Prince will receive lifetime achievement Grammy, a prize usually for underrecognized artists

Other honorees include Frankie Valli, Frankie Beverly, Taj Mahal, Roxanne Shanté and the Clash.

The Minnesota Star Tribune
December 23, 2024 at 1:05PM
FILE - In this Feb. 8, 2015 file photo, Prince presents the award for album of the year at the 57th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. Prince was the main attraction when he performed a concert early Saturday, Feb. 14, 2015 for a crowd that include Michael Jordan, Chris Rock, Questlove and Queen Latifah, who danced and sang to his rousing set in downtown New York City.
Prince, pictured presenting the Grammy for album of the year in 2015, will be honored with a lifetime achievement Grammy. (John Shearer/The Associated Press)

Prince will receive a lifetime achievement Grammy Award in February, a prize historically given to overlooked and underrecognized artists.

Besides Prince, the Recording Academy has announced six honorees for lifetime achievement — Frankie Beverly, the Clash, Bobby Jones, Taj Mahal, Roxanne Shanté and Frankie Valli, all of whom, except rapper Shanté, started their careers before Prince.

Prince has collected seven Grammys, which is more than the other six lifetime honorees combined. Beverly, Shanté and Valli have never won a Grammy. The Clash and Jones each earned one, while Mahal picked up four.

Over the years, Prince, who showed up at the Grammys to present and receive awards, has been nominated for 38 Grammys. He last won one in 2008 for best male R&B vocal performance for “Future Baby Mama.” Three of his albums have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame — “1999″ in 2008, “Purple Rain” in 2011 and “Sign o’ the Times” in 2017.

Recipients of the lifetime achievement prizes were chosen by a vote of the Recording Academy’s national trustees.

Last year’s lifetime honorees were N.W.A., Laurie Anderson, the Clark Sisters, Gladys Knight, N.W.A., Donna Summer and Tammy Wynette.

A project by Prince, who died in 2016, is a finalist in February for the Grammy for best historical album, for “Diamonds and Pearls: Super Deluxe Edition.”

The lifetime achievement awards will be presented Feb. 1, the day before the full Grammy ceremonies in Los Angeles.

about the writer

about the writer

Jon Bream

Critic / Reporter

Jon Bream has been a music critic at the Star Tribune since 1975, making him the longest tenured pop critic at a U.S. daily newspaper. He has attended more than 8,000 concerts and written four books (on Prince, Led Zeppelin, Neil Diamond and Bob Dylan). Thus far, he has ignored readers’ suggestions that he take a music-appreciation class.

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