"Music has been my prayer, my healing, my joy, my truth," Khan said as she accepted the award. "Through it, I saved my life."
She was the only Lifetime Achievement recipient who appeared at the ceremony at the small Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles on Saturday night.
She was preceded by a short documentary on her career that highlighted her hits as a member of the funk band Rufus and as a solo artist, including 1974's Stevie Wonder-written Tell Me Something Good, 1983's Ain't Nobody, 1978's I'm Every Woman and 1984's Prince-penned I Feel For You.
Wearing a shimmering sea green gown, Khan thanked her many collaborators while admitting not all of them were entirely sane.
"Over 50 years I am blessed to walk alongside extraordinary artists, musicians, writers, producers and creatives," she said, pausing before adding, "and cuckoos."
Family accepted the Lifetime Achievement Awards for the Nigerian Afrobeat legend Kuti, who died in 1997, and the singing superstar Houston, who died in 2012.
"Her voice - that voice! - remains eternal," Pat Houston, Whitney's sister-in-law, close friend and longtime manager, said. "Her legacy will live forever."
Three of his children accepted the award for Kuti, introduced as a "producer, arranger, political radical, outlaw and the father of Afrobeat." He's the first African musician to get the award.
"Thank you for bringing our father here," Femi Kuti said. "It's so important for us, it's so important for Africa, it's so important for world peace and the struggle."
The audience gave a collective moan of disappointment when academy President Harvey Mason Jr. said Cher wasn't there.
She spoke in a very short video.
"The only thing I ever wanted to be was a singer. When I was four years old I used to run around the house naked, singing into a hair brush," she said. "Things haven't changed all that much."
Santana also spoke on video, after his son, Salvador, accepted his trophy.
"The world is so infected with fear that we need the music and message of Santana to bring hope, courage and joy to heal the world," Carlos Santana said.
Elton John's longtime lyricist Bernie Taupin paid tribute to Simon, calling him "the greatest American songwriter alive."
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