Nigeria’s late Afrobeat king,Fela Anikulapo-Kuti is set to make history as the first African artist to receive a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, nearly three decades after his death.
The Recording Academy announced that the “King of Afrobeat” will be honoured at the 2026 Grammy Awards, marking a symbolic reconciliation between Fela’s revolutionary music and the global music establishment he fiercely criticised during his lifetime.
The award will be presented at the Special Merit Awards Ceremony on Saturday, January 31, at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles, a day before the main 68th Grammy Awards ceremony.
The Academy said, “Fela’s influence and catalogue of music have been widely celebrated and explored, including the podcast series Fela Kuti: Fear No Man (the New Yorker’s No. 1 Podcast of 2025) and the Tony Award-winning Broadway run of Fela! The Musical from 2008 to 2010. Fela’s influence spans generations, inspiring artists such as Beyoncé, Paul McCartney and Thom Yorke, and shaping modern Nigerian Afrobeats.
“A titanic sociopolitical voice, Afrobeat’s revolutionary politics brought Fela into violent conflict with successive Nigerian military regimes, which made many attempts to suppress him and once sent in the army to burn down his communal home, Kalakuta Republic.”
Members of his family are to receive the award although Fela’s son, Seun Kuti, who currently leads the iconic Egypt 80 band, disclosed that he would be unable to attend the ceremony in person due to travel restrictions.
“We are all proud as a family,” Seun said. “It is just a shame that I can’t be there physically to join my family to accept the honour because of travel restrictions.
“Trump has banned me because of talks of Christian genocide. Nevertheless, the family is proud. It’s a good day for African music, Afrobeat culture, and resistance music.”
The award will be formally received by Fela’s children, Yeni, Femi and Kunle Kuti, who have continued to preserve and promote his legacy through the New Afrika Shrine and other cultural platforms linked to the former Kalakuta Republic.
The award comes days after a heated debate about who is greater Afrobeat star between Fela and Whizkid fronted public discussions
Seun Kuti who was in the spotlight of the controversy however, used the moment of recognition to advocate unity within the music industry rather than rivalry.
“The term ‘greatest’ has a lot to do with comparison,” Seun explained. “My point has always been: don’t compare. Our artists and culture should breed cooperation, not pitch people against each other. Fela is great, and that is the truth. What we must question is the mindset of those who feel they are not great unless they are compared to others.”
Fela died in 1997 at the age of 58. He is being honoured for creating Afrobeat, a genre that fused West African highlife, jazz, funk and traditional rhythms, while using his music as a weapon against military dictatorship, corruption and social injustice.
The Academy acknowledged Fela’s “inestimable contributions” to global music stating that his sound and ideology laid the foundation for the modern Afrobeats movement currently dominating international charts.
The distinguished list of 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award recipients, also include Whitney Houston, Carlos Santana, Chaka Khan, Cher and Paul Simon.
The honour follows the 2025 induction of Fela’s 1976 album Zombie into the Grammy Hall of Fame, further cementing his enduring influence.
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