Burt Bacharach, Doris Day earn lifetime Grammys

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Songwriter Burt Bacharach, singer/actress Doris Day and rock group The Band will receive Grammy Awards for lifetime achievement in February, organizers said on Tuesday.

Also on the list are jazz singer and bandleader Cab Calloway, classical violinist Itzhak Perlman, jazz drummer Max Roach and bluegrass banjo pioneer Earl Scruggs.

The awards will be posthumous for Calloway, who died in 1994, and for Roach, who died in August. Two members of The Band have also passed away: Richard Manuel and Rick Danko.

The statuettes will be handed out at a ceremony in Los Angeles on February 9, one day before the 50th annual Grammy Awards.

The lifetime achievement honors often go to prominent artists who have never won a competitive Grammy, a group that this year includes Day, The Band and Roach. Recent recipients have included the Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin and the Doors.

Bacharach, 79, has won six Grammy Awards. Along with lyricist Hal David, the arbiter of '60s cool composed such memorable tunes as "Walk on By," "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" and "What the World Needs Now."

Day, 83, was a ubiquitous Hollywood presence from the 1940s through the 1970s as a singer and actress with a wholesome image. Her signature tune, "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)," won an Academy Award for best original song in 1956.

Day has lived a reclusive life in Carmel, California, for years, focusing on caring for abandoned pets. A Grammy spokeswoman said it was not yet known if Day would attend.

The Band, now represented by singer/songwriter/guitarist Robbie Robertson, 64, keyboardist Garth Hudson, 70, and drummer Levon Helm, 67, backed Bob Dylan before striking out on their own. Robertson composed such classic-rock staples as "The Weight" and "Up on Cripple Creek."

The Band split up in 1976, and there has been some hostility toward Robertson by his bandmates ever since.

Israeli-born Perlman, 62, who has won 15 Grammys, has appeared with every major orchestra and in recitals and festivals throughout the world over the past 40 years.

Scruggs, 83, a four-time Grammy winner, revolutionized banjo with a style of picking considered a defining characteristic of bluegrass music.

Roach, who was 83 when he died in his sleep, helped revolutionize jazz by creating the fast-paced bebop style along with players like Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Clifford Brown.

Calloway, who was 86 when he succumbed to complications from a stroke, rose to fame in the 1930s after writing the tune "Minnie the Moocher." He found a new generation of fans when he appeared in the 1980 movie "The Blues Brothers."

(Reporting by Dean Goodman; editing by Todd Eastham)