David Bowie, Cream, Jessye Norman, Richard Pryor among those celebrated
GRAMMY.com
Chuck Crisfulli
Moments of reflection, tears of joy, roars of laughter, and a steady supply of standing ovations were all part of the festivities Tuesday night at the GRAMMYs Special Merit Awards Ceremony, held this year at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre. The event has come to be one of the most emotional nights of GRAMMY Week, as it honors the careers of extraordinary performers with Lifetime Achievement Awards, and honors those who have made significant contributions to the recording field with Trustees Awards. The evening also recognizes the pro-audio side of music-making with the awarding of Technical GRAMMY Awards.
This year, Lifetime Achievement Award recipients included David Bowie, Cream, Merle Haggard, Richard Pryor, blues pioneer Robert Johnson, influential folk quartet the Weavers, and operatic diva Jessye Norman. The Trustees Awards were presented to esteemed country music producer Owen Bradley, Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, and producer/engineer extraordinaire Al Schmitt. The Technical GRAMMYs honored the studio innovations of producer Tom Dowd, and the groundbreaking advances in recording technology made by Bell Labs/Western Electric. Hosts for the evening were Recording Academy President Neil Portnow and Chairman Terry Lickona.
Each award was preceded by a video piece that summed up the career and contributions of the recipient. Emotions hit a high point early in the evening, as Al Schmitt got choked up while thanking his wife and family for putting up with all the "missed dinners" during a career that's had him working with everyone from Elvis Presley to Frank Sinatra and Steely Dan — a career that's also made him a 15-time GRAMMY winner. "It's been an incredible voyage, and the boat hasn't docked yet," Schmitt concluded.
After the video tribute to Chris Blackwell, event attendees were treated to a surprise appearance by a special guest — Bono, who recalled first meeting Blackwell in London at the height of the punk music scene and being struck by the fact that Blackwell was wearing flip flops. "I thought, 'this man's not a follower of fashion, he's a pioneer.'" Reflecting on a career in which Blackwell has provided career-making breaks to such artists as Bob Marley, Steve Winwood, Cat Stevens and Roxy Music, Bono said, "People might say Chris was lucky to be in the room when Bob Marley walked in. But when it happens with 15 or 20 different artists, we realize that we we're all lucky to be in the room with him." Blackwell, clearly honored and humbled, explained his long career by saying, "I'm simply a fan of music, and if you really love something, it never feels like going to work."
There were many amazing and heart-tugging family moments during the night. Owen Bradley's grandson Clay Bradley accepted on his grandfather's behalf, Robert Johnson's son Claude Johnson accepted for him, and Tom Dowd's wife and daughter, Cheryl and Dana Dowd, accepted his award. Richard Pryor's wife announced her connection to the honoree by saying, "I'm Jennifer. I married Richard twice."
Not surprisingly, the Pryor video piece had pulled tremendous laughs from the crowd, but as Jennifer Pryor spoke of her husband's long battle with illness and his death in December, it was one of the evening's most moving moments. "He was my treasure, as well as a national treasure," she said. "He taught us all not to do what's simply expected of us, but to walk tall and be true to ourselves." She also said that when she told Pryor shortly before his death that he had won a GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award, his happy response was, "It's about time."
Perhaps the most inspiring sight of the evening was two of the three surviving members of the Weavers, Ronnie Gilbert and Fred Hellerman, taking the stage together to accept their award. The seminal group was tremendously popular in the early '50s until the members were tainted as Communist sympathizers and the group found itself blacklisted. They fought back against political intolerance back then, and still had plenty of fighting spirit this night. "We wouldn't have had a 'lifetime' to be honored without the support of people who refused to be intimidated by the political witch hunt of those times," said Gilbert. Hellerman added, "If this award to us has any message, it's that if you stay the course you can outlast your enemies with your honor and dignity intact."
Jack Bruce, one third of proto-supergroup Cream, accepted for the band, and made a point of complimenting the company he was in. "You don't realize what an honor this is until you see the other people being honored." He cited fellow recipients Robert Johnson and Tom Dowd for playing huge roles in Cream's artistic development.
Operatic legend and four-time GRAMMY winner Jessye Norman said she was thrilled to join the select trio of opera singers who have previously been recognized with Lifetime Achievement Awards: Marian Anderson, Enrico Caruso and Leontyne Price. She offered thanks to Shubert, Mahler, Ravel, Gershwin and Ellington for the music she's loved singing, and also offered a thank you to her 6th grade music teacher, Mrs. Williams, an early supporter of her fascination with opera. Her biggest thank you was "To everyone who has said or ever will say, 'Why don't we get Jessye to sing.'"
With award in hand, Norman provided what was unquestionably the evening's musical highlight. As she broke into an impromptu, diva-style rendition of "This Little Light Of Mine," the crowd jumped to its feet and clapped along with her.