Recording Academy Announces 2026 Special Merit Awards

The Recording Academy announced on Friday the recipients of its 2026 Special Merit Awards, honoring a diverse group of music pioneers for their enduring contributions to recorded music. Among the Lifetime Achievement Award winners are Whitney Houston and Fela Kuti, both posthumously, alongside living artists Paul Simon, Cher, Carlos Santana and Chaka Khan. The awards ceremony is scheduled for January 31, 2026, at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles, the evening before the 68th annual Grammy Awards at nearby Crypto.com Arena.

The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes performers who have made outstanding artistic contributions to the field of recording. Whitney Houston, who died in 2012 at age 48, earned global acclaim as one of the most influential vocalists in pop and R&B history. Born into a family of singers, she signed with Arista Records in 1983 and released her self-titled debut album two years later, which became the best-selling debut by a solo artist. Houston achieved seven consecutive No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, a record at the time, and her soundtrack for the 1992 film The Bodyguard, featuring her cover of "I Will Always Love You," won Album of the Year...