The Recording Academy has named music legends Whitney Houston and Chaka Khan among this year’s recipients of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Lifetime Achievement Award is one of the 2026 Special Merit Awards that the Recording Academy will present during Grammy Week on Jan. 31, 2026, ahead of the 68th Annual Grammy Awards scheduled for Feb. 1 in Los Angeles.
Houston, who died in 2012, is being recognized posthumously for her influential career, during which she sold more than 200 million records worldwide and achieved multiple chart-topping hits that helped shape pop and R&B music.
The Recording Academy recognized her in its press release, stating that she was a record-breaking vocalist whose talent and more than 220 million records sold made her one of the most celebrated artists in music history.
Chaka Khan, a 10-time Grammy winner whose career spans more than five decades, will also be honored. She is widely credited with blending R&B, funk, soul, and jazz across her work with Rufus and as a solo artist, with hits such as “I Feel For You” and “Ain’t Nobody.”
“She is a trailblazer, storyteller and the voice of power and freedom for many generations. Her live performances are nothing short of electrifying. Chaka Khan remains a living force in music – an artist whose work and life continue to inspire, elevate and redefine what is possible,” said the statement.
Honorees are chosen for their “creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording,” the Academy said in a press release.
In addition to Houston and Khan, the full roster of Lifetime Achievement honorees for 2026 includes Paul Simon, Cher, Carlos Santana, and Fela Kuti, the Academy said in its announcement. The awards celebration will also honor other music figures with Trustees Awards and a Technical Grammy Award at the Special Merit Awards Ceremony.
Recording Academy CEO, Harvey Mason Jr., said in the press release that the group of recipients represents “an extraordinary group whose influence spans generations, genres and the very foundation of modern music.”
The Special Merit Awards Ceremony will take place at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles as part of the Grammy Week festivities leading up to the main televised Grammy Awards event.
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