Recording Academy Unveils 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award Honorees: Fela Kuti, Paul Simon, Carlos Santana and More

Image via The Recording Academy

The Recording Academy has announced the 2026 recipients of its Lifetime Achievement Award. The prestigious award will be granted to six artists during the Special Merit Awards Ceremony at Los Angeles’ Wilshire Ebell Theatre on Jan. 31, just before the 68th Annual Grammy Awards. 

The legends to be enshrined at this year’s ceremony are venerated singer-songwriter Paul Simon, fusion guitarist and bandleader Carlos Santana, Queen of Funk Chaka Khan, R&B superstar Whitney Houston, pop icon Cher and Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti, who will be the first African artist to receive the high honor. The Special Merit Awards will also recognize the recently deceased salsa and Latin jazz innovator Eddie Palmieri, former Epic Records CEO Sylvia Rhone and Elton John’s songwriting partner Bernie Taupin with the Trustees Award, which primarily recognizes non-performers. John Chowning, the composer and researcher who discovered FM synthesis, will receive the Technical Grammy Award.

The Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award was established in 1962 to recognize performers and their creative accomplishments of outstanding import to the history of recorded music. Since Bing Crosby became the award’s first recipient in 1963, the Academy’s National Trustees have granted the high honor to a total of 249 artists and counting.

Read about the nominees for the 68th Annual Grammy Awards here.