Eva Ayllón, Joan Baez, José Cid, Lupita D’Alessio, Hugo Fattoruso, Pimpinela, Omara Portuondo, and José Luis Rodríguez “El Puma” will receive the Latin Recording Academy’s 2019 Lifetime Achievement Awards, the academy has announced.
“Father of rock en español” Mario Kaminsky will receive the Academy’s Trustees Award. A ceremony to honor the awardees is to be held Nov. 13 — the day before the Latin Grammys — at a private lunch event at the Waldorf Astoria in Las Vegas.
The Lifetime Achievement Awards “presented to performers who have made contributions of outstanding artistic significance to Latin music” according to a vote by the Latin Academy’s board of trustees, nods to the careers of notable, and diverse, women artists this year.
Baez, whose father was born in Puebla, Mexico, is being honored for having “bravely embraced her Latin roots” by performing and making recordings in Spanish, including those on her 1974 album Gracias a la Vida, and supporting Latin American social causes.
Eva Allyón is known for keeping the traditions of Afro-Peruvian music alive, performing at Carnegie Hall among myriad other international venues.
Eighty-nine-year-old Omara Portuondo, who is currently on her farewell tour, capped an esteemed career as a jazz and bolero singer with international fame kicked off by the 1997 album Buena Vista Social Club.
Lupita D’Alessio, who began her career in the early ´70s, has embraced pop and ranchera, putting her personal stamp on the Mexican sound.
The influential Argentine sister and brother duo Pimpinela are known for their romantic pop songs and telenovela-esque onstage performances.
José Luis Rodríguez “El Puma,” from Venezuela, is one of Latin pop’s biggest icons. José Cid, whose cover band Os Babies marked a decisive moment in Portugal in the 1950s, adapted elements of English language rock-n-roll to create an original style of Portuguese popular music.
Uruguayan keyboardist, singer and composer Hugo Fattoruso’s fusions of rock, jazz, bossa nova and South American folk have been the hallmark of a personal sound heard on his productions with key Brazilian artists and recordings of his own groups, starting with the early rock en español band Los Shakers in the 1960s.
Trustees Award winner Mario Kaminsky is a native of Chile who founded the storied record label Microfón Argentina in 1959, which released pioneering albums by Atahualpa Yupanqui, Charly Garcia and Luis Albero Spinetta. Kaminsky later was president of Fonovisa Records’ Argentine arm, and has worked in radio, television, music publishing, and film production.
“Each of these legends continues leaving their mark in the Latin music world through their talent, grace, and passion for creating sounds that have vibrated throughout our communities while helping to build our music for decades,” Gabriel Abaroa Jr., Latin Recording Academy President/CEO said in a statement.
Former Latin Grammy winner Johnny Ventura and Mexican journalist Paola Rojas will be the hosts of the Latin Grammy Special Awards event.
The 20th Annual Latin Grammy Awards will be held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Nov. 14 and broadcast live on Univision.