It took a parade of people to accept Prince’s lifetime achievement Grammy

The Grammy Awards love Prince. And apparently, he loved them, too.

He was posthumously presented with a lifetime achievement Grammy on Saturday in a Special Merit Awards Ceremony that honored seven artists, including Frankie Valli, Taj Mahal and the Clash, the night before the 67th annual Grammy Awards.

The Prince presentation occupied an extraordinarily long 23 minutes of a two-hour program, according to George Varga of the San Diego Union Tribune. There was a parade of speakers on behalf of the Purple One at the 1,200-capacity Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles.

The Prince segment was introduced by Grammy-winning producer Jimmy Jam, a former Prince associate in the Time and a Rock & Roll Hall of Famer. Jam is the former chair of the Recording Academy, which operates the Grammys.

Accepting the lifetime achievement trophy was Breanna Nelson, Prince’s niece accompanied by three of her children. She pointed out Prince “lived by his own rules.”

That meant when it came to the Grammys, too.

Unlike the other recipients on Saturday, Prince’s people commanded the stage.

Other speakers included former Prince associates Jerome Benton of the Time, Bobby Z of Prince & the Revolution, lawyer Londell McMillan of Prince Legacy LLC and André Cymone, Prince’s childhood friend and early bandmate.

Cymone said he and Prince dreamed of Grammys as kids in Minneapolis watching TV music and awards programs. He knew the Grammys meant a lot to his pal, he told the Minnesota Star Tribune on Sunday.

“He would act like they didn’t,” said Cymone, who met Prince in seventh grade. “He put on a face. You can fool some folks, but you can’t fool me.

“At the end of the day, to be recognized for the hard work, the struggle, all the things you have to do to prove your worth, these scars are only rectified through people recognizing that you are talented.”

Prince, who died in 2016, received seven Grammys in his lifetime as well as 38 nominations. He performed at the awards show in 1984 and 2004, and in 2015, he presented the album of the year trophy at the ceremonies, declaring, “Like books and Black lives, albums still matter.”

On Sunday, Prince was a finalist for best historical album for “Diamonds and Pearls (Super Deluxe Edition).” That prize went to “Centennial,” featuring recordings from 1923 by King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band.

At the podium on Saturday, McMillan may have dropped a bit of news. After inviting people to come to Chanhassen to tour Prince’s Paisley Park studio complex-turned-museum, he said the controversial nine-hour authorized Netflix documentary directed by Oscar winner Ezra Edelman will not be broadcast.

“There will not be any salacious documentary,” McMillan said. “We have turned the page to shine the proper light on Prince.”

It’s not clear if the status of the documentary is fact or wishful thinking. Neither McMillan nor a Netflix producer or publicist returned phone calls on Sunday.

However, in the 2024 year-end issue of Billboard magazine, Prince Legacy LLC took out a two-page ad that included a mention of a documentary in 2026-27.

Last December, Charles Spicer of Prince Legacy LLC told the Minnesota Star Tribune: “We don’t have Netflix on our mind. We hope to be able to put out a documentary that reflects Prince’s life — a definitive documentary.”