The Recording Academy will host a Special Merit Award ceremony in February ahead of the 65th Annual Grammy Awards to honor the recipients of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Awards. The Supremes have been announced as one of the show’s 2023 honorees. They are joined by Nirvana, Nile Rodgers, Slick Rick, Ma Rainey, Bobby McFerrin, and Heart members Ann Wilson and Nancy Wilson. The honors will be presented at the Special Merit Awards ceremony on February 4, 2023 in Los Angeles.
By any standard, The Supremes are one of the top female groups in music history. Founded by Diana Ross, Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard, The Supremes achieved 12 No. 1 hits on the Hot 100. They also had three No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 – The Supremes A’ Go-Go, Diana Ross and the Supremes Greatest Hits and TCB (a collaboration with The Temptations).
Amazingly, they received just two Grammy nominations. “Baby Love” was nominated for best rhythm & blues recording of 1964. “Stop! In the Name of Love” was up for best contemporary performance by a group the following year. Three of their hits – “Where Did Our Love Go,” “Stop! In the Name of Love” and “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” – have since been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
The Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to artists who “have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording,” according to the Recording Academy. As the Supremes receive the honor, Diana Ross becomes the first woman to receive the award twice, once as part of a group and once as a solo artist. She first earned the honor on her own in 2012.
Billboard