Booker T. honored with 2007 GRAMMY Achievement Award

Booker T. Jones yesterday was named a 2007 Lifetime Achievement GRAMMY Award recipient for his work with the seminal instrumental group Booker T. & The MG's. Also receiving the award with the pioneering keyboardist are guitarist Steve Cropper, bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn, drummer Al Jackson (posthumously), and Lewie Steinberg, the group's original bassist.

Other artists honored with 2007 Lifetime Achievement GRAMMYs are Joan Baez, Maria Callas, Ornette Coleman, the Doors, the Grateful Dead and Bob Wills.

The lineup of Cropper, Dunn, Jackson and Jones backed recordings by such artists as Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Albert King, The Staple Singers, and Wilson Pickett. The group were million-sellers in their own right as one of the top instrumental outfits of the rock era, with hits including "Green Onions," "Time Is Tight," and "Hang'Em High." As a band that featured two blacks and two whites playing as a cohesive group in the highly-charged south of the '60s, the band set an example of how music can transcend racial divisions. Booker T & The MGs are also 1992 inductees of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

After the MGs disbanded in 1972, Booker T. produced Willie Nelson's multi-platinum "Stardust" album and Bill Withers' "Just As I Am" album and co-wrote the classic hit "Born Under a Bad Sign." He has also performed live with Neil Young, Eric Clapton and George Harrison, among others. Booker is currently working on his first recording of solo or MG's material since 1994, and 2007 tour dates in the US and Europe are planned. Booker also recently appeared in the Michel Gondry directed film “Be Kind, Rewind” with Jack Black, Mos Def, Danny Glover, Mia Farrow and also contributed two songs to the film, which will be released in 2007.

The Lifetime Achievement Awards honor lifelong artistic contributions to the recording medium and are decided on by vote of The Recording Academy's National Board of Trustees. The awards will be presented during the 49th Annual GRAMMY Awards weekend. The 2007 GRAMMYs will be broadcast live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 11, 2007, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.

525 Worldwide client Mavis Staples received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005 for her work with her family group the Staple Singers.

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