Julie, Ramones get lifetime Grammys
Singer Katy Perry arrives while Jennifer Hudson performs at the pre-Grammy gala & salute to industry icons in Beverly Hills
Punk pioneers the Ramones, British actress and singer Julie Andrews and jazz drummer Roy Haynes were among the diverse musical stars who received Grammy Awards for lifetime achievement on Saturday.
They were honoured at a ceremony alongside country music’s Dolly Parton, the Juilliard String Quartet, folk revivalists the Kingston Trio, and gospel legend George Beverly Shea, whose rich baritone is still intact at age 102.
The event took place a day before the 53rd annual Grammy Awards are handed out, and the honorees will be acknowledged during the telecast. But that was not enough for the brother of late Ramones singer Joey Ramone. “This should be televised tomorrow night, and you should bump Justin Bieber,” joked Mickey Leigh.
It was a bittersweet moment for the Ramones, a group whose stripped-down, fast-paced songs such as Blitzkrieg Bop and Sheena Is a Punk Rocker paved the way for bands like the Sex Pistol and Green Day. But they never achieved commercial success, and three of the founding members died in the past decade: bassist Dee Dee Ramone and guitarist Johnny Ramone, as well as Joey Ramone. The members were not related, and took fraternal stage names.
Still recording and touring is Haynes, a seminal figure in the post-war jazz scene who played with Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane.
“Now that the days are short, we’re in the winter of the year, and I think of my life as vintage wine in fine old kegs,” he said.
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