Late music icon Whitney Houston will be posthumously honoured with a Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award at a Special Merits ceremony scheduled for January 2026 in Los Angeles.
Whitney Houston, who died in 2012, will be recognised alongside music greats Carlos Santana, Chaka Khan, Cher, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, and Paul Simon, all of whom will also receive Lifetime Achievement Awards.
The Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to performers whose creative contributions have had outstanding artistic significance in the recording industry.
At the same ceremony, Bernie Taupin, Eddie Palmieri, and Sylvia Rhone will receive Trustees Awards, while John Chowning will be honoured with the Technical Grammy Award. Trustees Awards recognise significant non-performance contributions to recording, while the Technical Grammy Award celebrates exceptional technical innovation in the field.
Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. described the honourees as “an extraordinary group whose influence spans generations, genres and the very foundation of modern music,” adding that their achievements would be celebrated on the eve of Grammy Sunday.
The awards ceremony forms part of Grammy Week 2026, the Academy’s weeklong series of events leading up to the 67th Grammy Awards, scheduled for Sunday, February 1, 2026, at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
Notably, Bernie Taupin is the only Special Merit Award recipient who is also a 2026 Grammy nominee, earning a nomination for Best Song Written for Visual Media for Never Too Late from Elton John: Never Too Late.
