The Recording Academy has announced that Fela Kuti, Whitney Houston, and Paul Simon will receive Lifetime Achievement Awards at the 2026 Grammy Awards. Other honorees include Cher, Carlos Santana, and Chaka Khan. The awards recognise artists whose creative contributions have had a lasting impact on the music industry.
In addition, Bernie Taupin, Eddie Palmieri, and Sylvia Rhone have been named recipients of the 2026 Trustees Award. The Technical Grammy Award will be presented to John Chowning, who discovered frequency modulation (FM) synthesis in 1967, a breakthrough that transformed electronic music and sound production.
The Special Merit Awards Ceremony will hold on Saturday, January 31, a day before the main Grammy event. The 2026 Grammy Awards will air live on February 1 from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Last year’s Lifetime Achievement recipients included Prince, the Clash, Frankie Beverly, Roxanne Shanté, and Taj Mahal.