On February 26, 1997, the Recording Academy posthumously honored Judy Garland with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
On February 26, 1997, nearly three decades after her death, the Recording Academy presented Judy Garland with a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing her extraordinary and enduring contributions to the art of recorded music.
The award celebrated Garland's remarkable career as a vocalist, spanning from her early recordings as a child performer through her legendary live album Judy at Carnegie Hall (1961), which had made her the first woman to win Grammy Album of the Year in 1962. Her interpretations of songs such as 'Over the Rainbow,' 'The Trolley Song,' and 'The Man That Got Away' remain touchstones of American vocal performance.
The Lifetime Achievement Award is reserved for performers whose musical influence and body of recorded work have had a lasting cultural impact, and its posthumous presentation to Garland reaffirmed her continued relevance to new generations of listeners and artists. It also reflected the Recording Academy's recognition that her contributions to American music had only grown in stature and influence in the years following her passing, cementing her legacy as one of the twentieth century's most important vocal artists.