The 2023 Grammys continue to take shape. All nominees were revealed in mid-November, including a record-breaking nod for Bad Bunny, with Beyoncé leading the field. Last month, Trevor Noah confirmed to Billboard that he will host the ceremony.
This morning, January 5, the Recording Academy announced which musical icons will be honored with this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award, as relayed by The Hollywood Reporter: Nirvana, Ma Rainey, Slick Rick, The Supremes, Nile Rodgers, Bobby McFerrin, and Ann Wilson and Nancy Wilson of Heart.
The publication additionally pointed out that the awards will be given posthumously to Rainey, Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, and The Supremes’ Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard. Diana Ross was previously given the Lifetime Achievement Award as a solo artist in 2012. Ross is also nominated for the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album category for Thank You, released in November 2021 as her first solo release since I Love You in 2006 and first original material since 1999’s Every Day Is A New Day.
The Special Merit Awards Ceremony is scheduled for Saturday, February 4 at Los Angeles’ Wilshire Ebell Theatre.
The 2023 Grammys will air live on CBS (and stream live on Paramount+) from LA’s Crypto.com Arena on Sunday, February 5.
“A lot of what I would suggest is what I’ve heard [Recording Academy CEO] Harvey [Mason Jr.] talk about: trying to create a Grammys where the music reflects the awards show and the awards show reflects the music,” Noah told Billboard of what he would change about the Grammys. “Oftentimes [with] award shows, there may be a disconnect between the general public who are consuming music and the people who are voting on the music. It’s important for every award show [that] wishes to maintain its relevance to understand that difference. The audience isn’t wrong in having different tastes or a preference on whom they wish to see. I think in music as a whole, you have to acknowledge that, and the Grammys has, albeit slowly.”