Selena to receive posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award at 2021 Grammys

Selena in the press room at the 1994 Grammy Awards in New York. (Vinnie Zuffante/Getty Images)

HOUSTON – The Queen of Tejano is still winning the hearts of many 25 years after she died.

Selena Quintanilla Perez will be honored as a Recording Academy Special Merit Award honoree at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards.

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Selena will become a Lifetime Achievement Award winner alongside Salt-N-Pepa, Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, Lionel Hampton, Marilyn Horne, and Talking Heads. The honorees will be recognized on Jan. 31, 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, more details about the special award presentation event will be announced at a later date.

“As we welcome the new class of Special Merit Award honorees, it gives us a chance to reward and recognize the influence they’ve had in the music community regardless of genre,” Harvey Mason jr., Interim President/CEO of the Recording Academy, said. “As a music creator and music lover, I am grateful that we are able to look back at our influences and see the impact that they have made on our community. In a year where music has helped keep us together, I look forward to honoring this iconic group of music creators.”

Selena’s 1993 album, Live, won Best Mexican-American Album at the 36th Annual GRAMMY Awards, marking the first time a female Tejano artist won the category.


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Prairie View A&M University graduate with a master’s degree in Digital Media Studies from Sam Houston State. Delta woman. Proud aunt. Lover of the color purple. 💜

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