Music Blogs

The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences was established 50 years ago by musicians, recording engineers and producers and is best known to the public for the yearly awards they give out called Grammys.

Honestly, the major Grammy awards (Record of the Year, Artist of the Year) do not interest me much. However, each year the Academy gives away lifetime achievement awards that are reserved for artists who are nothing less than legends.

Of the 133 artists who have been awarded a lifetime achievement by the academy, 129 of them have music available. This playlist includes a standout track by each of these 129. It’s 9 hours in length and is a great overview of the best in popular music. A time capsule, that if found by aliens a thousand years after the human race is gone, would certainly reflect well on our civilization.

From the very first recipient in 1962 (Bing Crosby) to the recent inductions of The Doors, The Grateful Dead, Joan Baez, Booker T and the MG's, Bob Wills and Ornette Coleman in 2007, there's not too much in this list that a real music fan could disagree with (although some omissions definitely come to mind).

Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award winners by year

1962
Bing Crosby
1965
Frank Sinatra
1966
Duke Ellington
1967
Ella Fitzgerald
1968
Irving Berlin
1971
Elvis Presley
1972
Louis Armstrong
Mahalia Jackson
1984
Chuck Berry
Charlie Parker
1985
Leonard Bernstein
1986
Benny Goodman
The Rolling Stones
Andrés Segovia
1987
Roy Acuff
Benny Carter
Enrico Caruso
Ray Charles
Fats Domino
Woody Herman
Billie Holiday
B. B. King
Isaac Stern
Igor Stravinsky
Arturo Toscanini
Hank Williams Sr.
1989
Fred Astaire
Pablo Casals
Dizzy Gillespie
Jascha Heifetz
Lena Horne
Leontyne Price
Bessie Smith
Art Tatum
Sarah Vaughan
1990
Nat “King” Cole
Miles Davis
Vladimir Horowitz
Paul McCartney
1991
Marian Anderson
Bob Dylan
John Lennon
Kitty Wells
1992
James Brown
John Coltrane
Jimi Hendrix
Muddy Waters
1993
Chet Atkins
Little Richard
Thelonious Monk
Bill Monroe
Pete Seeger
Fats Waller
1994
Bill Evans
Aretha Franklin
Arthur Rubinstein
1995
Patsy Cline
Peggy Lee
Henry Mancini
Curtis Mayfield
Barbra Streisand
1996
Dave Brubeck
Marvin Gaye
Georg Solti
Stevie Wonder
1997
Bobby “Blue” Bland
The Everly Brothers
Judy Garland
Stéphane Grappelli
Buddy Holly
Charles Mingus
Oscar Peterson
Frank Zappa
1998
Bo Diddley
The Mills Brothers
Roy Orbison
Paul Robeson
1999
Johnny Cash
Sam Cooke
Otis Redding
Smokey Robinson
Mel Tormé
2000
Harry Belafonte
Woody Guthrie
John Lee Hooker
Mitch Miller
Willie Nelson
2001
The Beach Boys
Tony Bennett
Sammy Davis, Jr.
Bob Marley
The Who
2002
Count Basie
Rosemary Clooney
Perry Como
Al Green
Joni Mitchell
2003
Etta James
Johnny Mathis
Glenn Miller
Tito Puente
Simon and Garfunkel
2004
Van Cliburn
The Funk Brothers
Ella Jenkins
Sonny Rollins
Artie Shaw
Doc Watson
2005
Eddy Arnold
Art Blakey
The Carter Family
Morton Gould
Janis Joplin
Led Zeppelin
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jelly Roll Morton
“Pinetop” Perkins
The Staple Singers
2006
David Bowie
Cream
Merle Haggard
Robert Johnson
Jessye Norman
Richard Pryor
The Weavers
2007
The Doors
Joan Baez
The Grateful Dead
Booker T and the MG's
Maria Callas
Ornette Coleman
Bob Wills