The Kennedy Heart Honors, introduced by the John F. Kennedy Heart for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, are bestowed upon artists with exemplary our bodies of labor throughout completely different fields. Final yr’s honorees included singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, Motown report govt Berry Gordy and “Saturday Night time Dwell” creator Lorne Michaels.
The forty fifth Kennedy Heart Honors recipients characterize movie and music. The lone thespian within the bunch is Clooney, who’s additionally a philanthropist and tequila entrepreneur, greatest identified for his roles in movies just like the “Ocean’s Eleven” remake and its sequels, “The Descendents” and, sure, one critically reviled “Batman” movie.
U2, the Irish rock band comprised of Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr., has launched rollicking and socially aware music for the reason that Eighties. León, who for many years has written unique compositions influenced by her heritage, was awarded the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in Music for her composition “Stride,” which fused Black music traditions from the US and the West Caribbean.
And Grant and Knight have each made important contributions to Christian genres: Grant was the “first artist to deliver up to date Christian music to the forefront of American tradition,” Kennedy Heart chairman David Rubenstein stated in an announcement; and Knight, a seven-time Grammy winner, is taken into account the “Empress of Soul” for her many years within the music trade, each because the frontwoman of the Pips and as a solo artist. (Each Knight and U2 have additionally been inducted into the Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame.)
All 5 artists expressed disbelief and gratitude over their respective inductions. Knight known as her choice one of many “highlights of [her] profession,” a sentiment U2 echoed, calling it one of many “biggest honours” within the US.
Clooney stated being named a Kennedy Heart honoree was a “genuinely thrilling shock.”
“Rising up in a small city in Kentucky I might by no means have imagined that sometime I would be the one sitting within the balcony on the Kennedy Heart Honors,” he stated. “To be talked about in the identical breath with the remainder of these unimaginable artists is an honor.”
The Kennedy Heart Honors Gala, throughout which the inductees are honored with performances and homages to their work, will happen on December 4. A televised model of the ceremony will air on CBS at a later date, the humanities group stated.
