The 36th Kennedy Honors gala will be broadcast Sunday, December 29 at 8:00 p.m.
Recipients are recognized for their lifetime contributions to American culture through the performing arts.
Martina Arroyo (Opera singer; born February 2, 1937 in New York, New York)
Arroyo made her Carnegie Hall debut in 1958 in the American premiere of Ildebrando Pizzetti's
Murder in the Cathedral. After this, she had many success in major roles in Vienna, Berlin, Frankfurt and Zurich.
In 1965, Arroya replaced Birgit Nilsson in
Aida at the Met. She later stated, "Nobody replaces Birgit Nilsson. You just sing for her that night." Her 1968 London debut came in a concert version of Meyerbeer's
Les Huguenots and later at Covent Garden debut in
Aida.
She has had guest appearances on
The Odd Couple and has had more that 20 appearances on
The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.
Herbie Hancock (Pianist, keyboardist, bandleader and composer; born April 12, 1940 in Chicago Illinois)
Herbie began his career as a classical piano prodigy, playing with the Chicago Symphony at the age of 11. He later learned jazz in high school simply by listening. As Miles Davis put it in his autobiography, "Herbie was the step after bud Powell and Thelonious Monk, and I haven't heard anybody yet who has come after him."
He graduated from Grinnell College with a degree in music and electrical engineering, following this by studies in composition with the opera composer Vittorio Giannini at the Manhattan School of Music.
In 1963 he joined the Miles Davis Quintet where he explored every rhythm, harmonic and colors available at his fingertips. He also played with Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams, Bobby Hutcherson, Donald Byrd and Freddie Hubbard.
He set the jazz standards with his own albums
Empyrean Isles in 1964 and
Maiden Voyage in 1965.
Hancock was one of the first jazz pianists to fully embrace electronic keyboards, along with bassist Buster Williams, drummer Billy Hart and horn players Eddie Henderson, Julian Piester, and Bannie Maupin. Patrick Gleeson helped Hancock program the synthesizers.
Billy Joel (Pianist, singer, and songwriter; born May 9, 1949 in New York, New York)
Billy Joel played the first rock concert at Yankee Stadium and the final concert at Shea Stadium. His songs have been covered by Barry White, Barbra Streisand, the Beastie Boys, to name a few.
Joel is a six-time Grammy Award winner and 23-time nominee. He has sold over 150 million record worldwide. He has been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In 1973, recording executive Clive Davis signed Joel to Columbia Records with "Piano Man." The song became his first top 20 single, first gold album and the final song of nearly all his concerts.
In 1987, Joel made history by giving the first rock radio broadcast in Soviet history.
In 1998, he began concentrating on composing classical music, resulting in the 2001's
Fantasie & Delusions. Segments were included in the 2002's hit Broadway musical
Movin' Out, that earned him a Tony Award for Best Orchestrations.
Shirley MacLaine (Actress; born April 24, 1934 in Richmond, Virginia)
As a young girl of 10, she attended ballet lessons and has played her cello at the Kennedy Center in the past.
MacLaine started her film debut in 1955's
The Trouble with Harry, directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
She has earned four Best Actrees Oscar nominations - for 1958's
Some Came Running, 1960's
The Apartment, 1963's
Irma la Douce and 1977's
The Turning Point
MacLaine has performed on Broadway
The Pajama Game at the age of 20 and won an Emmy Award for her TV Variety Special, "Gypsy in My Soul." She has also written 13 best-selling memoirs. At one time she was the "mascot" of the Rat Pack and is the sister of Warren Beatty.
In 2013 she began a role in
Downton Abbey and will be in
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.
Carlos Santana (Musician and songwriter; born July 20, 1947 in Autlan de Navarro, Jalisco, Mexico)
According to
Rolling Stone, "Two things about Santana never go out of style, the spiritual and the sensual." He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.
His father was a musician and he learned from him at a very early age. He learned the violin and joined his father on stage.
In the early 1960s his group, Santana, used rock and jazz fusions, the norteno lilt, Afro-Cuban beats, daring polyrhythms and 12-bar blues. Santas has won 10 Grammys and 3 Latin Grammys so far. He swept the 2000 Grammy Awards in nine categories with his album "Supernatural."
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