Grammys
Charli XCX and Post Malone each received an additional nomination for the 2025 Grammys as art directors of their albums Brat and F-1 Trillion, respectively, on Friday (Dec. 20). The albums were included in the best recording package category when the nominations were announced on Nov. 8, but the artists weren’t credited as art directors. […]
12/20/2024
As the old saying goes, “it’s not where you start. It’s where you finish.”
12/20/2024
Prince, The Clash and Frankie Valli are among the artists who were selected to receive lifetime achievement awards from the Recording Academy in 2025. The awards will be presented at the Special Merit Awards Ceremony on Feb. 1 at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles.
The event, always one of the most memorable and musical of Grammy Week, will also honor the recipients of trustees awards (which go to non-performers) and a Technical Grammy Award recipient.
The other lifetime achievement award recipients are Frankie Beverly, Dr. Bobby Jones, Taj Mahal and Roxanne Shante. The trustees award recipients are Erroll Garner, Glyn Johns and Tania León. Dr. Leo Beranek is the Technical Grammy Award honoree.
Several of the awards will be presented posthumously. R&B singer Beverly just died three months ago; Prince and Dr. Beranek both died in 2016; Joe Strummer of The Clash died in 2002; and Garner, the composer of the pop standard “Misty,” died in 1977.
Several of this year’s recipients have already received major honors. Prince was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, received a lifetime achievement award at the BET Awards in 2010, and was honored by the Songwriters Hall of Fame in July (he had been voted in while he was alive, but scheduling the presentation proved difficult).
Valli was voted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (as a member of the Four Seasons) in 1990, followed by The Clash in 2003 and producer Glyn Johns in 2012. Maze featuring Frankie Beverly received a lifetime achievement award at the BET Awards in 2012. León received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2022.
“It’s an amazing privilege to honor this eclectic group of music icons during the year’s biggest week in music,” Harvey Mason jr., CEO of the Recording Academy said in a statement. “Each of this year’s Special Merit Award recipients has left an indelible mark on music, from paving the way for others to innovation that forever has changed the trajectory of the musical landscape. We can’t wait to celebrate this group and their achievements in February.”
Lifetime Achievement Awards are presented to performers who have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording.
Trustees Awards are presented to individuals who have made significant contributions, other than performance, to the field of recording.
Technical Grammy Awards are presented to individuals, companies, organizations or institutions who have made contributions of outstanding technical significance to the recording field.
Here’s a complete list of the 2025 Special Merit Award recipients.
Frankie Beverly (Lifetime Achievement Award)
Chappell Roan is a favorite to win big at the 2025 Grammys — and if she does, she plans to stir a little controversy.
On A Carpool Karaoke Christmas with Zane Lowe, which premiered first thing Monday (Dec. 16) on Apple TV+, the 26-year-old pop star revealed that she has some complicated feelings about the awards show, hinting that she will probably do a little disrupting if she wins any of her six nominations at the 2025 ceremony.
“It’s such a double-edged sword for me, because I’m like, ‘Yes, it is a talent show for the popular kids,’” she began of the Grammys. “That’s one side.
“But the other side is, ‘Oh my God, how amazing is it that a gay artist wrote a gay song that went No. 1, with a gay writer who did not grow up in the industry, did not have an in, has been busting her a– for like a decade?’” Roan continued. “That’s honorable to me. It’s an honor to be nominated with some of the other artists.”
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The Missouri native is in the running for all of the “big four” Grammy categories next year, including best new artist, album of the year for The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, and song and record of the year for her Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hit “Good Luck, Babe!” When asked whether she has remarks ready to go if she’s called onstage, Roan replied, “I don’t have a speech yet, but you know me. I’m going to say something controversial.
“Why not? Girl, what do I have to lose?” the “Pink Pony Club” artist added. “The fearlessness comes from in my heart knowing I’m always going to be OK.”
Grammy nominations went live in November, revealing that Roan is tied with Sabrina Carpenter and Taylor Swift for six nods each in 2025. Beyoncé has the most nominations going into next year ceremony with 11, while Charli XCX, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar and Post Malone are tied for second-most with seven apiece.
In addition to the Big Four categories, Roan is also up for best pop solo performance for “Good Luck, Babe!” and best pop vocal album for Midwest Princess, which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 in August. The project — and Roan’s career, for that matter — has been steadily snowballing since its release in September 2023, with the star finishing out 2024 as Billboard‘s Top New Artist.
And while the VMA winner has been open about her excitement regarding her Grammy nominations, she’s also previously expressed mixed feelings. “I’m kind of hoping I don’t win [a Grammy],” she told The Face in September. “Because then everyone will get off my a–: ‘See guys, we did it and we didn’t win, bye!’ I won’t have to do this again!”
Over the years, as Grammy-nominated multi-instrumentalist and producer Alissia was growing her career, she started hosting kickbacks at her New York-based studio called The Spaceship. She’d invite artists, musicians and DJs in hopes that they would connect – and maybe even collaborate.
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“Organically, I would invite people to come through, and they’d be like, ‘Oh, send me a playlist of this.’ And then they would connect and exchange numbers,” she says. “Nowadays, features happen by sending a track through text or email. We were losing a little bit of that humanness and that magic that happens when you really get to know the person and vibe.”
But last year, her gatherings outgrew The Spaceship; in June 2023, Alissia expanded the series into an exclusive party called Boogie Nights, with its first edition launching at New York’s Virgin Hotel. “There’s a photo booth, there’s little popcorn holders. There’s logos and stickers, and it’s all disco balls. There’s a Le Freak C’est Chic Martini,” she says. “I wanted to make it a cute, elevated experience.”
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Alissia and Anderson .Paak
Kathy Rosario
Inspired by Studio 54, Boogie Nights became the grooviest alternative option for creatives in the music and fashion industries, who were craving something more meaningful than the club scene but still wanted to be outside. Boogie Nights has since become one of the hottest tickets in town, with just five gatherings happening so far, including this February during Los Angeles’ Grammy week (held at the West Hollywood EDITION hotel) and most recently this September for New York Fashion Week (held at the event’s PUBLIC hotel homebase).
“At the last Boogie Nights [during NYFW], Ravyn Lenae sat in and we did a song that’s coming out that we did together,” says Alissia — adding that a goal is to feature new music that recently dropped or is just about to. And prior to that, Alissia’s frequent collaborator Anderson .Paak (who spins vinyl as DJ Pee Wee) had A-list guests like Lucky Daye and Leon Thomas dancing under the 400 disco balls that cover the ceiling of Los Angeles’ Sunset at EDITION during her pre-Grammy party earlier this year.
As for the upcoming Grammys? Alissia confirms she plans to bring Boogie Nights back to LA, previously telling Billboard: “LA is the perfect place, Grammys is the perfect time.”
The Recording Academy has withdrawn 2025 Grammy nominations for J-Kwon (Jerrell C. Jones), Joe Kent and Mark Williams, the writers of J-Kwon’s 2004 hit “Tipsy,” which is interpolated in Shaboozey’s megahit “A Bar Song (Tipsy).”
The genre-bridging smash received Grammy nods for song of the year and best country song on Nov. 8. If it wins either or both awards when the 67th annual Grammy Awards are presented on Feb. 2, the writers of the original “Tipsy” will receive certificates, not Grammy trophies.
The decision was made on Dec. 12, and was announced in the Academy’s Grammy Award Update Center, which carries this legend: “Each year, the Recording Academy makes adjustments to the nominations list as-necessary after the list is first published. Common changes are often the result of updated credits and may include spelling corrections, title modifications, and the addition of nominees who were not included in the original submission, among other revisions.”
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Grammy rules state that “songs that contain samples or interpolations are eligible” for song of the year. But they also make a distinction between songwriters of the new song (who are eligible for Grammys) and “publisher & songwriter(s) of sampled or interpolated material, if applicable),” who are eligible only for certificates.
“A Bar Song (Tipsy)” includes the lines, “One, here comes the two to the three to the four” and “everybody at the bar gettin’ tipsy,” which are borrowed from “Tipsy.” J-Kwon joined Shaboozey to perform the smash on the BET Awards on June 30. “BET, make some noise for Mr. Tipsy himself, all the way from St. Louis, J-Kwon,” Shaboozey said in introducing the rapper.
In a Q&A posted on April 26, the week the song entered the Hot 100 at No. 36, J-Kwon told Billboard’s Michael Saponara that he was very well compensated for the lift. “I got a crazy percentage… Let’s say it like this, we did that together, and I’m proud of him.”
“A Bar Song (Tipsy)” logged 19 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, which put it in a tie with Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” (featuring Billy Ray Cyrus) for the longest run at No. 1 in the chart’s 66-year history. “Old Town Road” also contains borrowed elements. It features a sample of Nine Inch Nails’ “34 Ghosts IV,” which was co-written by that band’s Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. “Old Town Road” wasn’t nominated for Grammys in songwriting categories, but it was entered for song of the year. The listing did not show Reznor and Ross as co-writers, which is consistent with Grammy rules. (“Old Town Road” went on to two Grammys — best pop duo/group performance and best music video — and was nominated for record of the year.)
If the Grammy decision is a disappointment for J-Kwon and his collaborators on “Tipsy,” they may want to head for the nearest open bar to drown their troubles. They may even be able to get a good song out of it.
Fat Joe is still not over his Grammy loss back in 2017. The Bronx rapper has never been shy about speaking his mind, and that didn’t change during a recent listening session of his latest album, The World Changed on Me.
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In a clip shared by XXL, Crillz talked about contemplating retirement before discussing when he lost out on Grammys to the Black Eyed Peas and Chance the Rapper. “So, I’m busy trying to get these businesses going and get real money,” he began. “Then, Killer Mike wins three Grammys, right? And I call Dre [of Cool & Dre] up, and was like, ‘F—k that, they givin’ real n—as Grammys?’ I said, ‘Let’s go back in, let’s lock in.’ If it wasn’t for [Killer Mike], I was retired.”
Remy Ma, who was sitting next to Joe, then mentioned some of the Grammys they’ve been nominated for over the years before Joe interjected, proclaiming, “We got robbed.”
He then elaborated, saying, “‘Lean Back’ we lost to the Black Eyed Peas — I don’t know if you know — without Fergie. And then we lost ‘All the Way Up’ to Chance the Rapper.” Adding, “Like that’s the biggest disrespect … Let me tell you something, I’ma keep it real with you,” as the crowd in attendance reacted to what he was saying.
He then continued, “You know how Jay-Z used to say, ‘Gotta learn to live with regrets?’ I can’t live with that one. Losing to Chance the Rapper. .. ‘All the Way Up’ or whatever his s–t was, it was just not that, a’ight. So, Remy comes outta jail, I come outta jail, we throw a f—king miracle frisbee out there, s–t No. 1 in America and you gonna give it to, you know? It’s crazy. Grammys been playing with us for a long time.”
Fat Joe recalls the time Chance The Rapper won the Grammy over Joe and Remy Ma.“And then we lost ‘All the Way Up’ to Chance The Rapper. Like that’s the biggest disrespect… you know how Jay-Z used to say, ‘Gotta learn to live with regrets,’ I can’t live with that one.” pic.twitter.com/Vsixj81vTw— XXL Magazine (@XXL) December 12, 2024
In 2004, the Black Eyed Peas won the Grammy for best rap performance by a group or duo for “Let’s Get It Started,” and then in 2017, Chance, Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz took home that Grammy for “No Problem,” while Drake‘s “Hotline Bling” beat out “All the Way Up” for best rap song.
In this year’s producer of the year, non-classical category, there is one notable absence — Jack Antonoff, who would have been nominated for his sixth consecutive year — and one welcome addition: R&B producer-musician Alissia, who becomes just the ninth woman (or team of women) in the history of the category to receive a nomination. Had Antonoff been nominated and won, he would have set a record as the only consecutive four-peat in the 50-year history of the award. Meanwhile, a woman has yet to take home the trophy.
The 2025 nominees also include superproducer Daniel Nigro, “Not Like Us” hit-maker Mustard and veteran producers Dernst “D’Mile” Emile II and Ian Fitchuk. Of the five, Alissia, Mustard and Fitchuk are first-time nominees in this category. Below, all five nominees reflect on being nominated.
Alissia
Alissia
Caleb and Gladys
Of your nominations, why is producer of the year so special?
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I’ve worked so many years to really perfect my craft as a musician and then later as a producer, and just to be nominated as a producer of the year, it’s huge. It’s like all the endless sessions, late nights and nonstop working just really reminded me that, man, hard work pays off. And it was so crazy to me because my biggest inspiration as a producer passed away that week, Quincy Jones. So it was such an emotional week. He was such an inspiration for me to start arranging strings and everything. So [my nomination is] representing a lot more than just me.
You join a small class of women who have been nominated in this category. What extra significance or pressure does that add?
It’s very humbling to be the ninth woman ever being nominated in this category alongside some of my favorites like Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey and all these ladies who’ve really worked hard to pave the way for me to be nominated in this category. I don’t take that for granted. I see this as a big milestone for women producers in general. What really made me the most happy and emotional is that I started receiving so many DMs from young girls, producers and musicians and just women in general. It really warmed my heart up. It’s a big deal.
What would an ideal Grammy night celebration look like?
I have a party series called Boogie Nights. It’s going to be so much fun. I want to celebrate with everyone, and also celebrate everyone else because I saw so many of my friends that got nominated too. The goal of Boogie Nights is to connect artists and creatives with each other to hopefully, maybe, spark a collaboration or whatever comes naturally. It’s also just to have fun. So Los Angeles is the perfect place and the Grammys are the perfect time.
Dernst “D’Mile” Emile II
D’Mile
Monhand Mathurin
How did you find out and react to being nominated for producer of the year, non-classical?
This is my third year in a row being nominated. And to be honest, the first time we even tried and I got nominated, I was happy with that. I was like, “OK, I did it.” And then last year, I almost didn’t even bother trying to get my name submitted. But funny enough, Victoria Monét’s manager [Rachelle Jean-Louis] basically made me do it. And then this year, in a way, was similar. I was indifferent about if we should try or not — and I’m glad we did. I’m always just happy to be recognized… Of course, if I win, that would be amazing. But it was a good year for everybody.
How does this year’s class of nominees represent what’s resonating in music today?
I feel like it definitely resonates well. I feel like country music, to start, has had a great year with a whole bunch of artists that are already in the field or that have dabbled in it. Mustard had a great record with “Not Like Us,” so no surprise there. Me and Dan [Nigro] actually have spoken a couple times about it and joked, like, “Maybe next year we’ll go up against each other again.” I’m such a big fan of his and what he’s done with Olivia [Rodrigo] and Chappell [Roan]. I even voted for him the first round, like, “You got to be up there.” Alissia, I know her well. She’s an incredible musician. I was happy to see a female producer. I feel like [the nominees] actually translate well to the past year — all the hard work paying off.
“Die With a Smile” is your fourth song of the year nomination. You’ve won with Bruno Mars before, with “Leave the Door Open.” Are there any similarities between the two hits?
When [“Leave the Door Open”] came out, [it had] the same impact and similar reactions. It just felt like everybody knew it instantly, everybody seemed to love it instantly. So I still can’t tell which one they love more. But I mean, I think because it’s two powerhouses, Lady Gaga and Bruno, on a song like that, I’m sure that helps a lot. Gaga’s fans, The Monsters, and The Hooligans put together? Forget about it.
Ian Fitchuk
Ian Fitchuk
Fairlight Hubbard
What does it mean to be nominated for producer of the year?
It means a lot to be recognized for the work that I’ve put in, not just this year, but kind of my whole career, which at this point has been about 24 years. And I feel like it’s also a celebration of all the people that I get to work with — the engineers, songwriters, producers. I feel like I share that nomination with friends of mine that have made me better at what I do and have put tons of work and time and energy into the projects that I’m associated with.
How does this year’s class of nominees represent what’s resonating in music today?
It’s an awesome representation of where music is — and I’m a fan of everybody else that’s in the category. I’m well aware of the work that they’ve been doing, and I think that it touches on all different genres. I love that it doesn’t feel heavy-handed in one space over another. I think it’s really cool. I love Dernst [“D’Mile”] and Dan and I’m not as familiar with Alissia, but Mustard, my son has made me more aware of him.
You worked on Kacey Musgraves’ Deeper Well and won your first two Grammys for her Golden Hour. Why is that relationship so special?
I would say this about everybody, but being able to record and make music that I would want to listen to is a gift, because I know that this is a hard world to work in and you don’t always get to make things that align with your tastes necessarily. And I like that I’ve been able to be true to who I am with the music that I get to make. To be trusted like that is awesome.
What would an ideal Grammy night celebration look like?
Probably a milkshake and in bed by 10 p.m.
Mustard
Mustard
Kanya Iwana
How did you find out and react to being nominated for producer of the year?
I wasn’t even expecting producer of the year. I was just on some “Not Like Us,” Faith of a Mustard Seed, “Parking Lot” [with Travis Scott], one of those things. I’m just waiting for [the category] to pass, to get to the other s–t, and then [they said], “Mustard” and I was like, “What the f–k?” My thought process wasn’t there. You know, the Grammys is a long time coming for me. I’ve always wanted to be nominated for producer of the year. But I just believe that things happen when God wants them to happen. So I was overly excited and screaming in the house and s–t, running around.
This is also your first nomination for record of the year. Why is “Not Like Us” a worthy contender?
Culturally, man, we did something that woke everybody in music, in the world, up. It’s going to be a piece of history. It’s one of the biggest songs just for the West Coast, and you know, it was really dark over here for a while. It’s more than the dis song part of it. It’s just bringing everybody together. I think everybody feels the West Coast right now. And the Dodgers won, so s–t. I think it helped.
Where’s the craziest place you’ve heard that song so far?
They performed it at my daughter’s school, and it was really crazy. It was the clean version, though, but it was just like, “You guys are doing a dance to this song?” She’s 9, so for me it was just like, “What the f–k?” It’s just some crazy s–t.
What would an ideal Grammy night celebration look like?
If I win producer of the year, I mean, s–t, I might be doing backflips all the way down Figueroa [Street].
Daniel Nigro
Daniel Nigro
Shervin Lainez
How did you find out and react to being nominated for producer of the year, non-classical?
My wife and I were walking our dog the morning of the announcements, so when my manager called and said, “Congratulations!” I responded with “For what!?” I was definitely hoping for a nomination this year but also didn’t want to get my hopes up because you just never know. I’m really excited about how things turned out. To celebrate, we had a very, very small get-together at the studio. We ordered some Papa John’s and had a cake.
This is your second time being nominated in this category, and your third time being nominated for song of the year, record of the year and album of the year. What’s your secret?
I wish there was a secret. I just feel so lucky that I get to work with such incredible artists and songwriters that get nominated. What I’d like to know is if there’s a secret to winning one of those categories, because it hasn’t happened yet.
You’ve also been involved in the debut albums from two best new artist nominees: Olivia Rodrigo and Chappell Roan. What does it mean to be a part of an artist’s career from the start?
I feel very fortunate to have this happen twice for me. I get a lot of joy and satisfaction from being a part of the development process. As someone who once was a recording artist, I try to take the things I learned during those years and help other artists navigate the madness that is the music industry.
This story appears in the Dec. 7, 2024, issue of Billboard.
Five years ago, the Recording Academy put forth a new membership model committed to “fostering diversity and inclusion while encouraging the music industry to reexamine and reinvent their own long-standing practices.” Its recently released membership report revealed just how far it’s come in meeting that goal — adding 3,000 women voters (a 27% increase since 2019) and seeing a 65% increase in voting members who identify as people of color.
The record 2,800-plus new members who accepted invitations to join the academy in 2024 — including the artists and creatives interviewed here — exemplify that transformative, ongoing shift.
Kaash PaigeSinger-rapper, 23
What sparked your interest in becoming a Recording Academy member?
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I think what sparks a lot of interest in the Recording Academy is boom, you see the Grammys. Then you really get involved and see it’s a community of creatives that are excited to build their career and network. I think that sparked my interest more when I started to be part of email threads and got invited to stuff. I realized this isn’t just the Grammys — this is a whole thing.
What was your opinion of the academy before joining?
I thought about it in a sense of “If you join, you’re going to win a Grammy.” I was really naive. It’s not about that at all. As you build and grow within the community, you’re like, “This is family.” I plan on staying with the Recording Academy for the rest of my life.
Why did you ultimately accept the invite?
It’s kind of like, who wouldn’t accept the invite to be a part of it? Leaving Def Jam last year and coming back out to Los Angeles this year, I needed to dive deep into what I want in my life right now. Being accepted felt like affirmation to me of like, this is where you need to be and these are going to be the rooms that you’re put in to help facilitate growth in your life, because you never know who you might meet.
Shirley SongComposer, 34
Why did you accept the invite?
When you’re a composer for film and TV, you’re immersed in that and don’t always get to hang with the songwriters, composers, and mixing and mastering engineers on the pop side. I think more and more inspiration [for film and TV scores] is drawn from the pop and hip-hop worlds — it’s no longer just your typical John Williams orchestral score. To be able to meet more musicians, songwriters and engineers from that world, I am able to learn and improve my production chops.
Prior to being invited to join, what if any experience did you have with the academy?
Honestly, I didn’t know much. I just thought they did the Grammys. I realized it was a lot more. They are always offering invaluable learning opportunities — panels, discussions — and these experiences keep me informed and inspired. The academy has given me a deeper sense of purpose within this industry and motivates me to also want to contribute meaningfully and advocate for changes.
When it comes to diversity, what do you hope to see the academy improve in the future?
What they are doing now is the biggest step — mentoring, opening this up and inviting people who look like me. Fostering this sense of community is what is going to help champion diversity and support emerging talent.
I am just excited to be able to vote and have my little voice heard. Voting allows me to champion work that pushes boundaries and ensure genres and voices from often underrepresented [communities] get the acknowledgment that they deserve. I know the countless hours and creativity that were put into making this music. It’s nice to be able to support that.
Tara FineganCOO of Cutting Edge Group, a Grammy-winning music financier, record label and publisher, 37
Tara Finegan
Madeleine Farley
Why did you want to join?
I felt really motivated to learn more about the Recording Academy when it added a category to recognize video-game soundtracks a few years ago. [That] has had a big impact — already, all kinds of video-game companies across the board are more focused on music because they want to run a Grammy campaign and receive that accolade. It actually does have a ripple effect where it brings more focus and resources to video-game composers.
I was even more motivated to take a role in the Recording Academy’s year-round community of professionals when [artificial intelligence] innovations, and dangers, started to come up. I straddle the line between film, television, video games and music, so AI is something that has been very, very present in what we’ve been thinking about over the last year or so. It was one of the central points in the Hollywood strikes last year, and that just really highlighted to me how important these types of organizations are. The Recording Academy is an important advocate for making sure that whatever happens next is done thoughtfully and with real consideration to the human beings behind the art.
If you could create a new Grammy category, what would it be?
There’s been a real resurgence in pop culture of film soundtracks, with these unbelievable soundtracks that have been put together from scratch, and in my dream world we would have an all-original-music soundtrack [category], like for something like Barbie, in a separate category than a compiled soundtrack of preexisting songs, like Guardians of the Galaxy.
What are your Grammy week plans?
My label is nominated in the [best score soundtrack for video games and other interactive media] category for Pinar Toprak’s score for Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. She’s absolutely phenomenal. Up until voting closes, we will be campaigning for her. Then, come Grammy week, hopefully enjoy the week, attend the awards and try not to get too anxious.
Andre MerrittSongwriter (Chris Brown, Kelly Rowland, Rihanna)
Andre Merritt
Remy
What if any experience did you have with the academy, and why did you join?
I did a few meet-and-greets [with them] where I would come and speak to people about what I did [in] music. I wanted to be around my peers and around people who feel and think about music the way I do.
What does the recognition that comes with a Grammy mean to you?
You put so much into being an artist and working on ways to get yourself seen and heard — to be rewarded with a Grammy, it lets other people know, “Oh, this guy really means business.”
What do you hope to see the academy help improve in the industry?
I would like them to get [further] involved in the pay for streaming. The biggest thing is creating a livable wage for people to continue to create and give us new art. When you have an organization like the academy that’s backing you, it gives you a lot more to fight with.
Do you have go-to Grammy-watching plans?
I get with some of my fellow songwriters because we like to talk crap about everything, like who we think is going to win. We get some food and drinks. I enjoy that.
Lil Mexico BeatzLatin Grammy-nominated producer (Roddy Ricch, Arcángel, Marshmello), 25
What if any experience did you have with the Recording Academy before joining?
I had a lot of friends who were part of the academy and they told me about it. But the thing was that the past couple of years, it seemed more like a closed circle to me. I never really heard how you were able to get signed up to join or be a part of it. I had no idea how to get involved. From the outside, it seemed like it was only a select couple of people. [But] now they’re expanding to more musicians, producers, songwriters.
How did the invitation to become a member come about, and why did you decide to join?
My friends who were in the academy were telling me things like, “Honestly, you’ve done a lot already in the music industry. You should join the academy. They’re looking for new people.” One of those friends was Paul Wall. He’s been a member for a while now, and he told me that I had to join. “It’s a big thing to be a part of this,” he said. So that’s part of the reason I was motivated to join. I grew up watching the Grammys, and it really had an influence on me. Now someone like me talking about being part of the academy, that will light a fire in the new generation.
As a producer, you’ve worked in the trap scene with both Latin and non-Latin artists. Do you think that duality will shape your role as a member?
Definitely. The one thing I really wanted to push, especially this year, was to get more spotlight on the Latin genre. English and Latin trap share similar issues, including getting overlooked constantly, mainly if you’re an indie artist. And I know we have Latin Grammys, but to be on a global stage like the Grammys, even in the Latin categories — that’s huge.
Joshua MosleyComposer-producer, 44
Why did you accept the invite to join the academy?
The [recommendation to be a member] came from Justin “Henny” Henderson. He was the president of the Atlanta chapter; now he’s a national trustee. We’re old friends from sixth grade, and we had a rap group back in 1991 at school. We both loved music then, and it’s really cool to see where our paths have led us to this point in our lives. To have that recommendation coming from him, and then also from a good friend, Gilde Flores — who has done work with me on a lot of film scores and productions — just made it really special.
The best score soundtrack for video games and other interactive media category is still a recent addition to the Grammys. As someone with plenty of experience crafting music for video games, why do you think the category is important?
Some of the greatest music is written for video games. It’s long overdue for it to be recognized; there are a lot of great writers. It exposes music to a different type of audience. It was really cool to see Gordy Haab win [with Stephen Barton in February for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor], a friend of mine and extremely talented gentleman that deserves recognition.
A best score for an animated feature or series [category] would be cool. I would start with connecting with the film and TV parts of the L.A. chapter, get people talking there and see if we can push it out there and get people exposed to that [idea].
What do you hope to see the Recording Academy improve in the future?
I think [the academy] is on a good track with making sure different voices are being heard. I’m a fairly new member, and so far, I’m liking what I’m seeing. I know [the academy] is a big advocate, too, in Washington [D.C.], as far as music rights, publishing and all that stuff goes, forging ahead with making sure that artists are taken care of and represented.
Sarah SchachnerComposer, producer and multi-instrumentalist, 36
Sarah Schachner
Moog Music
What issues are most important to you right now within the Recording Academy?
The work the academy does on Capitol Hill to protect artists’ rights is so crucial. If no one is out there fighting for us, music-makers could lose ownership and sustainable income. The Grammy Museum’s work in keeping music education in schools is super important, and if we’re going to encourage kids to pursue music as a career, we need to continue to find ways to protect artist rights.
Any thoughts on the video-game music composers nominated in 2025?
It’s awesome to see my peers get recognition. Game music is truly a unique and intricate art form, and it’s about time it gets acknowledged.
Alana LinseySinger in R&B duo GAWD, 29
Alayna Rodgers and Alana Linsey of GAWD
Mancy Gant
How did you feel about the academy prior to joining?
I felt a sort of distance, [like] there was a veil over the process of how people win Grammys. Who votes? Who’s in the community that’s making these decisions? Then I [performed at] two Grammys as a background vocalist. It really felt like a community, and it lifted the veil. [Since] joining, I’m starting to see that it really is the people deciding.
Why did you accept the invitation?
It was an honor to be invited. I also noticed that my friends who were members had different resources, and they were more involved and connected to the community that makes decisions. It was important for me to help broaden the scope of what a Recording Academy member looks and sounds like because I know sometimes, historically, [Black artists] have been or felt left out of a lot of these conversations and moments.
How do you two feel about how the academy is handling R&B?
I think that R&B is really growing, and they’re leaving room for that growth in places like the progressive R&B category. There’s room for different types of R&B artists to exist, which I really appreciate. We’re R&B artists mainly because we sing, but our music is [more similar to] OutKast or Teezo Touchdown. It’s very nuanced where people get inspiration from. To be categorized as R&B is an honor and a blessing, but the progressive moments create a whole other space for people to be free in their art.
This story appears in the Dec. 7, 2024, issue of Billboard.
On Sept. 13, 1988, the media assembled at the United Nations for a press conference. Representatives for the nonprofits Greenpeace, Cultural Survival and Rainforest Action Network sat before them, alongside the U.N. Environment Programme’s director and three, less expected emissaries: the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia, Bobby Weir and Mickey Hart.
The band was about to begin a multinight fall run at Madison Square Garden and had decided to make the ninth and final concert of the stint a rainforest benefit. Garcia, Weir and Hart weren’t at the U.N. as rock stars; they were there as activists.
“Somebody has to do something,” Garcia told the assembled crowd, before adding wryly, “In fact, it seems pathetic that it has to be us.” As the audience applauded and Hart and Weir voiced their agreement, Garcia cut through the din: “This is not our regular work!” Eleven days later, in a more familiar setting, the band invited Bruce Hornsby, Hall & Oates and Suzanne Vega, among other artists, onstage at the sold-out benefit show, which grossed $871,875, according to an October 1988 issue of Billboard.
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At the press conference, Garcia had said, “We hope that we can empower our own audience with a sense of being able to do something directly and actually having an effect that’s visible in some way.” But he’d also expressed the Dead’s trepidation concerning activism.
“We don’t want to be the leaders, and we don’t want to serve unconscious fascism,” he said. “Power is a scary thing. When you feel that you’re close to it, you feel like you want to make sure that it isn’t used for misleading. So all this time, we’ve avoided making any statements about politics, about alignments of any sort.” While Garcia’s comment wasn’t entirely accurate — the ’88 benefit was far from the first time the Dead had aligned itself with a cause — its sentiment was honest: He understood the influence his beloved band wielded.
“As a young fan, I really learned about the issue in the rainforest from the Grateful Dead when they did that press conference,” recalls Mark Pinkus, who started seeing the band in 1984 and was a college student in 1988. “If a band like the Grateful Dead took the time to care about a cause, it definitely got our attention as young fans.”
From left: Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart outside San Francisco’s New Potrero Theatre in 1968.
Malcolm Lubliner/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
For a then-17-year-old David Lemieux, who had started seeing the Dead the year before and whose father worked at the U.N. from 1953 to 1973, “it added this huge level of legitimacy to this band I was following around” for his parents. “It certainly had me go out and learn more about [the issue],” he reflects. “To this day, the way I view the world is very much what I learned from my days on tour — and seeing the Dead take a stance that was so big … meant a lot to me.”
At the time, Pinkus and Lemieux were impressionable young Deadheads. Today, they’re central to the Dead’s present and future business. Pinkus is president of Rhino Entertainment, the Warner Music Group branch that publishes the Dead’s archival releases, and Lemieux, the band’s legacy manager and archivist, is intimately involved in the curation of those releases.
It’s telling not just that the Dead’s business is shepherded by members of the very community it fostered, but that the band’s philanthropic work in particular resonated with Pinkus and Lemieux from the jump. The Dead’s members haven’t merely been philanthropically active since the band’s 1965 formation in the Bay Area — they have been forward-thinking, reimagining the potential of the good works musicians can do and inspiring other artists to follow in their footsteps. All the while, their activism has fed on — and been fed by — their passionate fans.
“We’re part of a community, and so the better the community is doing, the better we’re doing,” Weir says today. “Jerry always used to say, ‘You get some, you give some back.’ It just makes sense.” And since the beginning, “that’s been our mode of operation,” the Grateful Dead’s Bill Kreutzmann says. “We help people and give them stuff. It’s just a good way to live life. I wish that more people in the world lived life that way, instead of wars and bombings.”
From left: Randy Hayes of Rainforest Action Network (seated), Dr. Jason Clay of Cultural Survival, Jerry Garcia, Mickey Hart, Peter Bahouth of Greenpeace and Bob Weir at a New York press conference in 1988.
Marty Lederhandler/AP
Since Garcia’s death in 1995, the Dead’s surviving members have continued to tour — and continued to advocate for the causes that matter to them. That’s why MusiCares, the charitable organization that the Recording Academy founded in 1989 to support the music community’s health and welfare, is recognizing the Grateful Dead as its 2025 MusiCares Persons of the Year.
“It all follows in that tradition of teaching the industry what it should know about,” Hart says. “That’s that Grateful Dead kind of style, where we just did it because we knew it was the right thing to do. If we wanted to do this the rest of our lives was the idea, we have to do these things, because people support us — and we reciprocate.”
“Everybody had everybody’s back in the Haight-Ashbury, and we were a big functioning organism,” Weir recalls. “And we had roles within the community.”
It’s a crisp, mid-November evening in Chicago, where Weir, 77, has just spent the afternoon doing what he does best: playing Grateful Dead music. He’s in town for two shows at the Auditorium Theatre with the Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra, which will accompany him and Wolf Bros, his current solo project, and after rehearsing “Weather Report Suite” and “Terrapin Station” — two of the Dead’s densest, most ambitious compositions — he’s back on his tour bus, reminiscing about the band’s early days.
Even then, philanthropy was core to the group. It began performing as The Warlocks in mid-1965, and while accounts differ about when, exactly, it changed its name later that year, many believe it debuted its famed moniker on Dec. 10 — at Mime Troupe Appeal II, the second in a series of benefits for a satirical San Francisco theater troupe that often clashed with local law enforcement over free speech.
From left: Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh and Mickey Hart onstage at the Oakland (Calif.) Auditorium in 1979.
Ed Perlstein/Redferns/Getty Images
The first decade or so of the Dead’s philanthropy “is an incredibly eclectic mix,” Lemieux says. In San Francisco, the band gigged for radical activists, arts spaces, spiritual centers (a Hare Krishna temple, a Zen monastery) and music education. As the band grew, it played for hippie communes and music venues, for striking radio workers and bail funds, for the Black Panthers and the Hells Angels. It performed with the Buffalo (N.Y.) Philharmonic Orchestra in 1970 to support the ensemble; in a concert that became one of its most revered live recordings, the Dead played in Veneta, Ore., on Aug. 27, 1972, to save the local Springfield Creamery.
“We saw something in need, and we would just write a check,” Hart, 81, remembers today. “The Grateful Dead, we never thought of business. We just wanted to play, play, play.”
“That was really delicious for us, to make everybody happy,” says Kreutzmann, 78. “Because that’s the goal: Make everyone happy, not just the band.”
But as the band’s following grew throughout the ’70s, that charitable approach — guided by the band’s generous attitude, which meant lots of “yeses” and not many “nos” — became untenable. It needed to streamline its operation. “We had always been given to community service, but we just wanted to get organized about it,” Weir says, alluding to the tax burden of the band’s initial model.
So the Dead did something that was then novel for a musical act: It started a foundation. In 1983, the band’s early co-manager Danny Rifkin (who held a number of roles in the group’s orbit over the years) helped it launch The Rex Foundation, named for Rex Jackson, a roadie and tour manager for the band who had died in 1976. The foundation eliminated the need for the Dead to do the types of one-off, cause-based benefits it had done previously, instead directing earnings from its charitable initiatives into the foundation, which then disbursed that money — after approval by its board, which included the band’s members and others in its inner circle — to various grant recipients. By refusing to accept unsolicited grant proposals (applications were, and still are, submitted by the Rex board and those in the Dead’s extended community) and focusing its grants on organizations with small, sometimes minuscule, budgets, the Dead retained the homespun feel of its earlier charitable efforts.
The Rex Foundation quickly became the primary beneficiary of the Dead’s philanthropy. The band played its first Rex benefits in San Rafael, Calif., in spring 1984 and made a point of staging multishow Rex benefit runs — generally in the Bay Area or nearby Sacramento — annually for the rest of its career. “They were just regular gigs, there was no other fanfare, but the money would go to The Rex Foundation,” Lemieux says. “We all thought that was pretty darn cool. It wasn’t like the Dead played any less hard because it was a benefit gig. The Rex Foundation mattered to them.”
From left: Jerry Garcia, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh and Bob Weir at Berkeley’s Greek Theatre in 1985.
Richard McCaffrey/ Michael Ochs Archive/ Getty Images
Over the next decade, the Dead played upwards of 40 Rex benefits. Without the requirement that a given show benefit a specific charity — and with the larger grosses Dead shows now earned — “it allowed the money to be spread a lot more,” Lemieux explains. A beneficiary “wouldn’t be like a multi-multimillion-dollar organization that needed $5,000. It was a $10,000 organization that needed $5,000. That makes a huge difference.” (Weir, Hart and Garcia’s widow, Carolyn, and daughter, Trixie, are among the present-day board members of Rex, which still holds benefits and disburses grants; in July, Dark Star Orchestra, which re-creates classic Dead shows, played a benefit at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, Calif., to celebrate the foundation’s 40th anniversary.)
During this period, the Dead also continued to play non-Rex benefits for specific causes, including AIDS research and eye-care organization Seva. The 1988 rainforest benefit was a hybrid — the rare Rex benefit with pre-announced beneficiaries in Greenpeace, Cultural Survival and Rainforest Action Network. “Those were all people that we had already funded to in their infancy,” says Cameron Sears, who managed the band in the late ’80s and ’90s and is today Rex’s executive director. (As it happens, Sears’ entrée into the Dead’s world as a recent college grad in the early ’80s was through philanthropy: He’d pitched the band on getting involved in California water politics.) As Garcia put it at the U.N., “We’ve chosen these groups because we like that direct thing … We don’t like a lot of stuff between us and the work.”
The model continues to reverberate through a music industry where it’s now common for major artists to have charitable foundations. “The fact that all these bands now have looked to that model and replicated it, [the Dead] don’t need to take credit for it, even though it may rightly belong to them,” Sears says. “They’re just happy that people are doing it. Their vision has had a multiplier effect now around the world. What Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam are into might be different than what Phish is into and is maybe different than what Metallica is into. But together, the amount of philanthropy that’s being generated through all these different people makes an incredible difference.”
Pull up just about any bootleg of a Phil Lesh show from 1999 through his death in October, and you’ll see a track between the end of the second set and the start of the encore, usually called “Donor Rap.” Lesh received a life-saving liver transplant in 1998; henceforth, he used his platform to encourage Deadheads to turn to their loved ones and say that, if anything happened to them, they wanted to be an organ donor.
After Garcia’s death, the Dead’s surviving members remained active musically — and philanthropically. When The Other Ones — the first significant post-Garcia iteration of the Dead comprising Weir, Lesh, Hart and a cast of supporting musicians — debuted in 1998, it did so with a benefit, raising more than $200,000 for the Rainforest Action Network. They all championed causes important to them: Weir with the environment and combating poverty, Hart with music therapy and brain health, Kreutzmann with ocean conservation, Lesh with his Unbroken Chain Foundation, which benefited a litany of things including music education. The Rex Foundation has also remained active, supporting a range of organizations across the arts, education, social justice, Indigenous peoples’ groups and the environment.
And, over the years, the band members began to work more closely with MusiCares. Early in the pandemic, Dead & Company — the touring group formed in 2015 by Weir, Hart and Kreutzmann and rounded out by John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti — and the Grateful Dead launched weekly archival livestreams that raised $276,000 for the organization’s COVID-19 Relief Fund. Dead & Company expanded the affiliation to epic proportions on May 8, 2023, when the band kicked off its final tour at Cornell University’s Barton Hall in Ithaca, N.Y., where it played one of its most revered gigs 46 years earlier to the day; the 2023 show raised $3.1 million, with half going to MusiCares and half to the Cornell 2030 Project, a campus organization dedicated to sustainability.
“If you want to talk about making a statement in modern times,” Pinkus says, “here they return to the venue of arguably the most famous Grateful Dead show ever, play the tiniest show that they play on a farewell tour, which is all stadiums, and then they turn around and do it as a fundraiser. It really spoke to everything about the Grateful Dead and Dead & Company’s commitment to giving back.”
“The industry is a very dangerous place at times,” Hart says. “When you get engulfed with the harder side of the business and fall through the cracks or stumble and you need some help getting your mojo back, that’s really what MusiCares does.”
From left: Bruce Hornsby, Jeff Chimenti, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Phish’s Trey Anastasio, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann at one of the band’s Fare Thee Well shows at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.,
on June 28, 2015.
Jay Blakesberg/Invision for the Grateful Dead/AP
Over the last decade, Activist Artists Management has helped guide the band members’ philanthropic efforts. The company is both the manager of record for the Grateful Dead — a status conferred by Grateful Dead Productions, an entity comprising the band’s living members and representatives of Garcia’s and Lesh’s estates — and co-manages Dead & Company alongside Irving Azoff and Steve Moir of Full Stop Management. (Kreutzmann toured with Dead & Company from 2015 to 2022 but did not appear with the group on its final tour in 2023 or during its 2024 Las Vegas Sphere residency. On Dec. 4, Dead & Company announced it will play 18 shows at Sphere in spring 2025; a representative for the band confirmed the lineup will not include Kreutzmann.)
“There was this mosaic of incredible good works that this band was doing, and there was a feeling that we could help amplify those good works and those dollars by putting a little more structure and support around it and a little bit more intentionality around it, which is what Activist came in and did,” Activist founding partner Bernie Cahill says.
When discussing the Dead’s activism with the band and its affiliates, words like “apolitical” and “nonpartisan” come up often. As Kreutzmann puts it, “It’s much more fun to see all the people smiling, not half the people bickering at the other half.”
“These are objective things that I think everyone will agree with,” Lemieux says of causes ranging from rainforest preservation to AIDS research. “And that’s what the Dead were kind of getting on board with and raising awareness.”
Mickey Hart, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann, Bob Weir, Tom Constanten (with a cut-out standee of Jerry Garcia) and Vince Welnick of the Grateful Dead at the 1994 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction.
Steve Eichner/WireImage
But while it’s true that, both before and after Garcia’s death, the Dead’s members have avoided the strident political rhetoric some other artists favor, the band has still advanced progressive causes. In the ’60s, it rubbed shoulders with radical groups in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury. In the ’80s, when AIDS was a stigmatized topic, it headlined a relief show for Northern California AIDS agencies.
That has continued in recent years. Dead & Company’s Participation Row — an area it allots at its shows for nonprofit and charitable partners — has featured entities like the voter registration organization HeadCount and the sustainable-touring group Reverb, among other social justice, environmental and public health organizations, helping the band to raise more than $15 million since its 2015 debut. But Dead & Company have not shied from using their touring to platform more contentious causes. The summer following the Parkland, Fla., high school shooting, Dead & Company included the gun control group March for Our Lives on Participation Row. And after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, the band displayed pro-choice messages at its shows and even sold a “Save Our Rights” shirt benefiting women’s health organizations.
“We support artists being authentic,” Cahill says. “If an artist feels called to speak out … our job is to make sure they have all the information so that they can speak intelligently on the matter. I think we’ve done a really good job with that over the years. We have both protected our clients and amplified their positions.”
And the Dead’s members have, judiciously, supported political candidates. Weir, Lesh and Hart played a February 2008 benefit dubbed “Deadheads for Obama,” and that fall, Kreutzmann joined them for another pro-Barack Obama gig. This fall, both Weir and Hart publicly endorsed Kamala Harris. While “you don’t want to tell people what to do,” Hart explains, “there are some issues you must speak out [about] if you feel right about it and if you’re really behind it.”
Bob Weir, Phil Lesh and Mickey Hart backstage at the Warfield Theater in San Francisco at a rally for Barack Obama in 2008.
Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The San Francisco Chronicle/Getty Images
As the Dead nears its 60th anniversary in 2025 and adds its MusiCares honor to a lengthy list of accomplishments — induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, recipients of Kennedy Center Honors, a recording included in the Library of Congress, among numerous others — its surviving members are emphatic that this is far from a denouement.
“Obviously, they’re quite humbled and honored by it all,” Cahill says. But “they always see these things as something that you get at the end of your career, when you’re done. And of course, these guys don’t feel like that’s where they are in their career. They feel like they have a lot more ahead of them, and I believe they do.”
Rhino continues to mine the Dead’s vault for new releases — its ongoing quarterly archival Dave’s Picks series helped the band break a record earlier this year previously held by Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley for most top 40 albums on the Billboard 200 — and orchestrate merchandising partnerships from Igloo coolers to Nike shoes that ensure the ongoing omnipresence of the band’s iconography. (“We’re always open for business — if it feels right,” Pinkus says.)
Most importantly to Deadheads, Weir, Hart and Kreutzmann are all resolute that they’ll remain on the road as long as they can; in 2024, Weir toured with Wolf Bros and, along with Hart, staged Dead & Company’s 30-show Sphere residency, while Kreutzmann kept his livewire Billy & The Kids act alive with Mahalo Dead, a three-day November event near his home in Kauai, Hawaii. Last year, Weir toured supporting Willie Nelson, whom he’s shared bills with for decades — and who at 91 is 14 years his senior. “His hands don’t work as well as they used to,” Weir says. “Nor do mine. But as the years go by, you learn to help the music happen through force of will. And Willie is as good as he’s ever been.”
Willpower is something the Dead’s surviving members have in spades. “These guys have always been the outsider,” Cahill says. “They’ve flourished by being the outsider and by being a maverick and doing things their own way. Because they’ve written their own rules, they’re not beholden to anybody. They’re not looking for anyone’s approval, and they continue to write their own rules and to do things that inspire them.”
That core ethos is what has driven, and continues to drive, the Dead’s approach to both its business and its philanthropy — two things that, as the band is still proving to the industry at large, need not be mutually exclusive.
“I would like to be able to have people who disagree with me still be fans of the music or the art that I make,” Weir says. “But at the same time, I’ve got to be true to myself, and I expect that they have to be true to themselves as well.”
This story appears in the Dec. 7, 2024, issue of Billboard.