Music Industry’s Most Exclusive Awards
by Sheldon Rocha Leal
Nearly every country in the world hosts a music award’s ceremony, usually endorsed by each individual country’s recording industry association and used to recognize the top musical achievers in a particular territory in a given year. The UK has the BRITS, South Africa the SAMA’s, the US has various awards including the American Music Awards and Grammies, Canada the Juno awards, Australia the ARIA awards and France the Victoires de la Musique.
Although these awards are prestigious, in their respective countries, and some even coveted by musicians around the world, like the Grammy awards, because of the number of commendations handed out annually, the value of the awards are sometimes diluted. Annually over 100 Grammy trophies are handed out, 43 Juno’s, 12 BRITS and nearly 30 ARIA and SAMAs.
The above awards, whilst prestigious, can almost be considered the entry level of musical achievement. As with anything in the music industry, there are levels of recognition and for the purposes of this article I have decided to focus on a group of commendations that are so exclusive that only a limited number are issued annually: the Polar Prize; Mercury Prize; Kennedy Center Honour; Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame; Pulitzer Prize in Music; Grammy Legend Award. Most of these awards are more commendations or a recognition of an artist’s body of work and not an award for a once off contribution. All besides the Mercury and Pulitzer Prize. What follows is a description and historical background of the latter mentioned awards.
Polar Prize
The Polar Prize is the music equivalent of the Nobel Prize. It was established in 1989 in Sweden by Stig Anderson, the former manager of the Swedish supergroup ABBA, with a donation granted by the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. It was handed out for the first time in 1992 and since then two awards have been issued annually, one for a contemporary and one for a classical musician. There are, however, two exceptions: in 2001 the prize was handed out to three musicians (composer, contemporary musician and inventor) and in 2003 the prize was handed out to one musician. The prize money is about US$120,000 and is handed over by the King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustav.
The prize is not limited to musicians from Sweden and rather nominations are taken by the committee that runs the awards, from various international music industry organizations. The Polar Prize is regulated by the Stig Anderson Music Award Foundation, the Swedish Society of Songwriters Composers and Authors and the Swedish Performing Rights Organisation. A committee consisting of musicians, members of the music industry and the Anderson family select winners from nominations made by various international music industry bodies.
The award has been handed out 57 times. Paul McCartney received the first award in 1992 along with the Baltic States, for their contribution to music advocacy and preservation of Baltic music. Other standout laureates include: Miriam Makeba (2002); Quincy Jones (1994); Sir Elton John (1995); Joni Mitchell (1996); Bruce Springsteen (1997); Ray Charles and Ravi Shankar (1998); Stevie Wonder (1999); Bob Dylan (2000); Burt Bacharach (2001); BB King (2004); Led Zeppelin (2006); Pink Floyd (2008); Peter Gabriel (2009); Björk and Ennio Morricone (2010); Paul Simon and Yo-Yo Ma (2012); Youssou N’Dour (2013); Chuck Berry (2014); Emmylou Harris (2015); Max Martin (2016); Sting (2017); Metallica (2018); Grandmaster Flash (2019).
Mercury Prize
The Mercury Prize was established in 1992 by the BPI (British Phonographic Industry) and the British Association of Record dealers as an alternative to the Brit Awards (the country’s main music awards ceremony). Whilst 12 Brit awards are handed out annually, excluding special awards, the Mercury Prize is one award handed out for the best British or Irish album of the year. Bands who consist of 50% British or Irish membership are eligible for the award.
In order for an album to be considered for the prize, recording labels need to submit their artist’s album to the selection committee. The committee consists of musicians, music presenters, music producers, music journalists, festival organizers and other relevant music industry stakeholders. Although the award is considered very prestigious, it is also seen by some musicians as a curse, similar to the Best New Artist Grammy curse. The Gorillaz’s debut album was shortlisted for the award in 2001. The band, however, asked for their album to be removed from contention as they saw the recognition as an albatross that they would wear around their neck for the rest of their careers.
All shortlisted artists receive a mini-statue in recognition of their achievement. The winner, on the other hand, walks away with the main statue and £25,000, one of the very few awards that comes with a cash reward. The biggest prize, however, is the increase in album sales winner’s experience after winning the award. Winners generally report anything from 400% to 2,000% increase in album sales after winning the prize.
Artists from any genre are considered for the award and the ceremony is generally held in October. The judges seem to favor more obscure artists vs mainstream artists for the prize. The award was named after the original sponsor of the event, Mercury Communications and since then various parties have sponsored it: Technics, Panasonic, Nationwide Building Society and Barclaycard. The current sponsor is Hyundai.
Only one act has ever won the award twice, PJ Harvey (2001; 2011) and only 26 awards have ever been issued. The winners include: Primal Scream for “Screamdelica” (1992); Suede for “Suede” (1993); MPeople for “Elegant Slumming” (1994); Portishead for “Dummy” (1995); Pulp for “Different Class” (1996); Roni Size/Reprazent for “New Forms” (1997); Gomez for “Bring It On” (1998); Talvin Sign for “Ok” (1999); Badly Drawn Boy for “The Hour of Bewilderbeast” (2000); Ms Dynamite for “A Little Deeper” (2002); Dizzee Rascal for “Boy In Da Corner” (2003); Franz Ferdinand for “Franz Ferdinand” (2004); Antony and the Johnsons for “I Am A Bird Now” (2005); Arctic Monkeys for “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not” (2006); Klaxons for “Myths Of The Near Future” (2007); Elbow for “The Seldom Seen Kid” (2008); Speech Debelle for “Speech Therapy” (2009); The xx for “xx” (2010); alt-J for “An Awesome Wave” (2012); James Blake for “Overgrown” (2013); Young Fathers for “Dead” (2014); Benjamin Clementine for “At Least For Now” (2015); Skepta for “Konnichiwa” (2016); Sampha for “Process” (2017); Wolf Alive for “Visions of a Life” (2018).
Kennedy Center Honours
The Kennedy Center Honours we’re established in 1978, 11 years after the establishment of the center. Roger Stevens, the then chairman of the Kennedy Center tasked George Stevens, the founder of the American Film Institute, to develop an event that would take place at the center on an annual basis. George and Nick Vanoff came up with an idea of creating a ceremony that would honor major contributors to the arts, who made a difference in their art form in their lifetime.
The idea was pitched to CBS, who bought the concept and agreed to televise the show. Annually nominations are taken from the general public and a committee, The Special Honours Advisory Committee, consisting of past honorees, distinguished artists and two members of the Board of Trustees, decide on a shortlist of possible honorees. The Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees then makes a final decision as to who the honorees will be, for the upcoming ceremony. Honorees are shortlisted based on their contribution to Music, Dance, Theatre, Opera, Motion Pictures or Television. Selections are announced between July and September.
The event takes place over a full weekend and consists of various events: a Chairman’s Luncheon, State Department Dinner, White House Reception and the Gala Evening. At the latter honorees are serenaded by famous artists from the music industry and other tributes are conveyed. At the State Department dinner the honorees are awarded a medallion set on rainbow coloured ribbons, symbolizing the spectrum of artistic skills represented by the honoured guests. The award was designed by Ivan Chermayeff. The president of the United States and his wife usually presides over the festivities, but in 2017 for the first time in the honour’s history, Donald Trump stated that both he and his wife would not be in attendance at the related proceedings, as they did not want to distract from the various honoree’s big moment.
In the 40 year history of the honours over 217 awards have been issued and only once in the prize’s history has an award be rescinded. In 2018 Bill Cosby’s 1998 award was rescinded based on his sexual assault conviction in that year. The award has only ever been presented 10 times to a Duo or Group. Some of the luminaries that have won the award include: Fred Astaire (1978); Ella Fitzgerald (1979); Leonard Bernstein (1980); Count Basie (1981); Benny Goodman (1982); Frank Sinatra (1983); Ray Charles (1986); Sammy Davis jnr. (1987); Harry Belafonte (1989); Dizzy Gillespie (1990); Sir Georg Solti (1993); Aretha Franklin (1994); BB King (1995); Johnny Cash (1996); Bob Dylan (1997); Willie Nelson (1998); Stevie Wonder (1999); Placido Domingo and Chuck Berry (2000); Luciano Pavarotti, Julie Andrews and Quincy Jones (2001); Paul Simon (2002); James Brown and Loretta Lynn (2003); Sir Elton John (2004); Tony Bennett and Tina Turner (2005); Dolly Parton and Smokey Robinson (2006); Brian Wilson and Diana Ross (2007); Barbra Streisand and The Who (2008); Bruce Springsteen (2009); Merle Haggard and Sir Paul McCartney (2010); Neil Diamond and Yo-Yo Ma (2011); Buddy Guy and Led Zeppelin (2012); Herbie Hancock, Carlos Santana and Billy Joel (2013); Al Green and Sting (2014); Carole King (2015); The Eagles, James Taylor and Mavis Staples (2016); LL Cool J, Gloria Estefan and Lionel Richie (2017); Cher and Reba McEntire (2018).
Rock ‘n Roll Hall Of Fame
This is an honor that was established in 1983 by the legendary music executive, Ahmet Ertegun, in Cleveland, Ohio, to recognize the lifelong contribution of individuals to the music industry. The committee that started the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame foundation, the body that regulates the honours as well as runs the museum, consisted of Jann S. Wenner (music publisher), Allen Grubman (entertainment attorney) and recording executives, Seymour Stein, Bob Krasnow and Noreen Woods. They inducted their first honorees in 1986, before the prize even had a name.
One can be inducted onto the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame in one of 5 categories: Award for Musical Excellence; Ahmet Ertegun Award for Non-Performers; Early Influencers; Lifetime Achievement and Performers (the Main Award). The Performer’s award has been handed out every year since 1986, whilst the other awards are not necessarily handed out every year. More than one honoree in a category can be inducted in a year and the Performer’s Award has been handed out 227 times (up to 2019). The Award for Musical Excellence used to be known as the Sidemen Award, but the name was altered in 2010 so that more people could be included in the category. The Award for Musical Excellence has been handed out 22 times. The Ahmet Ertegun Award has been handed out 48 times to some very influential recording executives. The Early Influencers Award has been handed out 33 times and the Lifetime Achievement Award 7 times.
An honoree can only be eligible for the Performer’s Award 25 years after the release of their first record. The committee nominates honorees and they can induct anything from 9–12 performers. The list of nominees is sent out to over 600 rock experts who vote for their favorites. The prospective inductee needs to obtain at least 50% of the vote and only the highest ranked individuals are inducted. An artist can be nominated more than once before being inducted, as in the case of Janet Jackson who had been nominated every year since she was eligible, 2008, but was only inducted in 2019. Honorees in the other categories are voted for by special committees.
Eric Clapton is the only person to have been inducted three times, once as a solo artist, as a member of Cream and as a member of the Yardbirds. 22 acts have been inducted twice, including Michael Jackson who was inducted as a member of the Jackson 5 in 1997 and as a solo artist in 2001. The Beatles are only one of two bands whose entire line-up has been inducted twice. Stevie Wonder is the youngest person ever to be inducted onto the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame (38 years old in 1989).
Some of the iconic inductees include: James Brown (1986); Ray Charles (1986); Elvis Presley (1986); Marvin Gaye (1987); BB King (1987); Bob Dylan (1988); The Rolling Stones (1989); Simon and Garfunkel (1990); Ike & Tina Turner (1991); Johnny Cash (1992); Sir Elton John (1994); Bob Marley (1994); Rod Stewart (1994); Janis Joplin (1995); David Bowie (1996); Pink Floyd (1996); The Bee Gees (1997); Santana (1998); Bruce Springsteen (1999); Queen (2001); Prince (2004); Buddy Guy (2005); Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five (2007); Madonna (2008); Metallica (2009); Run-DMC (2009); Abba (2010); Darlene Love (2011); Donna Summer (2013); Kiss (2014); NWA (2016); Tupac Shakur (2017); Nina Simone (2018); Radiohead (2019).
Some of the Non-Performers to be inducted include: Alan Freed (1986); Sam Phillips (1986); Jerry Wexler (1997); Berry Gordy (1988); Phil Spector (1989); Gerry Goffin and Carole King (1990); George Martin (1999); Clive Davis (2000); David Geffen (2010); Lou Adler (2013); Quincy Jones (2013); Brian Epstein (2014) and Andrew Oldham (2014).
Pulitzer Prize in Music
When Joseph Pulitzer (famous politician and newspaper publisher) passed away in 1911 he left money in his will to Columbia University so that they could launch a journalism school and a prize, that would recognize achievements in journalism, literature and musical composition. The awards are administered by Columbia University in New York City and were handed out for the first time in 1917.
Honorees can win the Pulitzer Prize in one of 21 categories and winners (in 20 of the 21 categories) receive a certificate and a cash prize of US$15,000. Winners of the public service category receive a gold medal. One of the 21 categories is music. The music prize was handed out for the first time in 1943 and is awarded for “a distinguished musical composition of significant dimension by an American that has had its first performance or recording in the United States in that year”.
Over the years the selection criteria for compositions has been altered to make the prize more representative of a broader variety of music. In 1996 it was announced that the selection criteria would be altered to attract a wider range of music and in 2004 the rules surrounding the issuing of the award were altered once more to give contemporary musicians a better chance of winning. Many critics verbalized that the committee issuing the award had for too long favored academic music over other music and that the prize was not representative of what was happening in the world of music. Amongst the many changes made by the board to make the award more relevant was the alteration of the make-up of jury members that select winners, to include musicians, composers, presenters, performers and critics.
The first woman to win the award was Ellen Taaffe Zwilich in 1983, the first African American was George Walker in 1996, the first Jazz musician was Wynton Marsalis in 1997 and the first Hip-Hop artist was Kendrick Lamar in 2018 for “Damn”. The committee also awards citations to people who they feel made a significant contribution to music in America. Although the award is 76 years old, it has only been awarded 72 times, excluding citations, if one includes citations, the prize has been awarded 83 times. No prizes were issued in 1953, 1964, 1965 and 1981 as none of the shortlisted candidates received a majority vote by the jury.
Some of the significant artists cited by the Pulitzer Committee for music include: Scott Joplin (1976); George Gershwin (1998); Duke Ellington (1999); Thelonious Monk (2006); John Coltrane (2007); Bob Dylan (2008); Hank Williams (2010) and Aretha Franklin (2019). Only 4 people have ever won the award twice: Walter Piston (1948 and 1961); Gian Carlo Menotti (1950 and 1955); Samuel Barber (1958 and 1963); Elliot Carter (1960 and 1973).
Grammy Legend Award
The Grammy Awards were issued for the first time in 1958 and generally an award is issued in nearly all, approximately 100 categories (depending on the year) annually. That is all besides the Grammy Legend Award. The award was issued for the first time in 1990 and was designed to honour and recognize “ongoing contributions and influence in the recording field”. It is a special award of merit, which means that it is not limited to the output an artist makes in a year, genre of music or artist nationality. These awards are also handed out without nominations at the NARAS (National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the body that administers the awards) Board’s discretion. Out of the special awards of merit, which consist of 6 categories (Lifetime Achievement, Grammy Hall of Fame, Technical, Trustees Award, MusicCares Person of the Year), the Grammy Legend Award is the most exclusive.
Although the award is now 29 years old, it has only been issued 15 times and the last time it was awarded was in 2003 to the legendary band, The Bee Gees. The remaining recipients of the award include: Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber, Liza Minnelli, Smokey Robinson and Willie Nelson in 1990; Aretha Franklin, Billy Joel, Johnny Cash and Quincy Jones in 1991; Barbra Streisand (1992); Michael Jackson (1993); Curtis Mayfield and Frank Sinatra (1994); Luciano Pavarotti (1998); Sir Elton John (1999).
It is quite an achievement to be considered for any of the above awards, but some artists have won three or more of the above honours. Sir Elton John and Quincy Jones have both won 4 awards (Polar Prize; Kennedy Center Honour; Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame; Grammy Legend Award). Bob Dylan has also won 4 of the awards (Polar Prize; Kennedy Center Honour; Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame; Pulitzer Prize). He has also gone one step further and has been honoured with the Nobel Prize for Literature, making him the only musician in history to do so. Paul Simon, BB King, Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles have all won the Polar Prize, Kennedy Center Honour and Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame.
What I like about the majority of the awards highlighted in this article is that although they are hosted in a particular country there is no limitation with regard to the nationality of the honoree or the genre of music they produce, this levels out the playing field. Although I’m not crazy about competition in the arts, I do feel that it’s important to honour the people that have pushed the art of music forward and have made major contributions to the art form and for the most part that is what the above prizes are doing. Hopefully somewhere down the line we in South Africa will learn from the above bodies and start a prize that will honour and preserve the legacy of some of our greatest musical contributors.
