At NAMM‘s Believe in Music week next month, GRAMMY award winners Garth Brooks and Melissa Etheridge will be the recipients of the organization’s “Music for Life” award. The annual award will be presented at the opening interview sessions on Jan. 21 and Jan. 22, and recognizes individuals or organizations for their musical accomplishments and inspiring more music makers.

“NAMM Members are often the folks behind the scenes, creating the tools and technologies that artists use to bring their voice and music to the world,” Joe Lamond, NAMM President and CEO, said. “And as kindred musical spirits, we were particularly inspired by this year’s Music for Life recipients for their enduring commitment to musical excellence. When the pandemic disrupted everything, the honorees found new and creative ways to connect and encourage others when it was needed the most.”

On January 21, Brooks will join Lamond for a conversation about adapting in uncertain times and his storied career — Brooks is a seven-time CMA “Entertainer of the Year,” a first for any artist, and is the first and only artist in history to receive nine Diamond Awards for the now nine albums certified by the RIAA at more than 10 million album sales each.

Meanwhile, on January 22, Melissa Etheridge will join Lamond for an interview and discussion about reinvention in the time of COVID and her new venture, EtheridgeTV.com. Etheridge’s popularity is built around such memorable songs as “Bring Me Some Water,” “No Souvenirs” and “Ain’t It Heavy,” for which she won her first Grammy for “Best Female Rock Vocal.” Etheridge hit her commercial and artistic stride in 1993 with her fourth album, featuring the massive hits “I’m the Only One” and “Come to My Window,” a song that brought her a second Grammy and went six-times platinum. In 2007, Etheridge celebrated a career milestone with a victory in the “Best Song” category at the Academy Awards for “I Need to Wake Up,” written for the Al Gore documentary on global warming, “An Inconvenient Truth.”

Brooks and Etheridge join past recipients of the “Music for Life” award musicians, including Graham Nash, Stevie Wonder, Yoko Ono, Henry Mancini, Bob Weir, Nancy Wilson and, in 2020, Jason Mraz, among others. The award is traditionally given each January during the global music, pro audio and entertainment technology gathering, The NAMM Show, held in Anaheim, Calif.

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