacks, P.C. received the Recording Academy President's Merit Award in recognition of his many years protecting the interests of creators.

"I want to thank the Recording Academy for this honor," Grubman said humbly, before joking, "Most of what I get are complaints." He also lauded the support the Academy provides to young aspiring lawyers by way of the writing competition scholarship program.

Grubman also put his money where his mouth was, pledging $25,000 toward a scholarship, a generous contribution and proof that his diligent service on creator's behalf aligns beautifully with the Entertainment Law Initiative.

"We do something very important… We bring joy to the world," Grubman said, closing his remarks. "This is a very special thing that I do, that we all do. And I just want to say, I believe the entertainment area is just beginning for lawyers."

Sure enough, this declaration is more than validated by the entrants to this year's writing competition, who all exemplify the possibilities of progress.

Chosen as this year's writing competition winner, Rebecca Pollack, a law student at Lewis & Clark School of Law, received a $10,000 scholarship for her winning paper titled "Innovation or Exploitation: Is It Time To Update The DMCA Safe Harbors?"

"The copyright office is dealing with the big debate going on between copyright holders and online service providers about the big safe harbors and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and whether they are effective," Pollack explains. "My paper basically looks at one of the big issues underlying it, which is these technical measures and finding some clarity around those."

Renowned attorney and Entertainment Law Initiative Program Chair Ken Abdo invited Pollack to the stage to discuss the core problem addressed, as well as the proposed solution, outlined in her paper.

Runner-up Megan Abner, a student Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University, was awarded a $2,500 scholarship for her paper, "Effects Of The FCC's 'Internet Freedom' On The Music Industry And Potential Collaborative Solutions."

The imaginative work of bright students intimates a smiling future for entertainment law. However, no one says it will be easy. Reinert had some simple yet powerful advice to add for aspiring entertainment attorneys:

"When you hit a brick wall, keep going."

As a testament to this spirit of perseverance, New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, the event's keynote speaker, spoke of how his deep passion for jazz music has driven him to go the extra mile on the legal front to support music creation, protection, and preservation, including preserving and digitizing a collection of Louis Armstrong recordings and cracking down on live concert ticket scalping, ultimately reforming the system to add criminal consequences to high-volume ticketbot offenders.

The Recording Academy echoes this support and drive to enact change and has been working tirelessly to enact legislative change to modernize creator's rights policies.

"We've been working for years to get a bill that will work that can pass, that addresses our issues and contemporize the whole process of licensing and all the attendant elements," says Portnow.

In fact, those efforts are coming to fruition in real time. Immediately following the event, Portnow joined a group of music creators at a judiciary committee meeting to testify at a hearing titled "Music Policy Issues: A Perspective From Those Who Make It." Portnow will be backed at thearing's continued deliberations by GRAMMY-winning performers Booker T. Jones and Dionne Warwick, GRAMMY-nominated artist Aloe Blacc, GRAMMY-nominated songwriter Tom Douglas, and platinum-selling producer/engineer Mike Clink.

Now, more than ever, is a critical time in the fight for music creators' rights, and the Entertainment Law Initiative continues to remind the music community of both the difference one devoted individual can make and the great strength we have when we join our voices together.

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