[3][4] Honors in several categories are presented at the ceremony annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States for outstanding achievements in the music industry.
[5][6] The first Grammy Legend Awards were issued in 1990 to Smokey Robinson, Willie Nelson, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Liza Minnelli.
[7] The next year, four more musicians (Aretha Franklin, Billy Joel, Johnny Cash and Quincy Jones) were acknowledged with Grammy Legend Awards.
After 1994, when the American musicians Curtis Mayfield and Frank Sinatra were both issued Grammy Legend Awards, the honors have been given to recording artists intermittently.
The Bee Gees became the first recipients of the award in the 21st century when the brothers were acknowledged by the Grammys in 2003.