Ray Kurzweil receives National Association of Music Merchants Lifetime Achievement Award
January 23, 2012
Ray Kurzweil and Joe Lamond, CEO of the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), on stage at the NAMM Breakfast of Champions, January 19, 2012 in Anaheim, CA. (credit: National Association of Music Merchants, David Livingston)
At the 2012 NAMM show on January 19, 2012, National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) President and CEO Joe Lamond presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to Ray Kurzweil — best selling author, inventor and futurist in fields such as optical character recognition, text to speech synthesis, speech recognition technology, and electronic keyboard instruments.
Lamond also presented NAMM’s Music for Life Award to Stevie Wonder, honoring him for his “brilliant musical contributions and talent that is cherished by people all over the world.”
Ray Kurzweil noted, “Stevie and I collaborated to create the first computerized musical instrument that could realistically recreate the piano and other orchestral instruments,” leading Kurzweil to found Kurzweil Music Systems in 1982.
“I have been blessed to have known two people — Ray Kurzweil and Steve Jobs,” said Wonder, and he cited the contribution of both to enriching our lives with technology.
(credit: National Association of Music Merchants)
The NAMM Show, one of the largest music products trade shows in the world, opened January 19 at the Anaheim Convention Center, welcoming an expected crowd of 90,000 musical instrument manufacturers, retailers, associates and their invited guests from all over the world to the industry’s annual gathering.
Founded in 1901, the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), is the trade association for the $18 billion global music products industry.
NAMM | Ray Kurzweil and Joe Lammond at NAMM’s Breakfast of Champions
NAMM | In this video, Ray Kurzweil, CEO, Kurzweil Technologies, sits down with NAMM CEO & President Joe Lamond to explore the process of innovation. Ray shares his remarkable perspective and ideas with the audience, and in doing so, sparks NAMM members to think how these breakthroughs can be applied to improving their businesses and relate to their future chance of success and indeed their lives. During the Breakfast of Champions, Joe Lamond presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to Ray.
The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) honored Ray Kurzweil with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2012 NAMM Breakfast of Champions on January 19, 2012 in Anaheim, CA. (credit: National Association of Music Manufacturers, David Livingston)
NAMM Lifetime Achievement Award previous recipients
previously named NAMM’s Hall of Fame
“Recognizing excellence and leadership in the music industry”
- Leo Fender — 1987
- Philip Werlein IV — 1987
- Hartley Peavey — 1988
- Manny Goldrich — 1988
- Vito Pascucci — 1988
- Armand Zildjian — 1989
- Henry Steinway — 1989
- Lee (Lawrence) Berk — 2004*
- Al Kowalenko (retirement from MIAC) — 2009 presented at MIAC Show
- Ray Kurzweil — 2012
* Presented to Lee Berk in January 2004 as he retired from Berklee College of Music. He was awarded the Music for Life Award in 1995.
related reading:
Ray Kurzweil videos | “The Kurzweil Music story: It all started with Ray”
The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM)