Mary J. Blige’s Lifetime Achievement Award Shows How BET Beats Recording Academy in R&B Honors
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The singer has yet to receive a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy. That’s true of most BET lifetime honorees.
Mary J. Blige is the 19th recipient of BET's lifetime achievement award. She is slated to receive the honor at tonight's BET Awards, which will be held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Actress Regina Hall is hosting.
Like all but six of the previous BET lifetime achievement award honorees, Blige has yet to receive a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy.
Just three BET lifetime achievement award recipients — James Brown, Al Green and Smokey Robinson — had received the equivalent honor from the Recording Academy before they got the BET award.
Three other BET lifetime honorees — Earth, Wind & Fire, the Isley Brothers and Diana Ross — subsequently received an Academy lifetime honor.
That means that 13 of the BET honorees have yet to receive that award from the Recording Academy. Some of them may surprise you — especially Prince, Whitney Houston and Lionel Richie.
Six of the 19 recipients of BET's lifetime achievement award have yet to win a competitive Grammy in any category. They are Ross (either solo or with the Supremes), the O'Jays, Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, Charlie Wilson (either solo or with the Gap Band), actor Samuel L. Jackson and New Edition. (Maze and Jackson were never even nominated for a Grammy, though that's not really surprising in the case of Jackson, the only actor to receive the BET lifetime achievement award.)
Here's a chronological list of all 19 BET lifetime achievement award recipients. Their names are followed by a notation on the six artists who have received lifetime achievement awards from the Recording Academy, followed by the number of Grammy wins and nominations they have received in regular competition.
2001: Whitney Houston
Six Grammy wins; 25 noms.
2002: Earth, Wind & Fire
Recording Academy honor in 2016. Six Grammy wins; 17 noms.
2003: James Brown
Recording Academy honor in 1992. Three Grammy wins; eight noms.
2004: The Isley Brothers
Recording Academy honor in 2014. One Grammy win; four noms.
2005: Gladys Knight
Seven Grammy wins; 22 noms.
2006: Chaka Khan
10 Grammy wins; 22 noms.
2007: Diana Ross
Recording Academy honor in 2012. No Grammy wins; 12 noms.
2008: Al Green
Recording Academy honor in 2002. 11 Grammy wins; 21 noms.
2009: The O'Jays
No Grammy wins; four noms.
2010: Prince
Seven Grammy wins; 38 noms.
2011: Patti LaBelle
Two Grammy wins; 13 noms.
2012: Maze featuring Frankie Beverly
No Grammy wins; no noms.
2013: Charlie Wilson
No Grammy wins; 13 noms.
2014: Lionel Richie
Four Grammy wins; 32 noms.
2015: Smokey Robinson
Recording Academy honor in 1999. One Grammy win; five noms.
2016: Samuel L. Jackson
No Grammy wins; no noms.
2017: New Edition
No Grammy wins; one nom.
2018: Anita Baker
Eight Grammy wins; 18 noms.
2019: Mary J. Blige
Nine Grammy wins; 31 noms.
