Michael Jackson To Get Lifetime Achievement Grammy

Michael Jackson

The Recording Academy will honor a number of artists with Special Merit Awards as part of the upcoming Grammy celebration. This year's Lifetime Achievement Award honorees will be Michael Jackson, Leonard Cohen, Bobby Darin, David "Honeyboy" Edwards, Loretta Lynn, André Previn and Clark Terry. Additionally, this year's Trustees Award honorees are Harold Bradley, Florence Greenberg and Walter C. Miller; and AKG and Thomas Alva Edison are this year's Technical Grammy Award honorees. The Grammys will be handed out on January 31 and will air live on CBS.

"This year's honorees are a prestigious group of diverse and prominent creators who have contributed some of the most distinguished and influential recordings," said Recording Academy President/CEO Neil Portnow. "Their outstanding accomplishments and passion for their craft have created a timeless legacy that has positively affected multiple generations, and will continue to influence generations to come. It is an honor and privilege to recognize such talented individuals who have had and will continue to have such an influence in both our culture and the music industry." 

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. Technical Grammy awards are presented to individuals and companies who have made contributions of outstanding technical significance to the recording field.

In other Jacko news, he was just named as iTunes' Artist of the Year after his death was followed by a massive spike in catalog sales. The Essential Michael Jackson was the sixth highest selling album on iTunes this year. He also recently won four posthumous American Music Awards, including Favorite Male Artist and Favorite Album for Number Ones in both the Pop and Soul/R&B categories.

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