Michael Jackson to Be Honored With Lifetime Achievement Grammy

Michael Jackson will be honored posthumously next month when the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards are held in Los Angeles on January 31st. The big show will be beamed live into America's living rooms starting at 8 p.m. on CBS; the Special Merit Awards will be doled out a day before, during an invite-only ceremony, though it's almost certain a larger Jackson tribute is in the works for the prime-time telecast. Per Contact Music, LL Cool J, who hosted the Grammy nominations concert earlier this month, says he'd like to see Chris Brown, Justin Timberlake, Usher and more stars perform "Billie Jean."

Check out all of Rolling Stone's Grammy coverage.

Jackson is among those who will receive the Grammy's Lifetime Achievement Award. Other recipients of this year's honor include Leonard Cohen, Bobby Darin, David "Honeyboy" Edwards, Loretta Lynn, Andre Previn and Clark Terry. Harold Bradley, who founded Castle Recording Studio, Nashville's earliest recording studio, Florence Greenberg, the late owner of Scepter Records, and Walter C. Miller, former CMA Awards Executive Producer, will all be singled out as Trustees Award honorees, for their outstanding contributions to the industry in a non-performing capacity.

Look back at Jackson's epic career, in photos.

In June, just days after Jackson's death, the BET Awards scrambled together a tribute that featured New Edition singing a medley of Jackson 5 songs and a few words from a very shaken Janet Jackson. Madonna honored Jackson with a lengthy speech at the top of MTV's Video Music Awards in September, and her talk was followed by a special performance of "Scream" by Janet accompanied by big-name choreographers who worked with and were inspired by Michael.

The King of Pop was up for five American Music Awards this year, and took home four trophies. His work was not eligible for any Grammy nods.

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Song Stories

“Help Me”

Joni Mitchell | 1974

Joni Mitchell wrote and recorded this song for her album Court and Spark, but she had to switch from her regular band to make the song sound exactly the way she wanted. "I had attempted to play my music with rock & roll players," she told Rolling Stone. "They’d laugh, 'Awww, isn't that cute? She's trying to teach us how to play.'" Mitchell switched to a jazz band, Tom Scott’s L.A. Express, and scored the biggest hit of her career in the process.

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