Grammys honor The Beatles, Kris Kristofferson and the Isley Brothers with lifetime achievement awards

On the eve of Music's Biggest Night, the Recording Academy gave out a very special award, the Special Merit Awards, in Beverly Hills. This year's recipients were The Beatles, Kris Kristofferson and the Isley Brothers.

UPI reports that seven honorees received the lifetime achievement award at the ceremony on Saturday. Ringo Starr accepted the award for the Beatles saying, "It's a lifetime achievement award but I feel like we've all got a lot more life in us. Beatles music is still out there and that's the thing I'm most proud of."

Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison, widows of John Lennon and George Harrison, were also in attendance. Yoko seemed a little offbeat saying, "I'm here because I think John would have wanted to be here."

Kristofferson gave an interesting acceptance speech noting his memory problems due to trauma he suffered during his early years as a boxer.

"I can't say that I'm not moved by this but I can say that I can't think of anything to say," Kristofferson said. "I'd better go before I say something really stupid."

Ernie Isley, Ronald Isley and Chris Jasper accepted their award on behave of their band noting that they had been together long enough to have counted Jimi Hendrix as one of its sideman, many decades ago.

Among the other recipients were German techno-pioneers Kraftwerk, zydeco great Clifton Chenier, classical musician Maud Powell and singer-songwriter Armando Manzanero.

It was indeed a touching ceremony. Make sure to tune in to the 56^th Annual Grammy Awards tonight (Jan. 26) on the CBS Television Network from 8-11:30 p.m. (ET/PT).