Chaka Khan, Cher, Whitney Houston, Fela Kuti get Grammys Life Achievement Awards

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Chaka Khan, Cher, Carlos Santana, Paul Simon, Fela Kuti and Whitney Houston received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy at the Grammys Special Merit Awards on Saturday night.

“Music has been my prayer, my healing, my joy, my truth,” Khan said as she accepted the award. “Through it, I saved my life.”

She was the only Lifetime Achievement recipient who appeared at the ceremony at the small Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles on the eve of Sunday's main Grammys ceremony.

She was preceded by a short documentary on her career that highlighted her hits as a member of the funk band Rufus and as a solo artist, including 1974's Stevie Wonder-written “Tell Me Something Good,” 1983's “Ain't Nobody,” 1978's “I'm Every Woman” and 1984's Prince-penned “I Feel For You.”

Wearing a shimmering sea green gown, she thanked her many collaborators while admitting not all of them were entirely sane.

“Over 50 years I am blessed to walk alongside extraordinary artists, musicians, writers, producers and creatives,” she said, pausing before adding, “and cuckoos.”

Family accepted the Lifetime Achievement Awards for the Nigerian Afrobeat legend Kuti, who died in 1997, and the singing superstar Houston, who died in 2012.

“Her voice — that voice! — remains eternal,” Pat Houston, Whitney's sister-in-law, close friend and longtime manager, said. “Her legacy will live forever.”

Three of his children accepted the award for Kuti, introduced as a “producer, arranger, political radical, outlaw and the father of Afrobeat.” He's the first African musician to get the award.

“Thank you for bringing our father here,” Femi Kuti said. “It’s so important for us, it’s so important for Africa, it’s so important for world peace and the struggle.”

The audience gave a collective moan of disappointment when academy President Harvey Mason Jr. said Cher wasn't there.

She spoke in a very short video.

“The only thing I ever wanted to be was a singer. When I was 4 years old I used to run around the house naked, singing into a hair brush,” she said. “Things haven’t changed all that much.”

Santana also spoke on video, after his son, Salvador, accepted his trophy.

“The world is so infected with fear that we need the music and message of Santana to bring hope, courage and joy to heal the world,” Carlos Santana said.

Elton John's longtime lyricist Bernie Taupin paid tribute to Simon, calling him “the greatest American songwriter alive.”

Taupin was there as one of the recipients of the Grammys Trustees Award, which honors career contributions outside of performing.

Despite co-writing the vast majority of John’s hits, Taupin has somehow never won a competitive Grammy, though he’s nominated for one Sunday.

“I’ve been waiting 57 years for one of these,” he said, looking at his honorary trophy.

Taupin read a list of the songwriting principles he’s always followed. They included “avoid cliches,” “never write songs in cubicles” and “don’t say you’re going to die if she leaves you — because you’re not.”

Eddie Palmieri, a pianist, composer and bandleader who was a great innovator in Latin jazz and rumba, also got a Trustees Award.

Palmieri, who died last year at 88, became the first Latino to win a Grammy Award, in 1975.

Another trustees honoree was Sylvia Rhone, the first Black woman to head a major record label.

John Chowning, whose work as a Stanford professor in the 1960s was essential to the synthesizer sounds that dominated the 1980s, won the Technical Grammy Award.

Jennifer Jimenez, a band director from South Miami Senior High School, won the Grammys Music Educator Award, and “Ice Cream Man” by Raye got the Harry Belafonte Song for Social Change Award.

Yeni Kuti arrives at the Recording Academy's Special Merit Awards on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026, at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

Chaka Khan accepts the lifetime achievement award during the Recording Academy's Special Merit Awards on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026, at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

Bernie Taupin accepts the trustees award during the Recording Academy's Special Merit Awards on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026, at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

Chaka Khan accepts the lifetime achievement award during the Recording Academy's Special Merit Awards on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026, at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

Chaka Khan arrives at the Recording Academy's Special Merit Awards on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026, at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

Thousands of Catholic devotees commemorated Good Friday across Latin America with processions and ceremonies re-enacting the crucifixion of Jesus.

In Antigua, a colonial-era city in southern Guatemala, dozens dressed in purple and white robes and made their way under the early morning sun, many of them penitents known as “cucuruchos.” Others carried centuries-old images of Jesus through cobblestone streets.

The city hosts more than a dozen processions throughout Holy Week, set against a backdrop of volcanoes.

Marcos Bautista, 63, said he has attended the Good Friday observances since his father brought him along as a baby in his arms.

“To describe Holy Week in Antigua, there are no words that can capture what it feels like," Bautista said. “It’s a feeling that, just by speaking about what Jesus has done in our lives, moves me deeply.”

In Bolivia, President Rodrigo Paz traveled to the southern city of Tarija to participate in Good Friday ceremonies.

The country is a secular state under its constitution and its leaders refrained from engaging in any religious events between 2006 and 2025. But Paz — who took office last November — broke with precedent by attending Palm Sunday Mass carrying a palm frond.

In the capital city of La Paz, government authorities and military bands accompanied Good Friday processions, in which hooded penitents carried the Holy Sepulcher through the streets.

Bolivia remains a predominantly Catholic country, alongside strong Indigenous spiritual traditions. In some households, it is customary to eat only fish on Good Friday and prepare up to 12 dishes representing the apostles of Jesus, a tradition that has declined in recent years amid an economic crisis.

In Ecuador, where about 80% of the population identifies as Catholic, processions were held across major cities.

In Guayaquil, roughly half a million faithful attended the “Cristo del Consuelo” procession. Amid displays of devotion, some participants walked barefoot, while others wore thorn crowns or dragged crosses.

In the capital, Quito, the “Jesús del Gran Poder” procession drew more than 150,000 faithful, who filled the historic center’s streets with chants and prayers as they accompanied an image of Jesus carrying the cross.

Thousands more climbed the Monserrate Hill in neighboring Colombia. At more than 10,200 feet (3,100 meters) above sea level, they reached the summit in the capital city of Bogotá to attend Mass at the basilica. Similar observances, including reenactments of the Stations of the Cross, were held in other parts of the country, including Medellín.

While the share of Catholics in Latin America has declined over the past decade, the faith remains the region’s largest religion.

In several countries, including Mexico, Peru and Argentina, more than 60% of adults still identify as Catholic, according to 2024 surveys by the Pew Research Center and Latinobarómetro.

AP journalists Moisés Castillo in Antigua, Guatemala; Carlos Valdez in La Paz, Bolivia; Gonzalo Solano and Gabriela Molina, in Quito, Ecuador, contributed to this report.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Penitents from the Nazareno brotherhood carry a statue of Jesus down the steps of the Cathedral Basilica of St. James the Apostle for a Good Friday procession during Holy Week in Tunja, Colombia, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

A hooded penitent from the Nazareno brotherhood waits for the Good Friday procession inside the Cathedral Basilica of St. James the Apostle during Holy Week in Tunja, Colombia, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

Young women and girls carry jeweled hearts representing the Virgin Mary at a Good Friday procession during Holy Week in La Paz, Bolivia, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

Hooded penitents participate in a Good Friday procession during Holy Week in La Paz, Bolivia, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

A statue of Jesus Christ with a cross makes its way past electric cables at La Merced church's Good Friday procession during Holy Week in Antigua, Guatemala, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Women carry children dressed as penitents knows as "cucuruchos" on the sidelines of La Merced church's Good Friday procession during Holy Week in Antigua, Guatemala, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Penitents carry statues of Jesus Christ representing the Stations of the Cross at a Good Friday procession by La Merced church during Holy Week in Antigua, Guatemala, just before sunrise Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Musicians dressed as Roman soldiers take part in La Merced church's Good Friday procession during Holy Week in Antigua, Guatemala, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)