The Recording Academy presented the Lifetime Achievement Award, honoring lifelong artistic contributions to the recording medium, to Glenn Gould, Charlie Haden, Lightnin' Hopkins, Carole King, Patti Page, Ravi Shankar and the Temptations; the Trustees Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to the industry in areas other than performance, to Marilyn & Alan Bergman, Leonard & Phil Chess and Alan Livingston; and the Technical GRAMMY Award, honoring an individual's and/or corporation's outstanding contributions of technical significance to the recording field, to Ikutaro Kakehashi & Dave Smith and Royer Labs.
The 55th Annual GRAMMY Awards were held live at Staples Center on Sunday February 10th. This Special Merit Award was held the day before on Saturday, February 9th.
Attendees included GRAMMY® -winning songwriters Marilyn & Alan Bergman; Chess Records co-founder Phil Chess; GRAMMY winner Charlie Haden; Royer Labs representatives John Jennings, Rick Perrotta, Dave Royer, and Rafael Villafane; President of Sequential Circuits Dave Smith; and from the GRAMMY-winning group Temptations, Dennis Edwards and Otis Williams. Family members or representatives of Chess Records co-founder Leonard Chess, GRAMMY winner Glenn Gould, country/blues artist Lightin' Hopkins, GRAMMY winner Carole King, former Capitol Records executive Alan Livingston, GRAMMY winner Patti Page, GRAMMY winner Ravi Shankar, founder of Roland Corporation Ikutaro Kahehashi, former members of the GRAMMY-winning group Temptations, Melvin Franklin, Eddie Kendricks, David Ruffin, and Paul Williams, and President/CEO of The Recording Academy® Neil Portnow will also be in attendance. Additionally, the GRAMMY Camp – Jazz Session members performed at the awards and post reception.
I spoke with honorees Marilyn & Alan Bergman on the red carpet before the ceremony. The couple were celebrating their 55th wedding anniversary that day as well.
The pair help write hit classic songs as “The Way We Were,” by Barbra Streisand, “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” by Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond. In addition they wrote the theme songs to TV shows "Maude", "Good Times" and more.
Click on the video link below to see what they had to say about being honored and songwriting and more.
For more information on Alan and Marilyn Bergman: http://www.alanandmarilynbergman.com
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