RECORDING ACADEMY MERIT AWARDS WILL GO TO PRINCE, STRUMMER, OTHER LEGENDS

The Recording Academy will punctuate Grammy week with Merit Awards to honor industry legends throughout the ages.

At the gala, to be held on 2/1 at the Wiltshire Ebell Theatre, the Academy will bestow Lifetime Achievement Awards on a number of artists, including Prince, Joe Strummer, Frankie Beverly, Dr. Bobby Jones, Frankie Valli, Roxanne Shante and Taj Mahal. Taj is nominated this year for a Best Traditional Blues Album Grammy for his Lightning Rod release Swingin’ Live at the Church in Tulsa.

The Academy will also deliver Trustees Awards to composer-pianist Erroll Garner, whose “Misty” has been a standard for decades, as well as pioneering producer and sound engineer Glyn Johns and Cuban-born conductor and educator Tania Leon, who currently serves as Composer-in-Residence with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

This year’s Technical Grammy Award honoree is National Medal of Science recipient Dr. Leo Baranek, the author of a dozen acclaimed books, including the classic Acoustics, a cornerstone reference for both students and professional engineers.