He first came into Americans’ lives with the now infamous performance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 proclaiming that he wanted to hold your hand. Since then, Paul McCartney has been making an indelible contribution to popular song in both our country as well as his own. First with the Beatles, then as a solo artist and with his band Wings and also as a classical musical composer. In November of 2009, he was selected by the Library of Congress to be the third recipient of the prestigious Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.
The prize was established by the Library of Congress to commemorate George and Ira Gershwin, perhaps the most legendary American songwriting team whose manuscript collection and other musical artifacts reside in a special room in the library. McCartney is the first non-American songwriter to receive the Popular Song prize; the first two recipients were Paul Simon in 2007 and Stevie Wonder in 2008.
“As a great admirer of the Gershwins’ songs, I am highly honored to be given the Gershwin Prize by such a great institution as the Library of Congress,” the former Beatle said in a statement.
On June 2 of this year, the Library hosted a special concert during which McCartney was honored and received his prize. As Tonic previously reported, McCartney himself crooned The Beatles’ favorite “Michelle” to First Lady Michelle Obama as the President lip synced along. Now, more details about the concert have come in.
Tonight (July 28), PBS will be airing a special called “Paul McCartney: The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song In Performance at the White House,” which was taped on June 2. According to the Library of Congress’ website, the concert will feature a tribute to McCartney in the form of performances by many of today’s stars — including Stevie Wonder, Faith Hill, Jonas Brothers, Jack White, Elvis Costello and Herbie Hancock. The show will also “feature remarks from Jerry Seinfeld.”
Tune in to see a tribute to one of today’s greatest songwriters, performers and humanitarians!
Photo by slagheap via Flickr.