At the 2026 Grammy Awards, renowned Afrobeat pioneer Fela Anikulapo-Kuti will receive a posthumous Special Merit Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Recording Academy acknowledged Fela as the “architect of Afrobeat,” whose contributions revolutionised the genre and impacted several performers.
“An architect of Afrobeat, honoured for a lifetime of influence. Fela Kuti was a Nigerian musician, producer, arranger, political radical, activist, and the father of Afrobeat. In the 1960s, he created the genre by combining funk, jazz, salsa, calypso, and a blend of traditional Nigerian rhythms,” the statement read in part.
He will be joining an esteemed group of past recipients, including Whitney Houston, Cher, and Paul Simon.
Fela’s impact on music is undeniable, having created Afrobeat in the 1960s by blending funk, jazz, salsa, calypso, and traditional Nigerian rhythms.
The academy added, “His influence spans generations, shaping modern Nigerian Afrobeats and inspiring global artists such as Beyoncé, Paul McCartney, and Thom Yorke. His legacy continues to live on not only through music, but through his family and through the Kalakuta Museum and the New Afrika Shrine.
ALSO READ: “Fela Called My Album Rubbish On Stage”- Femi Kuti Reveals
“On January 31, 2026, we are honouring this year’s Special Merit Award recipients, including Fela Kuti with a Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award.”
The Special Merit Awards ceremony will take place on January 31, 2026, during Grammy Week, ahead of the main Grammys event.
In April, Afrobeat legend, Femi Kuti said he faced harsh opposition from his father, Fela, after he left the Afrobeat pioneer’s band in 1986.
He explained that Fela’s fans turned against him as they saw his exit from his father’s band as a rebellion.
The multiple Grammy-nominated artist said his father also demoralised him when he dropped his debut album after he harshly criticised it in the press.
Fela Kuti told me my song was “rubbish” – Femi Kuti
He stated that during the album launch, his father walked to the stage and told the press that the album was “rubbish.”
Speaking in a recent episode of the Sonically podcast hosted by Elmo Chong, Femi Kuti said,
“When I left my father’s band, his fanbase turned against me. It was like, how dare you fight Fela?
But it wasn’t a fight. I was lost. Had no formal education, how was I going to become a great musician? I was lost. I was crying inside me. But people didn’t understand, they thought I was doing what I was doing because I was protesting.
