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Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners

Billie Holiday died with seventy cents in the bank, though she had earned $250,000 in the three years before her 1947 arrest. The Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award honors careers like hers, and the stories here tend to hold a reversal. Frank Sinatra was dropped by his label in 1952, then a movie role brought him back. Inside their own label, the Supremes were called the no-hit Supremes, and then they hit number 1 twelve times. Berry Gordy refused Marvin Gaye's What's Going On. Ella Fitzgerald went onstage at the Apollo planning to dance, then sang.

  • Louis ArmstrongLouis Armstrong fired a blank from his stepfather's gun and spent the night in juvenile court.
  • The BeatlesIn 1964, an estimated 73 million Americans watched the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show.
  • Michael JacksonMichael Jackson bought a music catalog with most of the Beatles's material in 1985. He paid 47.5 million dollars.
  • Bob DylanAt a 1966 Manchester concert, Bob Dylan told his band to play loud after a heckler called him Judas.
  • David BowieDavid Bowie died two days after releasing his final album. He planned Blackstar as a parting gift while privately dying.
  • Elvis PresleyA teacher told young Elvis Presley he had no aptitude for singing. He later sold an estimated 500 million records.
  • Frank SinatraFrank Sinatra was dropped by his record label in 1952. A movie role then brought him back to the top.
  • Jimi HendrixJimi Hendrix's first guitar was a one-string ukulele found in the garbage. He learned by ear to Elvis songs.
  • John LennonJohn Lennon was ordered to leave the United States in 1973. His anti-war activities had alarmed President Nixon.
  • Queen (band)A DJ was told not to play Queen's song "Bohemian Rhapsody", then played it fourteen times in one weekend.
  • Buddy HollyBuddy Holly was back on tour in 1959 because his royalties were frozen in a lawsuit. He died in a plane crash at 22.
  • Whitney HoustonWhitney Houston sold more than 220 million records and carried a nickname that needed no first name: "the Voice". She was born in 1963 and died in 2012. In between, she became one of the most awarded performers in history. In 2023, Rolling…
  • Billie HolidayBillie Holiday died with seventy cents in the bank. She earned $250,000 in the three years before her 1947 arrest.
  • Aretha FranklinOtis Redding said Aretha Franklin took his song "Respect" away from him. Her version hit number one in 1967.
  • Led ZeppelinAtlantic Records signed Led Zeppelin without ever seeing them play. The November 1968 deal came with a $143,000 advance.
  • Nirvana (band)In January 1992, Nirvana knocked Michael Jackson's Dangerous off the top of the Billboard album charts.
  • Prince (musician)Prince once changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol to protest his record label.
  • Marvin GayeMotown boss Berry Gordy refused to release Marvin Gaye's What's Going On.
  • Ella FitzgeraldElla Fitzgerald walked onstage at the Apollo Theater planning to dance, then chose to sing. She was 17 in 1934.
  • Little RichardLittle Richard walked away from rock and roll to study theology. A fireball over Sydney in 1957 shook him.
  • Black SabbathThe band Black Sabbath took its name from a horror film showing across from its rehearsal room.
  • Igor StravinskyIgor Stravinsky's ballet The Rite of Spring caused a near-riot at its 1913 Paris premiere.
  • Duke EllingtonDuke Ellington wrote his first piece while working as a soda jerk, before he could read music.
  • Judy GarlandMGM fired Judy Garland in 1950, and Bing Crosby invited her onto his radio show. The audience gave her an ovation.
  • Paul SimonPaul Simon, the American singer-songwriter and guitarist, nearly gave one of his best-known songs the wrong name. While writing music for the film The Graduate, he toyed with calling a new song "Mrs. Roosevelt." Art Garfunkel passed the…
  • Tina TurnerTina Turner crossed a Texas freeway on foot on the 1st of July 1976 with 36 cents and a Mobil credit card in her pocket. She had slipped out of a hotel suite in Dallas after a fight, while her husband slept. Her destination was a nearby…
  • Sam CookeSam Cooke walked into a recording session and began singing Gershwin. His label's head, Art Rupe, was furious.
  • James BrownJames Brown pointed out band members' wrong notes with hand signals.
  • Earth, Wind & FireEarth, Wind & Fire began as a small team writing commercials in Chicago. They later sold more than 90 million records.
  • Paul McCartneyPaul McCartney traded a trumpet for a guitar and wrote his first song on it. His father had given him the trumpet.
  • John ColtraneA San Francisco congregation once worshipped John Coltrane as God incarnate.
  • Joni MitchellAfter a 2015 brain aneurysm, Joni Mitchell relearned guitar at living room jam sessions. Brandi Carlile organized them.
  • Miles DavisMiles Davis called jazz dead near the end of his life. He had spent five decades helping define it.
  • The SupremesThe Supremes were once called the no-hit Supremes inside their own label. Then they hit number 1 twelve times.
  • Chuck BerryChuck Berry was buried with a cherry-red guitar bolted inside his coffin lid. The rock and roll pioneer died in 2017.
  • The Beach BoysThe Beach Boys had a teenager in the band who had never surfed. Only Dennis Wilson did.
  • George Clinton (funk musician)George Clinton says a flying metallic object once hit his car. The funk musician was riding with Bootsy Collins.
  • Bing CrosbyBing Crosby had to re-record "White Christmas" in 1947 because the 1942 master had worn out.
  • Johnny CashJohnny Cash never served a prison sentence. He was jailed seven times, one night each.
  • The DoorsThe Doors sang the banned word "higher" on The Ed Sullivan Show. Network executives had asked the band to cut it.
  • The WhoThe Who played the Valley, the home ground of Charlton Athletic, on the 31st of May 1976. The Guinness Book of Records listed that show as the world's loudest concert, at over 120 dB. The English rock band had formed in London in 1964. Its…
  • Grateful DeadIn August 1991, a television crew from PBS watched the Grateful Dead play at Shoreline Amphitheatre, and guitarist Jerry Garcia offered a strange confession about his own band. "We didn't really invent the Grateful Dead, the crowd invented…
  • Run-DMCRun-DMC turned unlaced sneakers into a $1,600,000 Adidas deal. The rap group's look came from jail rules on shoelaces.
  • Jerry Lee LewisJerry Lee Lewis feared his own hit song was blasphemous.
  • Grammy Lifetime Achievement AwardIn 2026, the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award went to six names: Cher, Whitney Houston, Chaka Khan, Fela Kuti, Carlos Santana and Paul Simon. The Recording Academy gives this special Grammy to artists whose careers it considers worthy of…
  • Iggy PopIggy Pop, born James Newell Osterberg Jr., built a reputation on rolling around in broken glass while a crowd watched. Admirers eventually called him the "Godfather of Punk". His first band sold few records, yet its songs outlasted much of…
  • CherCher, the American singer and actress born Cheryl Sarkisian, first reached radio in 1964 with a record that programmers misjudged. The single was “Ringo, I Love You,” produced by Phil Spector and released under the name Bonnie Jo Mason.…
  • Ray CharlesRay Charles Robinson, known to the world as Ray Charles, carried two nicknames that pulled in different directions. Contemporaries called him "The Genius." Among friends and fellow musicians, he preferred to be called "Brother Ray." Frank…
  • Sammy Davis Jr.Sammy Davis Jr. once answered a simple golf question with a line that became his signature. Playing a round with Jack Benny, he was asked what his handicap was. Davis replied, "Handicap?" and then went on: "Talk about handicap. I'm a…
  • Bee GeesA broken record forced the Bee Gees to sing live at a Manchester cinema in 1957.

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