The Latin Recording Academy has revealed the award recipients for Lifetime Achievements, as part of its annual Special Awards Presentation. Olga Tañón, Susana Baca, Enrique Bunbury, Ivan Lins and Pandora will be recognized as performers who have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to Latin music and its communities.
Additionally, producer and engineer Eric Schilling — known for his long-standing creative partnership with Gloria and Emilio Estefan — will receive the Trustees award. The first recipient of the Latin Music Educator Award will be revealed during the ceremony.
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“It is an immense privilege to honor these musical legends—who continue redefining our Latin music and heritage—as well as our inaugural Latin Music Educator award recipient,” said Manuel Abud, CEO of The Latin Recording Academy. “We look forward to celebrating them all as part of our 26th Annual Latin Grammy Week festivities.”
The Trustees Award is bestowed on individuals who have made significant contributions to Latin music during their careers in ways other than performance. Both distinctions are voted on by The Latin Recording Academy’s Board of Trustees. Schilling has previously received 12 Latin Grammys and eight Grammys for such albums as “The Diary Of Alicia Keys” and “Shakira – MTV Unplugged.” An expert in engineering major broadcast events, he has also won 8 Emmy Awards for Outstanding Sound Mixing.
Puerto Rican singer Tañón launched to stardom with her 1994 mega-hit “Es Mentiroso.” The merengue — a genre that at the time was predominantly male and confined to the Dominican Republic — hit was one of many styles Tañón came to record as she also performed in bachata, salsa and Latin pop.
Afro-Peruvian singer Susana initially worked as a schoolteacher, then began traveling across the Peruvian coastline with her husband, Ricardo Pereira, studying the culture. By the mid-‘90s, her recording of the Chabuca Granda gem “María Landó” ignited a growing interest in the Afro-Peruvian genre.
Born in Zaragoza in 1967, Bunbury gained fame between the late 80s and the early 90s as the vocalist for the band Héroes del Silencio. But it was his solo output — beginning with classic albums like 1999’s Pequeño and 2002’s Flamingos — that found him developing a Latin American folklore with chiaroscuro shades of cabaret music.
Lins is the Brazilian creator of such anthems as “Madalena” and “Começar de Novo.” The keyboardist and singer-songwriter began his career in bossa nova, but quickly took flight and developed a deeply personal, cosmopolitan musical language of his own.
Mexican vocal trio Pandora earned their first international hit in 1985 with “Cómo Te Va Mi Amor,” and went on to collaborate with such musical legends as Armando Manzanero and Frank Sinatra, Julie Andrews and Luis Miguel.
The Latin Music Educator Award is a new distinction, in partnership with the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation, that recognizes one exceptional educator from the global music community who is making a significant impact by incorporating Latin music into their curriculum. Additionally, the recipient’s school music program will receive a $10,000 instrument donation to support continued music education.
The honorees will be celebrated during a private event, presented for the second consecutive year by Windstar Cruises on Nov. 9 in Las Vegas.
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