We all know that Prince was a musical genius, but at the Recording Academy’s Special Merit Awards on Saturday (Feb. 1), Jimmy Jam, formerly of The Time, told of other keys to Prince’s success – he was willing to outwork anybody and he could be something of a taskmaster. “He had the best work ethic of anybody I ever met,” Jam said flatly.
Jam recalled workshopping The Time’s 1982 hit “777-9311” (which Prince co-wrote with Morris Day). Prince kept giving Jam notes, pushing him to improve various aspects of the performance and choreography. Some might have chafed at all the notes, but Jam took Prince’s tutoring the right way. “What that lesson taught me was that he saw me as better than I saw myself.” Jam added that he has tried to pass that on. “I want to enlighten other people to their greatness.”
Prince was one of seven artists to receive lifetime achievement awards at this year’s ceremony, which was held at its usual home, the Wilshire Ebell Theater in Los Angeles. Lifetime achievement awards also went to The Clash, Frankie Valli, Frankie Beverly, Dr. Bobby Jones, Taj Mahal and Roxanne Shante. The trustees award recipients were Erroll Garner, Glyn Johns and Tania León. Dr. Leo Beranek was the Technical Grammy Award honoree.
Several people spoke in the Prince tribute – Prince’s niece Rihanna Nelson (accompanied by her daughter and her twin sons, who wore tuxes with tennis shoes); Jam and Jerome Benton of The Time; Andre Cymone and Bobby Z. of Prince’s backing bands; Prince’s longtime manager/attorney L. Londell McMillan, and Charles F. Spicer Jr., a partner in managing Prince’s legacy.
“He was an advocate for artist rights,” McMillan said. “He didn’t put ‘Slave’ on his face just for fun. He wanted to take a stand.”
Bobby Z. said he met Prince when he was 19. “He was one of the most gifted human beings that ever lived; the greatest entertainer that ever lived,” a line that received applause from the audience.
Several awards were presented posthumously. R&B singer Beverly died in September; Prince and Dr. Beranek both died in 2016; Joe Strummer of The Clash died in 2002; and Garner, the composer of the pop standard “Misty,” died in 1977. The Recording Academy has presented trustees awards since 1967 (classical conductor George Solti and his producer John Culshaw were the first recipients). It’s remarkable that it took the academy 48 years to get around to Garner.
Most of the special merit award recipients every year are advanced in age. This year, four are in their 80s. Valli is 90.
Producer/engineer Glyn Johns, 82, joked about that in his acceptance speech. “Having been notified of this award in November, my main objective has to remain alive until today. Well, I made it!,” he said.
Valli made note of how long it took the Recording Academy to get around to him. Valli has never won a Grammy, on his own or in the Four Seasons, which landed their first three No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1962-63. “This has been an incredible evening,” he said. “I don’t know what took so long, but that’s the way it goes.”
Chuck D of Public Enemy (which received a lifetime achievement award in 2020) accepted for The Clash. The rapper marveled at the breadth of talent being honored on the night, singling out jazz pianist Error Garner, rock producer/engineer Glyn Johns and rapper Roxanne Shante. He read an acceptance speech from the surviving members of The Clash, which concluded with their thanks to Chuck D for accepting the award for them. “As you heard our voice, we also heard yours,” a nice example of cross-genre respect.
Shante’s 1985 R&B hit “Roxanne’s Revenge,” an answer record to UTFO’s “Roxanne, Roxanne,” was described as the first rap diss track. Shante is 55, making her the youngest of this year’s honorees. Shante said when she learned of her award, she finally felt she had made it. She said when an artist enters the business, they want three things – a record that gets on the Billboard charts, to get paid for it, and to win a Grammy. Now, she said, she has realized all three goals. Shante also paid her respects to Biz Markie, the “Just a Friend” hitmaker who died in 2021 at age 57. “I lost my hip-hop brother,” she said.
Taj Mahal was accompanied by two of his daughters as he accepted his award. He suggested that his path in music may have been pre-ordained. His parents met at a Chick Webb/Ella Fitzgerald concert at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem in 1937.
Most of the awards were accepted by the recipients, or family members, in the case of the recipients who have died. The award to Frankie Beverly was accepted by his son, Anthony Beverly, and by Ronald “Roame” Lowry, a longtime member of Beverly’s group, Maze. Lowry said that the group’s classic “Before I Let Go” is “the most danceable song about breaking up.”
The award to acoustics expert Dr. Leo Beranek, the Technical Grammy Award honoree, was accepted by his son, Tom Haynes. “My dad accomplished many things, working until he was 87 on concert halls in Japan,” he said. Beranek died in 2016 at age 102.
The academy also presented its music educator of the year award to Adrian L. Maclin of Cordova High School outside Memphis, Tenn., who said when he was a boy his dream was to become an artist and win a Grammy. His path segued into music education and now he has won a Grammy by turning other kids onto music.
The final presentation of the night was the Harry Belafonte Best Song for Social Change Award. This was the third year the award has been presented; the first since it was named in honor of the late singer, actor and activist, whose daughters Gina and Shari Belafonte were present. The award originated as a Special Merit Award but was recategorized as a CEO’s Merit Award.
Iman Jordan, who won for his song “Deliver,” noted that “Nina Simone said that art should reflect the times – and I wasn’t hearing much of that.” He co-wrote the winning song with his father, Roy Gartrell, along with Ariel Loh and Tam Jones.
Many have said that the Special Merit Award ceremony is warmer and more congenial than the following night’s Grammys. But one thing is missing. There are video packages before every presentation, but not a note of live music. If nothing else, the music educator award could include a performance by some of his/her prized pupils, and the winner of the Song for Social Change award could be performed.
Several of this year’s recipients had already received major honors. Prince was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, received a lifetime achievement award at the BET Awards in 2010, and was honored by the Songwriters Hall of Fame in July 2024 (he had been voted in while he was alive, but scheduling the presentation proved difficult).
Valli was voted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (as a member of the Four Seasons) in 1990, followed by The Clash in 2003 and producer Glyn Johns in 2012. Maze featuring Frankie Beverly received a lifetime achievement award at the BET Awards in 2012. León received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2022.
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.
Technical Grammy Awards are presented to individuals, companies, organizations or institutions who have made contributions of outstanding technical significance to the recording field.
