Nigerian musician, producer, arranger, political radical, activist, and the father of Afrobeat, Fela Aníkúlápó Kuti, is set to be honoured with a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award by the GRAMMYs.
Fela Kuti joins a host of others who will be celebrated for their contributions. They include Carlos Santana, Chaka Khan, Cher, Paul Simon, and Whitney Houston.
While several African artists have won competitive Grammys (starting with South Africa’s Miriam Makeba in 1966), Fela Kuti is the first from the continent to receive this specific “Lifetime Achievement” honour.
In the 1960s, he created the genre by combining funk, jazz, salsa, calypso, and a blend of traditional Nigerian rhythms.
His influence spans generations, shaping modern Nigerian Afrobeats and inspiring global artists such as Beyoncé, Paul McCartney, and Thom Yorke. His legacy continues to live on not only through music but also through his family and through the Kalakuta Museum and the New Afrika Shrine.
“It’s a true honour to recognize this year’s Special Merit Award recipients — an extraordinary group whose influence spans generations, genres and the very foundation of modern music,” Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr said. “Each of these honourees has made a profound and lasting impact, and we look forward to celebrating their remarkable achievements on the eve of Grammy Sunday.”
The Lifetime Achievement Award is presented by vote of the Recording Academy’s National Trustees to performers who, during their lifetimes, made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording.
The Special Merit Awards Ceremony, celebrating the 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award, Trustees Award and Technical Grammy Award recipients, will be held during Grammy Week 2026, days ahead of the 2026 Grammys.
