Nigeria, Jan. 30 -- The Recording Academy has announced that Nigerian music legend Fela Anikulapo Kuti will posthumously receive a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, making him the first African artist to earn the honour.

The award, which will be presented during the Grammy Special Merit Awards in Los Angeles, comes nearly 29 years after Fela's death in 1997 at the age of 58. The Lifetime Achievement Award was first introduced in 1963 and has never been awarded to an African musician.

Fela Kuti's son, Seun Kuti, welcomed the recognition, describing it as a long-overdue acknowledgment of his father's influence.

"Fela has been in the hearts of the people for such a long time. Now the Grammys have acknowledged it, and it's a double victo...