Four-Time Grammy Winner Snubbed From ‘In Memoriam’ Segment: Zakir Hussain Left Out of 2025 Telecast

The Recording Academy took a moment during Sunday night’s 67th Grammy Awards to pay tribute to some of the musicians we lost in the past year, but they seemingly snubbed a beloved Grammy winner. As Coldplay frontman Chris Martin took the stage to perform “All My Love” with a four-string orchestra, the Recording Academy remembered late stars like Liam Payne, Toby Keith, Kris Kristofferson, and more. But one name was excluded from the 2025 Grammy Awards In Memoriam segment: four-time Grammy winner and Indian tabla legend Zakir Hussain.

Hussain, who passed away in December at the age of 73 from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, had been a multi-Grammy-winning artist, and made history just last year when he became the first Indian musician to win three trophies in a single night. During the 66th Grammy Awards, he won for Best Global Music Performance for “Pashto,” Best Contemporary Instrumental Album for “As We Speak,” and Best Global Music Album for “This Moment.” The trio of trophies made him a four-time Grammy winner after he took home his first Grammy in 2009 for Best World Music Album with “Global Drum Project,” a collaboration with Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead.

Fans of the Indian classical music icon were quick to note his omission from the In Memoriam segment Sunday night, and expressed their outrage on social media. On X, one person wrote, “Shame not to see 4 time winner and multiple times nominee Zakir Hussain in the Grammy tribute to artists lost recently. Real shame. SVP.” Another person shared, “just last year zakir hussain won 3 grammys and he didn’t even get included in the tribute section by them. idiots.” Others decried the snub as “shameful and extremely callous behaviour,” as somebody else noted that Hussain had “a huge influence even on western culture.”

Outside of his Grammy wins, Hussain was regarded as one of the world’s greatest tabla players. The Indian classical music icon, the son of legendary tabla artist Ustad Alla Rakha, was a child prodigy and became an internationally celebrated percussionist whose career spanned six decades. Throughout his career, he received India’s Padma Shri (1988), Padma Bhushan (2002), and Padma Vibhushan (2023). In 1999, he was recognized with a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Although Hussain was not included in the broadcasted tribute Sunday night, his name did appear in a tribute from the Recording Academy shared on the Grammys’ website following the ceremony. The Recording Academy hasn’t addressed Hussain’s omission from the broadcasted In Memoriam segment.