格莱美音乐大奖（GRAMMY AWARDS）是美国国家录音与科学学会举行的一个年度大型音乐评奖活动，被誉为“音乐界奥斯卡”。“格莱美”（GRAMMY）是英文gramophone（留声机）的变异谐音。以它命名的音乐奖迄今已有50多年的历史，其奖杯形状如一架老式的留声机。

 1957年，美国洛杉矶一批音乐人和唱片公司管理人员倡议成立一个代表音乐制品艺术和科学的机构，并通过这个机构鼓励有才华的音乐家、歌手及幕后音乐制作人员。美国国家录音艺术与科学学会（简称录音学会）及名为格莱美的音乐奖因此诞生。首届格莱美音乐奖于1958年颁发，以后录音学会每年举行一次颁奖仪式，奖项也由最初时的26项增加到28大类共101项。

 格莱美音乐奖虽然是美国唱片行业中的奖项，但它如今已经成为世界范围内最具影响力的音乐大奖之一。音乐界的格莱美就如同电影界的奥斯卡一样，虽然毫无疑问地打上了美国文化的印记，但世界各地的多数音乐人仍以能够捧得这架老留声机为荣。

 迈克尔·约瑟夫·杰克逊（Michael Joseph Jackson，简称：MJ 1958年8月29日－2009年6月25日），是一名传奇般的巨星，他在世界各地极具影响力，他具有多重身份：流行音乐歌手、作曲家、作词家、舞蹈家、演员、导演、唱片制作人、慈善家、时尚引领者，被誉为流行音乐之王（King of Pop）。他的音乐曲风完美地融合了黑人节奏蓝调与白人摇滚的独特的MJ乐风。他魔幻般的舞步更是让无数的明星效仿。因其私人医生莫里违规操作注射镇静剂过量导致心脏病突发逝世，终年50岁

 迈克尔·杰克逊分别在22届、26届、27届、28届、32届、35届、52届获得14次格莱美音乐大奖，这是历史个人得奖最多的，也是绝无仅有的。

  1993年第35届格莱美音乐奖将当代传奇奖（Living Legend Award）颁给Michael Jackson。下面是这段录象。录象后半段为迈克尔·杰克逊获奖感言，其中讲述了他喜欢孩子的原因，并谈到他对当今世界犯罪、战争以及恐怖事件根源的解释：孩子们被剥夺了童年。下面是这段录象的所有文字材料（对白）。最后一部分有下划线的文字是迈克尔·杰克逊获奖感言。视频在最后。文字及视频均来自网络。抱歉工作太忙未能将英文翻译为中文。

Grammy Legend Award Acceptance Speech

February 1993

Michael attended the 1993 Grammy’s accompanied by Brooke Shields. Sister, Janer Jackson, was on hand to present Michael with the very special Grammy Legend Award.

Introduction by Janet Jackson

Janet : Before he won 12 Grammy awards, before he dazzled billions of fans around the world with his amazing talent as a performer, before he impacted on millions of lives with his ongoing humanitarian efforts, before all of that, he was one other thing, he was my brother.

Hi, I’m Janet Jackson, and I’m pleased to be here tonight to honor the man I love and admire as an artist, and a person. My brother, Michael Jackson.

The Grammy Legend award is given for ongoing contributions and influence in the recording field. But nowhere does it tell you what to do to become a legend. If I were to write a book of instructions using my brother as a guide, it would read something like this:

[Video retrospective of Michael’s career is shown, with Janet’s  narration in voiceover.]

How to become a legend. Let’s start with the present and work our way backwards. Take a big chance with a live ninety-minute prime time interview with Oprah Winfrey......

Oprah : Join me . . . for the world-wide television event of the year.

Janet: Put on a spectacular Superbowl half-time show before the largest audience in TV history. Use your extraordinary popularity, influence, time, energy, money, and heart to help children heal the world. Create a two and a half hour, standing-room-only concert event from Bucharest, Romania, that gives HBO the highest audience rating in cable history. Release ’Dangerous’ and watch it enter the charts at number one and become the world’s biggest-selling album of 1992. Record ’Bad’ and watch it become the second biggest-selling album ever. Stun the Motown 25th Anniversary audience with a legendary performance that leaves everyone moonstruck. Record ’Thriller’ and watch it become the number one largest-selling album of all time. Bring your enormous talent to the creation of new style videos that are really mini-movies with imaginative stories and mind-blowing effects. Capture an armful of eight Grammys, the most ever won in a single year. Tour the world over, making new friends everywhere you go. Break all existing attendance records, while visiting over thirty countries, many of them more than once, and bring the best in contemporary concert entertainment to over ten million loving fans. Create an international anthem with a superstar cast that becomes the top-selling single of all time. Make a serious effort to have four consecutive number one hits before graduating from grade school. It helps to have brothers who are very musical, and it doesn’t hurt to have a little sister who loves you very much. But first and foremost, if you are going to be a true legend, try to be born with a lot of talent and the willingness to take the plunge. So, to sum it up...

[Video shows highlights again in reverse order.]

Janet: Now I’m very happy to present the Grammy Legend Award for 1993 to my big brother, Michael Jackson.

[Michael receives a standing ovation, as he walks on stage. The two hug, as the crowd continues with standing ovation.]

Janet: Congratulations Michael Jackson. ....No but, I just wanted to say one thing, Seriously, I just wanted to tell you how proud I am of you and how much you’ve inspired me, and how proud I am to be your sister. And how much I love you, I do.

Michael’s Speech

Michael : I love you too, thank you.....I hope this puts to rest, I hope this finally puts to rest another rumor that has been in the press for too many years: Me and Janet really are two different people.....

[Audience laughs.]

.In the past month, I’ve gone from "where is he?" to "Here he is again," but I must confess, it feels good to be thought of as a person, not as a personality. Because I don’t read all the things written about me, I wasn’t aware that the world thought I was so weird and bizarre. But when you grow up as I did, in front of one hundred million people since the age of five, you’re automatically different. The last few weeks, I have been cleansing myself and it’s been a rebirth for myself. It’s like a cleansing spirit.

[To the screeming crowd]: I love you too.

My childhood was completely taken away from me. There was no Christmas, there were no birthdays, it was not a normal childhood, nor the normal pleasures of childhood - those were exchanged for hard work, struggle, and pain , and eventually material and professional success. But as an awful price, I cannot re-create that part of my life. However, today, when I create my music, I feel like an instrument of nature. I wonder what delight nature must feel when we open our hearts and express our God-given talents. The sound . . . of approval rolls across the universe, and the whole world abounds in magic. Wonder fills our hearts, for what we have glimpsed, for an instant, the playfulness of life.

And that’s why I love children and learn so much from being around them. I realise that many of our world’s problems today - from the inner city crime, to large scale wars and terrorism, and our overcrowded prisons - are a result of the fact that children have had their childhood stolen from them. The magic, the wonder, the mystery, and the innocence of a child’s heart, are the seeds of creativity that will heal the world. I really believe that.

What, what we need to learn, what we need to learn from children isn’t childish. Being with them connects us to the deeper wisdom of life which is everpresent, and only asks to be lived. They know the solutions that lie waiting to be recognised within our own hearts. Today, I would like to thank all the children of the world, including the sick and deprived . . . I am so sensitive to your pain.

I also want to thank all those who have helped me to channel my talent here on earth. From the beginning, my parents, all my brothers and sisters, especially Janet. I am so proud of her, it’s incredible. I mean, I remember when we were little, I used to ask her to be Ginger Rogers, while I was Fred Astaire..... The Motown family, my teacher Berry Gordy. Diana Ross, I love you. Suzanne De Pazze. The wonderful, great Quincy Jones. Teddy Riley. My new godson Michael Gibb. My new Sony family, Akio Morita, Mickey Schulhoff, Tommy Motola, Dave Glew, Polly Anthony . . . Thanks for making one of my most creative efforts, the album Dangerous, such an incredible success. I love you all so much. Sandy Gallin, Jim Morey. All the fantastic fans around the world - love you very much.

[Michael receives more cheers from the audiece, as he and Janet leave the stage.]