SANTA MONICA, CALIF. (JUNE 12, 2018) — The Recording Academy™ will honor its 2018 Special Merit Awards recipients with “GRAMMY Salute To Music Legends®,” an awards ceremony and live tribute concert on Saturday, July 14, 2018, at Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. This year’s Lifetime Achievement Award honorees are Hal Blaine, Neil Diamond, Emmylou Harris, Louis Jordan, the Meters, Queen, and Tina Turner. Additional Special Merit Awards honorees to be celebrated include Bill Graham, Seymour Stein, and John Williams, who are this year’s Trustees Award honorees, and Tony Agnello and Richard Factor, who are the Technical GRAMMY Award recipients. Also being honored is Melissa Salguero, this year’s recipient of the Music Educator Award™. Led by GRAMMY®-nominated industry icon Greg Phillinganes as musical director, the tribute concert will feature rare performances by honorees and never-seen renditions by those they’ve inspired. Currently scheduled to appear are eight-time GRAMMY winner Herb Alpert, who will honor Blaine; past GRAMMY nominee Micky Dolenz, who will be honoring Diamond; GRAMMY winner Sammy Hagar, who will pay tribute to Graham; 13-time GRAMMY winner and Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Harris; past GRAMMY nominee Ledisi, who will salute Jordan; and three-time GRAMMY winner Trisha Yearwood, who will pay tribute to Harris. Presenters for the evening include actress Angela Bassett and GRAMMY winner Henry Rollins. Additional performers and presenters will be announced shortly. Tickets for the event will be on sale via Ticketmaster beginning today.
“We are thrilled to once again partner with THIRTEEN Productions and PBS to bring our ‘GRAMMY Salute To Music Legends’ awards show and tribute concert to life at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles,” said Neil Portnow, President/CEO of the Recording Academy. “We look forward to celebrating the tremendous contributions of our Special Merit Awards recipients and honoring their outstanding accomplishments.”
The Recording Academy will produce “GRAMMY Salute To Music Legends” in partnership with THIRTEEN Productions as part of the “Great Performances” series on PBS, set to air later this year. Previously held during GRAMMY Week, this is the third year the Recording Academy has celebrated the Special Merit Awards with a stand-alone TV event and musical tribute. In addition to the tribute concert, special celebrity guests will present recipients their award statues and guests will enjoy never-before-seen video packages celebrating each of the honorees’ contributions to the music industry and our cultural heritage.
A production of THIRTEEN Productions LLC for WNET, “GRAMMY Salute To Music Legends” will be written by David Wild and directed for television by David Horn, with Mitch Owgang as producer, and David Horn and Portnow as executive producers.
The Lifetime Achievement Award honors performers who have made contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording, while the Trustees Award recognizes such contributions in areas other than performance. Both awards are determined by a vote of the Recording Academy’s National Board of Trustees. Technical GRAMMY Award recipients are determined by vote of the Academy’s Producers & Engineers Wing® Advisory Council and Chapter Committees. The award is presented to individuals and companies who have made contributions of outstanding technical significance to the recording field.