On March 18, 2017, Charles Edward Anderson “Chuck” Berry died aged 90. He was musician (guitar), singer and songwriter, one of the pioneers and most important figures of rock and roll music. His songs “Maybellene” (1955), “Roll Over Beethoven” (1956), “Rock and Roll Music” (1957) and “Johnny B. Goode” (1958), defined the contours of rock and roll music, and changed the face of popular music. His unique guitar solos and stage appearance made lasting influence on subsequent rock artists, including names like The Beatles or The Rolling Stones. In 1984, Berry was awarded “Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award”. He was among the first musicians to be inducted into the “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” on its opening in 1986. In 2004, “Rolling Stone” magazine ranked him at number 5 on its list of the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time”. The same magazine ranked his compilation album “The Great Twenty-Eight” at number 21 on its list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”. His songs “Johnny B. Goode,” “Maybellene,” and “Rock and Roll Music”, are included in the “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll”. “Johnny B. Goode” is the only rock-and-roll song included on the “Voyager Golden Record”. In 2014, Berry was made a laureate of the “Polar Music Prize”.
Tag Archives: Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
Frank Zappa
On December 4, 1993, Frank Vincent Zappa died aged 52. He was musician (guitar, various instruments), composer, bandleader, producer, actor and filmmaker. In a career spanning more than 30 years, with The Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist, Zappa released more than 60 albums, working most of the time as an independent artist. His work gained critical acclaim worldwide; magazine “Rolling Stone” ranked him at No. 71 on its list of the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time”, and in 2011 at No. 22 on its list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time”. In 1995, Zappa was posthumously inducted into the “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” and in 1997 he was posthumously awarded with the “Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award”.
Benny Carter
On July 12, 2003, Bennett Lester “Benny” Carter, died aged 96. He was musician (alto saxophone, clarinet, trumpet), composer, arranger, and bandleader, regarded a major figure in jazz from the 1930s to the 1990s. In his career the “King” performed with Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Coleman Hawkins, Peggy Lee, Carmen McRae, Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles, Miles Davis, Django Reinhardt, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Lena Horne, Glenn Miller, Gene Krupa, Tommy Dorsey, Phil Woods, Dizzy Gillespie, Earl Hines, Ben Webster, Billy Eckstine, Pearl Bailey, Lou Rawls, Louis Armstrong, Freddie Slack and Mel Torme.
For his work Benny Carter received big number of awards including: “The NEA Jazz Masters Award by The National Endowment for the Arts”, “Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award” , “Grammy Award” for his solo “Prelude to a Kiss”, “A Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame”, “National Endowment for the Arts”, “National Medal of Arts”.
Michael Jackson
On June 25, 2009, Michael Joseph Jackson died aged 50. He was singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer, and actor, named the “King of Pop” and regarded as one of the most important artists in the history of the popular music and culture. His 1982 album “Thriller” is the best-selling album of all time and the video clips for his songs “Beat It”, “Billie Jean” and “Thriller” turned down the racial barriers and transformed the music videos into an art form. Jackson is the most awarded artists in the history of the modern music – he was inducted into the “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame”, he was inducted into the “Songwriters Hall of Fame” and in to the “Dance Hall of Fame” as the first and only dancer from pop and rock music. He is multiple winner of “Guinness World Records”, he won thirteen “Grammy Awards”, the “Grammy Legend Award”, the “Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award”, twenty six “American Music Awards”, he was voted the “Artist of the Century” and “Artist of the 1980s”. In his solo career, Jackson had thirteen number-one singles in the US, he is the only artist to have top ten singles in the “Billboard Hot 100” and sold more than four hundred millions records worldwide. For his humanitarian job and activities, in 2000, Jackson was recognized by the “Guinness World Records” as the most humanitarian entertainer in the history, supporting 39 various charities.
Bobby Bland
On June 23, 2013, Robert Calvin “Bobby” Bland died aged 73. He was singer, created his own recognizable sound, mixture of gospel, blues and R&B. Referred to as “lion of the blues” and “among the great storytellers of blues and soul music”, he was inducted into the “Blues Hall of Fame” in 1981, the “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” in 1992, and received the “Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award” in 1997.
Henry Mancini
On June 14, 1994, Enrico Nicola “Henry” Mancini, died aged 70. He was composer, arranger and conductor, best known for his movie and television music. His most popular work is “The Pink Panther Theme”, main score to the movie series “Pink Panther”, and the theme to the “Peter Gunn” television series. He achieved a long lasting collaboration with the famous movie director Blake Edwards. For his work he has won four “Academy Awards”, “Golden Globe”, twenty “Grammy Awards” and a posthumous “Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award” in 1995.
Charles Mingus
On January 5, 1977, Charles Mingus Jr. Died aged 57. He was musician (bass), composer and bandleader, regarded as one of the most creative and influential Jazz artists of all times.
For his work and contribution to the modern music, Mingus has received many awards including:
- “Guggenheim Fellowship” (1971).
- Inducted in the “Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame” (1971).
- “National Endowment for the Arts” provided grants for a Mingus nonprofit called “Let My Children Hear Music” which cataloged all of Mingus’s works (1988)
- “The Library of Congress” acquired Mingus’s collected papers in what they described as “the most important acquisition of a manuscript collection relating to jazz in the Library’s history.(1993)]
- “The United States Postal Service” issued a stamp in his honor (1995).
- Posthumously awarded the “Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award” (1997)
- Album “Mingus Dynasty”(1959) inducted in the “Grammy Hall of Fame” (1999)
- Inducted in the “Jazz at Lincoln Center”, Nesuhi Ertegun “Jazz Hall of Fame” (2005)
Mingus has recorded and performed with some of the most important musicians of the modern music, including: Illinois Jacquet, Dinah Washington, Wilbert Baranco, Ivie Anderson, Lionel Hampton, Red Norvo, Billy Taylor, Oscar Pettiford, Max Roach, Bud Powell, Paul Bley, Teo Macero, Oscar Pettiford, Ada Moore, Charlie Parker, J.J. Johnson, Hazel Scott, John Mehegan, Thad Jones, John Dennis, Ralph Sharon, Miles Davis, Teddy Charles, The Metronome All-Stars, Jimmy Knepper, Langston Hughes, Duke Ellington, Max Roach and Eric Dolphy.
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