BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA – MAY 16: John Mellencamp performs onstage during the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame … More
Getty Images for The Recording Academy
As NARAS (National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences) CEO Harvey Mason told me a few years ago, one of the biggest issues the organization behind the Grammy Awards needs to fix is making people aware they are active year-round. The Grammy Awards are just part of what NARAS does.
A major Grammy-related part of the overall picture is the Grammy Museum, who put on a major gala in May with an awards worthy lineup of performers, including John Mellencamp, Jon Batiste, Conan Gray, Susanna Hoffs, Emmylou Harris with Daniel Lanois and many others, is one sure way to attract attention.
The Grammy Hall of Fame Gala, celebrated a diverse selection of works – JAY-Z’s Reasonable Doubt, Cat Stevens’ Tea For The Tillerman, Santana’s Supernatural, and classics from Big Star, Clara Ward, Eddie Floyd, Emmylou Harris, Fela Kuti & Afrika 70, Geeshie Wiley, Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine, J.D. Crowe & The New South, Linda Martell, and Luther Vandross – inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, as well as honored Batiste with the first annual Ray Charles Architect of Sound award and honored Republic Records, which is what brought out Mellencamp and Gray.
The Grammy Hall of Fame was created in 1973 and now currently includes over 1100 records, from Steely Dan, Kraftwerk and the Grateful Dead to Cole Porter, Louis Armstrong and the Budapest String Quartet, but the gala is a new endeavor, begun recently. This year saw it expand in size and scope to the Beverly Hilton as a fundraiser for the Grammy Museum.
Given the success of this year’s event, the talent involved, and attention this one garnered, plans are already underway to continue the gala in 2026. Like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where artists are eligible 25 years after their debut effort, the Grammy Hall of Fame also has a 25-year waiting period for eligibility.
One thing the Grammys have always done right is atone for past errors in judgement by presenting lifetime achievement awards and hall of fame honors to deserving records and artists overlooked the first time. So, yeah, as much as I love Steely Dan, if you felt Eminem deserved that Album of the Year, there is a damn good chance his work will be in the Grammy Hall of Fame sooner or later.
