Recording Academy Adds Two Linda Ronstadt Albums to Grammy Hall of Fame, Including “Canciones de Mi Padre”

Linda Ronstadt is pulling a double…

The Recording Academy has announced 29 songs and albums that it’ll add to the Grammy Hall of Fame, with the 74-year-old half-Mexican American singer landing two albums on the list.

Linda Ronstadt

Ronstadt’s Spanish-language album Canciones de Mi Padre, released in 1987, has earned a place in the Grammy Hall.

Ronstadt’s first album of Mexican traditional Mariachi music immediately became a global smash. It sold 2.5 million copies in the U.S. and has been RIAA certified double-platinum. It won Ronstadt the Grammy Award for Best Mexican/Mexican-American Album at the 31st Grammy Awards.

Canciones de Mi Padre

Ronstadt was also recognized for Triothe country album she made with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris. It was also released in 1987.

The album has sold over 4 million copies worldwide and has also received several accolades, including the Grammy for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.

Trio, Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris

The Grammy Hall now includes 1,142 recordings.

“We are proud to announce this year’s diverse roster of Grammy Hall of Fame inductees and to recognize recordings that have shaped our industry and inspires music makers of tomorrow,” Harvey Mason Jr., chair and interim president/CEO of the Recording Academy, said in a statement. “Each recording has had a significant impact on our culture, and it is an honor to add them to our distinguished catalog.”

Here’s the full list of 2021 Grammy Hall of Fame inductees:

“Au Clair de la Lune,” Edouard-Leon Scott De Martinville, single (c. 1853-61)
“Blues Breakers,” John Mayall with Eric Clapton, album  (1966)
Canciones de Mi Padre,” Linda Ronstadt, album (1987)
“Clean Up Woman,” Betty Wright, single (1971)
“Copenhagen,” Fletcher Henderson And His Orchestra, single (1924)
“Don’t Stop Believin’,” Journey, single (1981)
“Freight Train,” Elizabeth Cotton, single (1958)
“Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.,” Bruce Springsteen, album (1973)
“Horses,” Patti Smith, album (1975)
“Hot Buttered Soul,” Isaac Hayes, album (1969)
“In the Right Place,” Dr. John, album (1973)
“Licensed to Ill,” Beastie Boys, album (1986)
“Mad Dogs & Englishmen,” Joe Cocker, album (1970)
“Mercy, Mercy, Mercy! Live at ‘The Club’,” The Cannonball Adderley Quintet, album (1966)
“Ravel: Piano Concerto in G Major,” Leonard Bernstein with the Philharmonia Orchestra Of London, album (1948)
“Schoenberg: The Four String Quartets,” Kolisch String Quartet, album (1937)
“So,” Peter Gabriel, album (1986)
“Solitude,” Billie Holiday, single (1952)
“Ten,” Pearl Jam, album (1991)
“Texas Flood,” Stevie Ray Vaughan And Double Trouble, album (1983)
“The Cars,” The Cars, album (1978)
“The Gambler,” Kenny Rogers, single (1978)
“The Low End Theory,” A Tribe Called Quest, album (1991)
“Time Is On My Side,” Irma Thomas, single (1964)
Trio,” Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, album (1987)
“We Are The World,” USA For Africa, single (1985)
“When the Levee Breaks,” Kansas Joe And Memphis Minnie, single (1929)
“Wreck of the Old 97,” Vernon Dalhart, single (1924)
“Y.M.C.A.,” Village People, single (1978)

Selena to Receive the Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award

There’s no denying Selena’s life, cut too short, has left a lasting impression on the world. And, now the music industry’s learned academy is celebrating her impact.

The late Mexican-American singer, known as la Reina de la Musica Tejana, is among the six artists selected by the Recording Academy to receive 2021 Lifetime Achievement Awards.

Selena Quintanilla

Selena, who was shot and killed on March 31, 1995, 16 days before her 24th birthday, by her friend and the former manager of her Selena Etc. boutiques, received two Grammy nominations in 1993-94. She won the 1993 award for best Mexican American album for Live, marking the first time a female Tejano artist had won in the category.

Selena ranks among the most influential Latin artists of all time and is credited for catapulting a music genre into the mainstream market. She has sold around 30 million records worldwide, making her one of the best-selling female artists in Latin music.

This year’s other lifetime achievement award recipients include Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, Salt-N-Pepa, Talking Heads, Marilyn Horne and Lionel Hampton.

The honorees will be recognized on the 63rd annual Grammy Awards on January 31, and at greater length subsequently. For the last five years, the Special Merit Awards honorees were saluted on a PBS special, Grammy Salute to Music Legends.

“As we welcome the new class of Special Merit Award honorees, it gives us a chance to reward and recognize the influence they’ve had in the music community regardless of genre,” Harvey Mason Jr., chair and interim president/CEO of the Recording Academy, said in a statement.

Here’s a detailed look at this year’s honorees:

Lifetime Achievement Awards:

Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five: The group was formed in the South Bronx in 1978. The group, which was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, consisted of Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel, The Kidd Creole, Keef Cowboy, Mr. Ness/Scorpio and Rahiem. The group was praised for its use of turntablism, break-beat deejaying, choreographed stage routines, and lyricism. The group’s 1982 classic “The Message” was voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2012.

Lionel Hampton: The jazz musician started his career as a drummer in Chicago in the 1920s before he played the vibraphone with Louis Armstrong. In the 1930s, he broke barriers with the Benny Goodman Quartet, one of America’s first integrated jazz bands. In the 1940s, he formed his own Lionel Hampton Orchestra, which became one of the longest running orchestras in jazz history. Hampton received five Grammy nominations between 1984 and 1991, but he never won. He received a Kennedy Center Honor in 1992. Hampton and his Orchestra’s 1942 classic “Flying Home” was voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1996.  Hampton died in 2002 at age 94.

Marilyn Horne: The opera star, 86, received four Grammys, including the 1964 award for most promising new classical recording artist. (She has now officially fulfilled that promise!) Horne received 15 Grammy nominations between 1964 and 1993. She received a Kennedy Center Honor in 1995.

Salt-N-Pepa: The trio, consisting of Salt (Cheryl James), Pepa (Sandra Denton) and DJ Spinderella (Deidra Roper), was one of the first all-female rap ensembles. Formed in Queens, New York, in 1985, the group crafted hits such as “Push It,” “Shoop” and “Whatta Man.” The group received five Grammy nominations between 1988 and 1996. It won the 1994 award for best rap performance by a duo or group for “None Of Your Business.”

Selena: The Tejano queen received two Grammy nominations in 1993-94. She won the 1993 award for best Mexican American album for Live, marking the first time a female Tejano artist had won in the category. Selena was just 23 when she was shot to death in 1995.

Talking Heads: The group, formed in 1975 in New York City, helped to pioneer new wave by blending elements of punk, rock, art pop, funk, and world music with an avant-garde aesthetic. The group received two Grammy nominations (in 1983 and 88), but never won. Group member David Byrne went on to win a Grammy and an Oscar on his own for co-scoring The Last Emperor. Byrne also made the cover of TIME in October 1986 in a story titled “Rock’s Renaissance Man.” The other group members were Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz and Jerry Harrison. In 2002, 11 years after the group disbanded, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Sanchez Preparing to Release Debut Single in February…

Last year’s American Idol runner-up Jessica Sanchez is preparing to release her debut single next month…

The 17-year-old half-Mexican American singer, who collaborated with the Black Eyed Peasapl.de.ap on the promotional single “Jump In,” has revealed that she’s been hard at work on making music.

Jessica Sanchez

“I’ve been working on my album since the Idol tour and I just finished it up,” the pint-sized singer announced recently, saying she’s getting ready to release her debut single this February.

Sanchez’s first single is reportedly a duet with R&B crooner Ne-Yo, who is also one of the producers/songwriters who worked on her upcoming album.

When asked about the long time it has taken to release her debut album, Sanchez told MTV News, “I wanted to make it perfect for the fans. I’ve worked in the studio before, but going to that next level with such high producers? It was crazy … working with Ne-Yo. Everything was such a blur and I was just a fan girl the whole time.”

Despite the long wait since the end of the 11th season of Idol last summer, fans will soon get to hear the 16 tracks that Sanchez has recorded with song masters Toby Gad (One Direction, Kelly Clarkson), Harvey Mason Jr. (Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake) and Rykeyz (Wiz Khalifa, Fantasia Barrino).

“It’s me, soulful, but more dancey,” Sanchez said of her work. “It’s all completely me,” she said of her upbeat, mainstream pop disc with an R&B edge. “And I’m excited about all of it.”

In the meantime, Sanchez’s fans will get a chance to see her in her upcoming recurring role on Fox’s Glee.