Julie Greenwald, Atlantic Music Group chairman/CEO, and Craig Kallman, Atlantic Records chairman/CEO, will receive the 2023 Grammy Salute to Industry Icons award. The award will be presented at the Pre-Grammy Gala at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023. The annual event is presented jointly by industry legend Clive Davis and the Recording Academy.
This will be the first time since 2020 that the event will take place. Sony Music Group chairman Rob Stringer was announced as the recipient last year. He was scheduled to receive the award on Sun, Jan. 30, 2022, the night before the 64th Annual Grammy Awards, but the event was canceled because of a surge related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Grammys telecast itself was pushed back to April 3, 2022 and moved to the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The award was presented to Stringer in Las Vegas by Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr. Stringer was also acknowledged as the Icon honoree on the Grammy Awards telecast. But he missed out on the gala.
The Recording Academy and Davis will celebrate Greenwald and Kallman’s accomplishments at this year’s event, set for the night before the 65th Annual Grammy Awards, which will return to Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles (formerly the Staples Center) on Feb. 5, 2023.
“Respected across the music community, Julie and Craig have fostered the careers of an incredible range of talent,” Mason said in a statement. “They both have a passion and love for music, and they are constantly pushing the music industry forward with their transformative work with the artist community. We are so honored to celebrate these two industry titans at this year’s Pre-Grammy Gala.”
“I’ve personally known Julie and Craig for many years and it’s so very exciting to celebrate their exceptional creativity and achievements at this year’s Pre-Grammy Gala,” said Davis, a previous honoree at this event. “What a special night it will be spotlighting them and their incredible music and artists!”
Greenwald and Kallman first joined forces in 2004, when Greenwald moved to Atlantic from Island Def Jam. Greenwald and Kallman will be the first pair to receive the Grammy Salute to Industry Icons Honor since Herb Alpert & Jerry Moss, the co-founders of A&M Records.
In addition to Davis, Alpert & Moss and Stringer, the roster of previous Pre-Grammy Gala honorees includes Clarence Avant, Irving Azoff, Martin Bandier, Sir Richard Branson, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Shawn “JAY-Z” Carter, Ahmet Ertegun, David Geffen, Berry Gordy, Lucian Grainge, Debra L. Lee, Doug Morris, Mo Ostin, and Antonio “L.A.” Reid.
The recently formed Atlantic Music Group, which includes the Atlantic and 300 Elektra label families, garnered nearly 40 Grammy nominations this year. Its top nominees this year include Lizzo, with five nods, including album, record and song of the year; Coldplay and Jack Harlow, with three nods each; and GAYLE with a nod for song of the year.
The Atlantic Records site has a list of nearly 200 “active artists” for its various labels, including Big Beat Records, Canvasback, Elektra Records, Fueled By Ramen, Maybach Music Group, and Roadrunner Records.
The site also lists more than 60 “legacy artists” and six Broadway cast albums, including the blockbusters Hamilton and Dear Evan Hansen.
Atlantic Records is celebrating its 75th anniversary. The label was founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. In 1967, Atlantic became a wholly owned subsidiary of Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, now the Warner Music Group. In 2004, Atlantic and its sister label Elektra were merged into the Atlantic Records Group.
The invitation-only Pre-Grammy Gala has become one of the most exclusive Grammy Week events. Sometimes, the event makes news, as it did three years ago when Combs put the Recording Academy on notice that he wanted to see major changes in the way it operated.
“Truth be told, hip-hop has never been respected by the Grammys,” Combs noted in his acceptance speech. “Black music has never been respected by the Grammys to the point that it should be … And that stops right now. I’m officially starting the clock. You’ve got 365 days to get this sh-t together. We need transparency, we need diversity.”