Sponsors have been announced for the annual GRAMMY Week® celebration hosted by the Recording Academy™ Producers & Engineers Wing®, this year honoring eight-time GRAMMY® Award winner Willie Nelson, for his commitment to creative and sonic excellence and his ongoing support for the art and craft of recorded music.
This year, Dolby joins Iron Mountain Entertainment Services as a Premier Sponsor for the event. Iron Mountain's involvement is an extension of its ongoing year-round partnership with the Wing. Event sponsor partners include Shure, Music Marketing (representing the brands Celemony, NUGEN Audio and FabFilter), Jaxsta, Audio-Technica, BMI, iZotope, Lurssen Mastering, Arthur J. Gallagher Risk Management, Louisiana Entertainment, AFM & SAG-AFTRA Intellectual Property Rights Distribution Fund, and Joe D’Ambrosio Management.
This exclusive, invitation-only event will be held Wednesday, Feb. 6, at The Village Studios in West Los Angeles. Now in its milestone 12th year, the evening also celebrates the artistic contributions of the P&E Wing's 6,000-plus professional members. GRAMMY Week culminates with the 61st Annual GRAMMY Awards® on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, airing live on the CBS Television Network, at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT.
Maureen Droney, Recording Academy Managing Director, P&E Wing and Recording Technology, stated, "We are excited to return to L.A. for the 61st GRAMMYs after our banner 60th Anniversary ceremony held in New York last year. Our P&E Wing event is the signature event of our year, and we’re especially thrilled to celebrate the career of the iconic Willie Nelson. A special thanks goes out to our sponsors, without whom this event would not be possible. These companies have come forward to support the professionals who represent the essential backbone of the recording industry, and we look forward to sharing this evening with them.”
With a six-decade career and more than 200 albums, Nelson is the creative force behind historic recordings such as "Crazy," Red Headed Stranger, and Stardust. He has earned innumerable accolades as a songwriter and musician, while also amassing admirable credentials as an author, actor and activist, and he continues to thrive as a relevant and progressive musical and cultural force. A leading figure in outlaw country music, he is also known for his hugely successful collaborations with Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, Julio Iglesias, and with the Highwaymen supergroup (Johnny Cash, Jennings, Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson). Never one to play it safe, his distinctive style combines elements of jazz, blues, swing, honky-tonk, traditional pop, folk and rock. During the past 10 years, Nelson has delivered 14 new albums, released the Top 10 New York Times bestselling book It’s A Long Story: My Life, and continues to headline Farm Aid, an event he co-founded in 1985. Additionally, Nelson has headlined three years of the ongoing Luck Reunion food and music festival at his ranch in Luck, Texas, during SXSW, announced the launch of his cannabis company Willie’s Reserve, and graced the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. Nelson continues to record more new songs for upcoming projects as well as touring throughout North America. His latest 2018 release is a tribute to the songs sung by Frank Sinatra, titled, fittingly, My Way; and he just recently debuted a new single, "Vote 'Em Out."
Previous Producers & Engineers Wing honorees include:
2009—Ahmet & Nesuhi Ertegun; Jerry Wexler; Arif Mardin & Tom Dowd
2010—Chris Blackwell
2011—T Bone Burnett
2012—Jimmy Iovine
2013—Quincy Jones & Al Schmitt
2014—Neil Young
2015—Nile Rodgers
2016—Rick Rubin
2017—Jack White
2018—Alicia Keys & Swizz Beatz
For more information about the Academy, please visit grammy.com.
