“GRAMMY
Salute To Music Legends™” Honoring Charley Pride, Shirley Caesar, Ahmad
Jamal, Jimmie Rodgers, Nina Simone, Sly Stone, And The Velvet
Underground To Air On PBS’ “Great Performances” Friday, Oct. 13, At 9:00
P.M.
Broadcast
event features performances by honorees Pride, Caesar, and The Velvet
Underground’s John Cale and Maureen “Moe” Tucker, as well as Stanley
Cowell, Andra Day, Kirk Franklin, Le’Andria Johnson, Neal McCoy, Randy
Newman, Vernon Reid, Catherine Russell, Valerie Simpson, Russell
Thompkins Jr., Dionne Warwick, Charlie Wilson, and Dwight Yoakam
SANTA MONICA, Calif.
– In collaboration with the Recording Academy™, “Great Performances ”
presents “GRAMMY Salute To Music Legends™”, the second annual all-star
concert offering a primetime spotlight for the Academy’s 2017 Special
Merit Awards recipients. The celebration and tribute concert feature
rare performances by honorees and renditions by those they’ve inspired.
The celebration, led by GRAMMY®-winning
industry icon Paul Shaffer as musical director, was recorded in July at
New York’s Beacon Theatre, and will air Friday, Oct. 13 from 9–11 p.m.
on PBS. (Check local listings.) Historically held during GRAMMY®
Week, this is the second time the Recording Academy has celebrated the
Special Merit Awards with a stand-alone event and musical tribute.
This year’s Lifetime Achievement Award honorees are Charley Pride,
Shirley Caesar, Ahmad Jamal, Jimmie Rodgers, Nina Simone, Sly Stone, and
the Velvet Underground.
Additional Special Merit Awards honorees celebrated include Trustees
Awards recipients producer, arranger, and songwriter Thom Bell; record
executive Mo Ostin; and recording executive, A&R man, and music
publisher Ralph S. Peer; and audio inventor Alan Dower Blumlein, who is
the Technical GRAMMY Award recipient. Also honored is Keith Hancock,
this year’s recipient of the Recording Academy and GRAMMY Museum®’s Music Educator Award™.
Along with never-before-seen video packages celebrating each of the
honorees’ contributions to the music industry and our cultural heritage
and heartfelt testimonials from the presenters, the star-studded event
features performances by Lifetime Achievement Award honorees John Cale
and Maureen “Moe” Tucker of the Velvet Underground, Lifetime Achievement
Award honoree Shirley Caesar, jazz pianist Stanley Cowell, past GRAMMY
nominee Andra Day, 12-time GRAMMY winner Kirk Franklin, GRAMMY Winner
Le’Andria Johnson, past GRAMMY nominee Neal McCoy, six-time GRAMMY
winner Randy Newman, GRAMMY-winning Living Colour founder and songwriter
Vernon Reid, past GRAMMY nominee Catherine Russell, Lifetime
Achievement Award honoree Charley Pride, past GRAMMY nominee Valerie
Simpson, past GRAMMY nominee Russell Thompkins Jr. of the Stylistics,
five-time GRAMMY winner Dionne Warwick, past GRAMMY nominee Charlie
Wilson, and two-time GRAMMY winner Dwight Yoakam. There is also a
special appearance by GRAMMY winner Whoopi Goldberg, who accepts for the
late Nina Simone.
The full musical program follows (the honorees in bold type; performers in parentheses):
Thom Bell
- “You Make Me Feel Brand New” (Russell Thompkins Jr.)
- “Then Came You” (Dionne Warwick)
Ahmad Jamal
- “But Not For Me” / “Ahmad’s Blues” / “Poinciana” (Stanley Cowell)
Nina Simone
- “Mississippi Goddam” (Andra Day)
Jimmie Rodgers
- “Hobo Bill’s Last Ride” / “Mule Skinner Blues” / “T For Texas” (Dwight Yoakam)
Ralph S. Peer
- “Crazy Blues” (Catherine Russell)
- “The Great Pretender” (Russell Thompkins Jr.)
- “Georgia on My Mind” (Andra Day)
The Velvet Underground
- “I’m Waiting For The Man” / “Sunday Morning” (John Cale Band with Maureen “Moe” Tucker)
Shirley Caesar
- Medley:
“You Name It” / “It’s Alright, It’s OK” / “You’re Next In Line For A
Miracle” / “Satan, We’re Going “To Tear Your Kingdom Down” (Kirk
Franklin with Le’Andria Johnson) - “Caught Up” / “Jesus, I Love Calling Your Name” (Shirley Caesar)
Mo Ostin
- “A Few Words In Defense Of Our Country” / “I Think It’s Going To Rain Today” (Randy Newman)
Charley Pride
- “Is Anybody Goin’ To San Antone” (Neal McCoy)
- “Kiss An Angel Good Morning” (Charley Pride)
Sly Stone
- “I
Want To Take You Higher” / “Everybody Is A Star” / “Sex Machine” /
“Dance To The Music” (Charlie Wilson, Valerie Simpson, Vernon Reid)
The
Lifetime Achievement Award honors performers who have made
contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of
recording, while the Trustees Award recognizes such contributions in
areas other than performance. Both awards are determined by a vote of
the Recording Academy’s National Board of Trustees. Technical GRAMMY
Award recipients are determined by vote of the Academy’s Producers &
Engineers Wing®
Advisory Council and Chapter Committees and ratified by the National
Board of Trustees, and presented to individuals and companies who have
made contributions of outstanding technical significance to the
recording field. Visit www.grammy.org/recording-academy/awards for complete lists of previous recipients.
“Great Performances” is produced by THIRTEEN PRODUCTIONS LLC for
WNET, one of America’s most prolific and respected public media
providers. Throughout its more than 40-year history on public
television, “Great Performances” has provided viewers across the country
with an unparalleled showcase of the best in all genres of the
performing arts, serving as America’s most prestigious and enduring
broadcaster of cultural programming.
A production of THIRTEEN Productions LLC for WNET, “GRAMMY Salute To
Music Legends” is written by David Wild and directed for television by
David Horn, with Mitch Owgang as producer, and Horn and Neil Portnow as
executive producers. For “Great Performances,” Bill O’Donnell is series
producer; David Horn is executive producer.
The “Great Performances” presentation is funded by the Joseph &
Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation, the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen
Arts Fund, the Irene Diamond Fund, the LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable
Trust, the Agnes Varis Trust, the Starr Foundation, the Kate W. Cassidy
Foundation, Ellen and James S. Marcus, the Philip and Janice Levin
Foundation, the Thea Petschek Iervolino Foundation, the Abra Prentice
Foundation, and PBS.
Visit “Great Performances” online at www.pbs.org/gperf for additional information and other programs.
About The Lifetime Achievement Award Honorees:
Three-time GRAMMY winner Charley Pride taught himself to play guitar
in his early teens, but he dreamed of becoming a professional baseball
player. After playing in the Negro American League, he was signed by RCA
Victor and in 1967 he became the first black singer to perform at the
Grand Ole Opry. “Just Between You And Me” launched Pride to stardom,
earning him his first GRAMMY nomination for 1966. In 1969 Pride scored
his first No. 1 country hit with “All I Have To Offer You (Is Me).”
Pride is considered the first black superstar in country music.
A deeply spiritual and affecting gospel singer, Shirley Caesar’s
emotive vocal talents were discovered in a church choir when she was 10
years old. She is arguably best known for her eight-year tenure with the
Chicago-based gospel group the Caravans, whom she joined after
appealing to Albertina Walker to sing a solo with the group. Electing to
pursue a solo career in 1966 alongside her own choir, the Caesar
Singers, she subsequently carved out a profile that earned her the title
of First Lady of Gospel Music. Caesar’s roll call of achievements
includes 11 GRAMMY Awards®, 14 Stellar awards, 15 Dove awards, an NAACP Image Award, a Soul Train Music Award, and two recent 59th GRAMMY nominations.
A prodigy who began playing piano at age 3, Ahmad Jamal started
performing professionally at 14 and was signed to Okeh Records by age
21. Trained in both traditional jazz and European classical piano
styles, Jamal has been labeled as a jazz innovator who helped pioneer
“cool jazz,” which had a significant influence on Miles Davis, among
others. With a catalog spanning seven decades, he is known for wonderful
renditions of pieces such as “Poinciana” and “Dolphin Dance,” original
compositions such as “Ahmad’s Blues,” the fantastic compilation Complete Live At The Spotlight Club 1958, and his most well-known album, 1958’s At The Pershing: But Not For Me.
Jimmie Rodgers* is widely regarded as the Father of Country Music. In
1961 he became one of the first three people inducted into the Country
Music `. In 1970 he was a part of the inaugural class of songwriters
voted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 1986, the first year of Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame inductions, he was inducted under the early
influencers category. Rodgers has three recordings in the GRAMMY Hall Of
Fame® — “Blue Yodel (T For Texas)” and “In The Jailhouse Now” (both from 1928) and “Blue Yodel #9 (Standing On The Corner)” (1930).
Dr. Nina Simone*, known as the High Priestess of Soul, was a child
prodigy whose dreams of becoming a classical musician were deferred by
the color of her skin. Her fearlessness and deep commitment to the civil
rights movement gave birth to such classics as “Mississippi Goddam,”
“Four Women” and “To Be Young, Gifted And Black.” Her approach to music
was so versatile she labeled her style black classical. From R&B and
rock to jazz, gospel, blues, folk, and Broadway, Simone brought her
unique style to each genre. Her interpretations of “Feeling Good” and
“Sinnerman” are classics that fans around the world still enjoy. Her
version of “I Loves You, Porgy,” which became a Top 20 hit in 1959, was
inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame in 2000.
Sylvester “Sly Stone” Stewart is an iconic American musician,
songwriter and producer most famous for his role as frontman of Sly
& The Family Stone. Classic hits penned by Stone, including “Thank
You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),” “Everyday People,” “Dance To The
Music,” and “There’s A Riot Going On,” played a critical role in the
development of soul, funk, rock, and psychedelia in the 1960s and 1970s.
Sly & The Family Stone were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame in 1993. The group has four recordings in the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame.
Despite a relatively brief lifespan and limited commercial success,
the Velvet Underground are now recognized as one of the most influential
rock bands of all time. Comprising Lou Reed*, John Cale, Sterling
Morrison*, and Maureen “Moe” Tucker, the band was, perhaps, ahead of
their time, both visually and sonically. Often dubbed the quintessential
proto-punk band, they have been continually cited as the benchmark for
countless modern-rock movements over the past 50 years. The Velvet
Underground’s seminal 1967 debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico, was inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame in 2008.
About The Trustees Award Honorees:
Producer/arranger/songwriter Thom Bell was one of the cornerstones of
the Philadelphia Soul legacy. He was a prime architect in the
development of a ‘70s soul sound that moved beyond the grit of Southern
soul and the effervescence of Motown by building complex and
sophisticated arrangements around smooth strings, elegant horns and a
driving rhythm that anticipated the rise of disco. With the Delfonics,
the Stylistics, the Spinners and others, Bell established his trademark
sound with sweet strings and muted brass led by the French horn. Hits
such as “I’ll Be Around” and “Betcha By Golly, Wow” cemented his stature
as one of the all-time great songwriter/producers, and his partnership
with Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff helped create the quintessential Sound
of Philadelphia.
Mo Ostin is one of the greatest record executives in music history.
While he started out at Verve, it was helming Frank Sinatra’s Reprise
Records where Ostin came into his own. With Reprise Records and
ultimately Warner Bros., where he served as Chairman for 25 years, Ostin
worked with the seminal artists of the generation such as Eric Clapton,
Randy Newman, Paul Simon, Prince, and Neil Young, while also developing
a staff that was legendary in their own right. With an artist-friendly
disposition, Ostin led with the idea that great art made great business —
most of the bands signed under his watch made both critically acclaimed
and profitable records. Ostin was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame in 2003 and was honored with The Recording Academy’s President’s
Merit Award at the 2006 GRAMMY Salute To Industry Icons®.
Ralph S. Peer* was a successful recording executive, archetypal
A&R man and music publisher whose career spanned from 1919 to 1960.
Through his work as a music executive, he continually broadened the
palate of genres that music makers and audiences embraced. He was the
executive producer of Mamie Smith’s ”Crazy Blues,” the first vocal blues
recording, James P. Johnson’s “Carolina Shout,” considered by
historians to be among the first jazz piano solo recordings, and
Fiddlin’ John Carson’s “The Little Old Log Cabin In The Lane,” the first
country record released. He was the producer of the 1927 Bristol
Sessions, considered the “Big Bang” of country music, where he
discovered Jimmie Rodgers and the original Carter Family. He broadened
his focus by publishing Latin music in the United States and around the
globe. Fifty-nine recordings produced or published by Ralph S. Peer have
been inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame.
About The Technical GRAMMY Award Recipient:
Alan Dower Blumlein* received 128 patents on his way to becoming one
of the most significant audio inventors of his time. His most noteworthy
patent was for the stereo in 1931, a development that was spurred by a
visit to the cinema and being frustrated that the sound from a single
speaker didn’t match with the actors and action on screen. He also
invented the Blumlein Pair microphones, a stereo disc-cutting head and a
shuffling circuit, among other audio inventions.
*Denotes posthumous award
About The Recording Academy:
The Recording Academy represents the voices of performers,
songwriters, producers, engineers, and all music professionals.
Dedicated to ensuring the recording arts remain a thriving part of our
shared cultural heritage, the Academy honors music’s history while
investing in its future through the GRAMMY Museum, advocates on behalf
of music creators, supports music people in times of need through
MusiCares®,
and celebrates artistic excellence through the GRAMMY Awards—music’s
only peer-recognized accolade and highest achievement. As the world’s
leading society of music professionals, we work year-round to foster a
more inspiring world for creators.
For more information about the Academy, please visit www.grammy.com. For breaking news and exclusive content, follow @RecordingAcad on Twitter, “like” Recording Academy on Facebook, and join the Recording Academy’s social communities on Instagram, Tumblr, and YouTube.
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In 2015, THIRTEEN launched Passport, an online streaming service which
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# # #
Charley Pride On Tour:
Sept. 10 – Lancaster, Pa. – American Music Theatre
Oct. 13 – Shawnee, Okla. – Grand Resort Casino
Sept. 22 – Arlington, Texas – Arlington Music Hall
Sept. 23 – Crockett, Texas – Crockett Civic Center
Sept. 29 – Branson, Mo. – The Welk Resort Theatre
Oct. 21 – Shipshewana, Ind. – Blue Gate Theater
Oct. 28 – Wendover, Nev. – Peppermill Concert Hall
Nov. 03-04 – Lincoln City, Ore. – Chinook Winds Casino
Nov. 11 – Mescalero, N.M. – Inn of the Mountain Gods
About Charley Pride:
Charley Pride is celebrating more than 50 years as a recording
artist. He has enjoyed one of the most successful careers in the history
of country music and is credited with helping to break color barriers
by becoming the first black superstar within the genre. A true living
legend, he has sold tens of millions of records worldwide with his large
repertoire of hits. A three-time GRAMMY®
award and Recording Academy “Lifetime Achievement Award” winner, Pride
has garnered no less than 36 chart-topping country hits, including “Kiss
An Angel Good Morning,” a massive #1 crossover hit that sold over a
million singles and helped Pride land the Country Music Association’s
“Entertainer of the Year” award in 1971 and the “Top Male Vocalist”
awards of 1971 and 1972. A proud member of the Grand Ole Opry, Pride
continues to perform concerts worldwide and has toured the United
States, Canada, Ireland, The United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand
over the last several years. For more information, visit CharleyPride.com.