Michael Jackson among 2009 lifetime achievement honorees

(AFP/ALAIN FULCONIS)

On December 10, the Recording Academy of the US announced its Special Merit Awards, which honor lifetime contributions to American recording. Among the wide range of 2009 honorees, who will be celebrated during 2010 Grammy week, are Michael Jackson, Leonard Cohen, Bobby Darin, André Previn, and Thomas Alva Edison.

Three types of Special Merit Awards are given each year: the Lifetime Achievement Award, for performers; the Trustee Award, for contributions other than performing; and the Technical Award, for contributions made in the technical area of recording.

Other honorees include Clark Terry, a pioneer of the jazz flugelhorn who is still performing at age 94; and Florence Greenberg, who in 1959 founded Sceptor Records, making her the first woman to own and run a major label.

Lifetime Achievement Award honorees:

Leonard Cohen, Canadian singer/songwiter
David "Honeyboy" Edwards, one of the last touring Delta Blues musicians
Michael Jackson*, 13-time Grammy Award-winning entertainer
Loretta Lynn, three-time Grammy-winner and country legend
André Previn, conductor, composer, pianist, and ten-time Grammy winner
Clark Terry, one of the early pioneers of the jazz flugelhorn
Bobby Darin*, singer/songwriter and winner of two Grammy Awards


Trustees Award honorees:

Harold Bradley, builder Nashville's Music Row's first recording facility in the 1950s
Florence Greenberg*, first woman to own and run a major record label (Sceptor Records)
Walter C. Miller, 60-year TV industry veteran; producer and director of the Tony Awards, Country Music Awards,, and Grammy Awards.


Technical Award honorees:

AKG, founded in 1947, leader in the designs of microphones and headphones
Thomas Alva Edison*, patented the phonograph (1977), the first device to record and reproduce sound

*posthumously honored


The 52nd Grammy award celebration will take place on January 31 in Los Angeles. For updates and breaking news from the nominations concert and awards show, visit the Recording Academy on Twitter and Facebook.

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