NEW YORK, NEW YORK – January 11th 2006 — On January 10th, recipients of the 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award were announced by The Recording Academy® in Santa Monica, CA. Celebrated operatic soprano Jessye Norman is among the winners of this year’s award which also include David Bowie, Cream, Merle Haggard, Robert Johnson, Richard Pryor, and the Weavers.

The Lifetime Achievement Award honors lifelong artistic contributions to the recording medium and are decided by vote of The Recording Academy's National Trustees. This award has been granted to the most legendary musicians in all genres. "This year's honorees are a prestigious group of diverse and influential creators who have made us some of the most distinguished and influential recordings,” said Recording Academy President Neil Portnow." Miss Norman is only the fourth opera singer to have this honor bestowed upon her – the others are Leontyne Price, Marian Anderson and Enrico Caruso.

“I am extremely honored and privileged to be the recipient of this prestigious award,” Miss Norman says, “and to find myself in the company of such illustrious predecessors including the empress Marian Anderson and our queen, Leontyne Price, a wonderful company indeed.”

About the award, her legacy and future plans Miss Norman goes on to say, ”I am fortunate to collaborate with some of the finest musicians of our time who are also dedicated to achieving the highest standard of performance and I am proud of my recorded legacy of many of the greatest musical masterpieces of western civilization. I look forward to further musical challenges including my tour of Europe this year, my continued collaboration with Pierre Boulez in Paris and my much anticipated performance and teaching experience in South Africa.”

Formal acknowledgment of these special merit awards will be made at an elite ceremony during GRAMMY Week on Tuesday, Feb. 7, as well as during the 48th Annual GRAMMY Awards, which will be held at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2006, and broadcast live at 8 p.m. ET/PT on the CBS Television Network.

Other classical musicians who have received the recording academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award are: Leonard Bernstein, Pablo Casals, Van Cliburn, Morton Gould, Jascha Heifetz, Vladimir Horowitz, Henry Mancini, Arthur Rubinstein, Andres Segovia, Georg Solti, Isaac Stern, Igor Stravinsky and Arturo Toscanini.  A sampling of other recipients from outside classical music: Beach Boys James Brown, Johnny Cash, John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, Billy Holiday, Lena Horne, Paul McCartney, The Who, Hank Williams Sr., Bob Marley and Elvis Presley.

About Jessye Norman:
An outstanding and prominent opera, recital, and collaborative singer, Jessye Norman made her debut in Berlin in 1968 after winning an international music competition, quickly becoming a major success in Europe and the United States. She captured attention and esteem from the music community for her powerful and lustrous voice as well as her thoughtful and provocative music-making. She is recognized globally for her vocal successes as well as her humanitarian efforts. In 1997, she became the youngest person to receive the Kennedy Center Honor. She has received approximately 30 decorations and awards, and was appointed as an honorary U.N. ambassador in 1990.

Miss Norman’s distinguished catalogue of recordings on the Philips label have won numerous awards, including France’s "Grand Prix National du Disque" for albums of lieder by Wagner, Schumann, Mahler and Schubert; London’s prestigious Gramophone Award for her outstanding interpretation of Strauss’ "Four Last Songs"; Amsterdam’s Edison Prize; and recording honors in Belgium, Spain, and Germany. In the United States, her Grammy Award winning recording includes "Songs of Maurice Ravel," and Wagner’s Lohengrin and Die Walkure. In 2005, the Philips label celebrated Jessye Norman’s recorded legacy with the release of a major catalogue retrospective of her work entitled the Jessye Norman Collection. This series includes ten 2-CD sets of her recordings from throughout her tenure with the Philips label.

In addition to her busy performance schedule, Miss Norman serves on the Boards of Directors for The New York Public Library, the New York Botanical Garden, City-meals-on-Wheels in New York City, The Dance Theatre of Harlem, The National Music Foundation and the Elton John AIDS Foundation. Miss Norman is a member of the board as well as national spokesperson for the LUPUS Foundation and spokesperson for The Partnership for the Homeless. And in her hometown of Augusta, Georgia, she serves on the Board of Trustees of Paine College and The Augusta Opera Association. An enthusiastic Girl Scout cookie seller, she is a life time member of the Girl Scouts of America. Miss Norman resides in New York State.