Whitney Houston, Cher, Carlos Santana & More to Receive Lifetime Achievement Awards from Recording Academy: Full List

The Recording Academy has announced the recipients of its 2026 Special Merit Awards. Carlos Santana, Chaka Khan, Cher, Fela Kuti, Paul Simon and Whitney Houston are the lifetime achievement recipients; Bernie Taupin, Eddie Palmieri and Sylvia Rhone are the Trustees Award honorees; and John Chowning is the Technical Grammy Award honoree.

The ceremony will be held at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles on Saturday Jan. 31, the afternoon before the 68th annual Grammy Awards at Crypto.com Arena in downtown L.A.

“It’s a true honor to recognize this year’s Special Merit Award recipients — an extraordinary group whose influence spans generations, genres and the very foundation of modern music,” Harvey Mason jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, said in a statement. “Each of these honorees has made a profound and lasting impact, and we look forward to celebrating their remarkable achievements.”

Palmieri, a Latin music legend, will be honored less than six months after he died at age 88. Two other artists are being honored posthumously – Afrobeats pioneer Kuti, who died in 1997, and Houston, who died in 2012.

Simon is being honored as a solo artist. Simon & Garfunkel received a lifetime achievement award as a duo in 2003. Simon joins the short list of people who have been honored both solo and in groups or duos. Others include Diana Ross (the Supremes) and Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison (The Beatles).

Houston receives the honor seven years after her cousin Dionne Warwick was honored.

Taupin is this year’s only Special Merit Award recipient who is also a 2026 Grammy nominee. The night after he picks up this honor, he’ll win or lose for best song written for visual media for “Never Too Late” from Elton John: Never Too Late. Incredibly, Taupin has yet to win a competitive Grammy.

Lifetime Achievement Awards are presented to performers who have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording. Trustees Awards are presented to individuals who have made significant contributions, other than performance, to the field of recording. Both are voted on by the academy’s national trustees.

Technical Grammy Awards are presented to individuals, companies, organizations or institutions who have made contributions of outstanding technical significance to the recording field. They are voted on by the Producers & Engineers Wing Advisory Council and chapter committees and ratified by the academy’s national trustees.

Here’s a closer look at this year’s honorees: