Count Basie, Perry Como, Rosemary Clooney, Al Green and Joni Mitchell are the recipients of the Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Awards, while engineer/producer Tom Dowd and the original rock DJ Alan Freed will be honored with the Trustees Award. The winners will be officially acknowledged in a ceremony during Grammy Week in Los Angeles and held in conjunction with the 44th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony Feb 27 at the Staples Center. The show will air on CBS.
"The recipients of these awards are in a rarified league all their own," said Michael Greene, president/CEO of the Recording Academy. "They are a prestigious group of diverse and influential creators who have given us some of the most distinctive and seminal recordings of the last century. Their outstanding achievements have left a timeless legacy that has changed the world socially and has given voice to our cultural condition. Their work exemplifies the highest creative and technical standards by which we all measure our own personal and professional contributions."
The Lifetime Achievement Award honors lifelong artistic contributions to the recording medium while the Trustees Award recognizes outstanding contributions to the industry in a non-performing capacity. Both special merit awards are decided by vote of the Recording Academy's National Trustees during meetings held annually in May.
