WASHINGTON — It’s a rare honor for an artist to receive accolades from the president, let alone have him sing one of your tunes.
Now Al Green can claim both, knowing that President Barack Obama is a fan. Green is among five artists receiving this year’s Kennedy Center Honors, the national awards for influencing American culture through the arts, the center announced Thursday.
Green said if he could get Obama to sing one of his songs again, as the president famously did with a few lines from “Let’s Stay Together,” “our record sales would go up like, ‘Bam.’ “
Tom Hanks, Sting, Lily Tomlin and ballerina Patricia McBride also will receive the honor. In a statement, Hanks said he was stunned.
“I am a fortunate man in that I love the work I do,” he said, “a luck I share with the other honorees, whom I look forward to meeting, if only to ponder the question, ‘How did we get here?’ “
They will be saluted by top entertainers in a performance Dec. 7 and a reception at the White House. The show will be broadcast Dec. 30 on CBS.
Class of 2014
Artists receiving this year’s Kennedy Center Honors:
