This Special Merit Award is presented by vote of the Recording Academy's National Trustees to performers* who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording. (*Through 1972, recipients included non-performers.)
Past Recipients
Roy Acuff |
The Allman Brothers Band |
Marian Anderson |
Julie Andrews |
Louis Armstrong |
Eddy Arnold |
Fred Astaire |
Chet Atkins |
Gene Autry |
Burt Bacharach |
Joan Baez |
The Band |
Count Basie |
The Beach Boys |
The Beatles |
Bee Gees |
Harry Belafonte |
Tony Bennett |
Irving Berlin |
Leonard Bernstein |
Chuck Berry |
Black Sabbath |
Hal Blaine |
Art Blakey |
Bobby "Blue" Bland |
Blind Boys Of Alabama |
Booker T. & The MG's |
Pierre Boulez |
David Bowie |
James Brown |
Ruth Brown |
Dave Brubeck |
Shirley Caesar |
Maria Callas |
Cab Calloway |
Glen Campbell |
Benny Carter |
(Original) Carter Family |
Enrico Caruso |
Pablo Casals |
Johnny Cash |
Ray Charles |
Clifton Chenier |
Van Cliburn |
Patsy Cline |
George Clinton & Parliament-Funkadelic |
Rosemary Clooney |
Leonard Cohen |
Nat "King" Cole |
Ornette Coleman |
John Coltrane |
Perry Como |
Sam Cooke |
Cream |
Bing Crosby |
Celia Cruz |
Bobby Darin |
Sammy Davis Jr. |
Miles Davis |
Doris Day |
Neil Diamond |
Bo Diddley |
Fats Domino |
The Doors |
Bob Dylan |
Earth, Wind & Fire |
Billy Eckstine |
David "Honeyboy" Edwards |
Duke Ellington |
Bill Evans |
The Everly Brothers |
Ella Fitzgerald |
The Four Tops |
Aretha Franklin |
The Funk Brothers |
Judy Garland |
Marvin Gaye |
Dizzy Gillespie |
Benny Goodman |
Glenn Gould |
Morton Gould |
Stephane Grappelli |
Grateful Dead |
Al Green |
Woody Guthrie |
Buddy Guy |
Charlie Haden |
Merle Haggard |
Herbie Hancock |
Emmylou Harris |
George Harrison |
Donny Hathaway |
Roy Haynes |
Jascha Heifetz |
Jimi Hendrix |
Woody Herman |
Billie Holiday |
Buddy Holly |
John Lee Hooker |
Lightnin' Hopkins |
Lena Horne |
Vladimir Horowitz |
Julio Iglesias |
The Isley Brothers |
Mahalia Jackson |
Michael Jackson |
Ahmad Jamal |
Etta James |
Jefferson Airplane |
Ella Jenkins |
Flaco Jiménez |
Antonio Carlos Jobim |
Robert Johnson |
George Jones |
Hank Jones |
Janis Joplin |
Louis Jordan |
Juilliard String Quartet |
B.B. King |
Carole King |
The Kingston Trio |
Kraftwerk |
Kris Kristofferson |
Led Zeppelin |
Brenda Lee |
Peggy Lee |
John Lennon |
Jerry Lee Lewis |
Little Richard |
Loretta Lynn |
Louvin Brothers |
Henry Mancini |
Armando Manzanero |
Bob Marley |
Dean Martin |
Johnny Mathis |
Curtis Mayfield |
Paul McCartney |
The Memphis Horns |
The Meters |
Glenn Miller |
Mitch Miller |
The Mills Brothers |
Charles Mingus |
Joni Mitchell |
Thelonious Monk |
Bill Monroe |
Jelly Roll Morton |
Willie Nelson |
Jessye Norman |
Roy Orbison |
Patti Page |
Charlie Parker |
Dolly Parton |
Tom Paxton |
Pinetop Perkins |
Itzhak Perlman |
Oscar Peterson |
Maud Powell |
Elvis Presley |
André Previn |
Leontyne Price |
Charley Pride |
Richard Pryor |
Tito Puente |
Queen |
Ramones |
Otis Redding |
Max Roach |
Paul Robeson |
Smokey Robinson |
Jimmie Rodgers |
The Rolling Stones |
Sonny Rollins |
Linda Ronstadt |
Diana Ross |
Artur Rubinstein |
Run DMC |
Sam & Dave |
Gil Scott-Heron |
Earl Scruggs |
Pete Seeger |
Andrés Segovia |
Ravi Shankar |
Artie Shaw |
George Beverly Shea |
Wayne Shorter |
Simon & Garfunkel |
Nina Simone |
Frank Sinatra |
Bessie Smith |
Georg Solti |
The Staple Singers |
Isaac Stern |
Sly Stone |
Igor Stravinsky |
Barbra Streisand |
Art Tatum |
The Temptations |
Clark Terry |
Mel Tormé |
Arturo Toscanini |
Tina Turner |
Sarah Vaughan |
Velvet Underground |
Fats Waller |
Dionne Warwick |
Muddy Waters |
Doc Watson |
The Weavers |
Kitty Wells |
The Who |
Hank Williams |
Bob Wills |
Stevie Wonder |
Frank Zappa |