Kennedy Center Honors - 2017

The Kennedy Center Honors just broadcasted on Tuesday, December 26.


Carmen de Lavallade  - Dancer, choreographer, actress (Born March 6, 1931 in Los Angels, California)
de Lavallade made her debut at the age of 17 with the Lester Horton Dance Theater in the role of Salome.  She appeared in four films, including Carmen Jones (1954) and Odds Against Tomorrow (1959).  She made her Broadway debut in House of Flowers, written by Truman Capote with music by Harold Arlen.  She has had ballets created for her by Lester Horton, Geoffrey Holder, Alvin Ailey, Glen Tetley, John Butler, and Agnes de Mille.  Carmen and her late husband, Geoffrey Holder, were subjects of the film Carmen and Geoffrey (2005). She has received the Dance Magazine Award in 1964, an honorary doctorate of Fine Arts from the Julliard School in 2007, the Duke Ellington fellowship award, and the Dance USA Award in 2010.



Gloria Estefan - Singer, songwriter, actress, businesswoman (Born Glira Maria Milagrosa Fajardo Gaarcia on September 1, 1957 in Havana, Cuba)
Estafan started as the lead singer in the group called "Miami Latin Boys.  Her signature song is "Conga" which she introduced in 1985 and led to the Miami Sound Machine winning the grand prix  at the Tokyo Music Festival in 1986.
She has won seven Grammy Awards and an Oscar-nominated performance for the song "Music of My Heart." She has received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Las Vegas Walk of Fame.  In 2015, she receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her contributions to American music.  Estefan also won an MTV Video Music Award, two ACE Awards and has been given the American Music Award for Lifetime Achievement.  On Your Feet! is the Tony Award-nominated Broadway musical based on the lives and music of Emilio and Gloria Estefan.



LL Cool J - Rapper, actor, author, entrepreneur (Born James Todd Smith on January 14, 1968 in Hollis, Queens, New York)
He is a two-time Grammy Award winner and is known as one of the forefathers of pop rap.  He has released 13 studio albums and two greatest hits compilations.  Some of his hits are "I Can't Live Without My Radio," "I'm Bad," "The Boomin' System," "Rock The Bells" and "Mama Said Knock You Out."  In 2016, LL Cool J receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his achievements in music.
He has transitioned to television and currently stars in the CBS hit primetime drama series, NCIS: Los Angeles.  He has received six NAACP Image Award nominations for his role of Special Agent Sam Hanna.



Norman Lear - Television producer (Born Norman Milton Lear on July 27, 1922 in New Haven, Connecticut)
Lear has produced such 1970s sitcoms as All in the Family, Sanford and Son, One day at a Time, The Jeffersons, Good Times, Maude, and Mary Harman, Mary Hartman.  He founded People for the American Way in 1980, which remains a influential voice against the radical religious right.  In 1999, President Clinton bestowed the National Medal of Arts on Lear.  He is also among the first seven television pioneers inducted into the Television academy hall of Fame in 1984.  He was awards a Peabody Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017.



Lionel Richie - Singer, songwriter, actor, record producer (Born Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. on June 20, 1949 in Tuskegee, Alabama)
Richie has sold more than 100 million albums and has had #1 records for nine consecutive years.  He has receive an Oscar, a Golden Globe, and four Grammy Awards. 
Richie first performed with the Commodores, where he had such smash hits as, "Three Times a Lady," "Still," and "Easy."  Other hits are "Endless Love," "Lady," "Truly," "All Night long," "Penny Lover," "Stuck on You," "Hello," "Say You, Say Me" (Won the Academy Award for Best Original Song), "Dancing on the Ceiling," and "We Are the World," written with Michael Jackson for USA for Africa.