Original R&B diva Diana Ross will receive the American Music Award for Lifetime Achievement at this year’s ceremony for her illustrious career.
“I have endless memories of all the years that I have appeared on the American Music Awards,” Ross shared in a press release. “It started with Dick Clark and The Caravan of Stars and American Bandstand. It was Dick Clark who said ‘Music is the soundtrack of our lives.’ So true. I am so excited to be receiving this honorable award.”
According to the press release, the award is reserved for “artists who have made truly exceptional contributions to the music industry.”
Previous recipients of the award, formerly known as the Merit Award, include Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson.
The seven-time AMA winner first attended the ceremony in 1974 and has performed at the awards show multiple times over the years, according to E! News. She also presented the first Dick Clark Award for Excellence to Taylor Swift in 2014.
“I am so blown away to have just received an award from Diana Ross who, just over the course of her career, stood up for herself so many times in a time when it was not popular for a woman to stand up for herself,” Swift gushed upon receiving the award. “I am so honored. Thank you for coming. You’re beautiful.”
The American Music Awards will be broadcasted live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday Nov. 19 and will air at 8:00 p.m. EST on ABC.
