In a landmark recognition of African music, the Recording Academy announced that Fela Kuti, the revolutionary Nigerian pioneer of Afrobeat, will be a 2026 Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award honoree.
The posthumous award makes him the first African musician ever to receive this honour.
The award ceremony will take place on Saturday, January 31, 2026, at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles, placing Kuti alongside music legends such as Whitney Houston, Cher, Paul Simon, and Carlos Santana.
The Lifetime Achievement Award is given to performers who have made “creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording.”
Harvey Mason jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, stated the honorees’ “influence spans generations, genres and the very foundation of modern music.”
This perfectly encapsulates Kuti, whose long-overdue Grammy honour acknowledges not just a musician, but a foundational pillar of global musical and political expression.
