Jazz icon Herbie Hancock and Opera legend Martina Arroyo joined Billy Joel, Carlos Santana, and actress Shirley MacLaine in receiving the 2013 Kennedy Center Honors. All have been playing music, dancing or singing since they were children—and never stopped.
Hancock, 73, got his start at the piano at age 7 while growing up in Chicago. Soon he was playing Mozart and discovered jazz in high school. He joined the Miles Davis Quintet in 1963 and later set out to create his own sounds, fusing jazz, funk, pop, gospel, soul and the blues. He has won an Oscar and 14 Grammy Awards so far.
Bill O’Reilly of Fox News led the tributes for Hancock.
“I know, I’m surprised too,” he said.
Hancock stands out as a “remarkable American” and “remarkable artist,” O’Reilly said. Though he said he’s no expert on music, “I just know what I like.”
Jazz greats Terence Blanchard, Wayne Shorter, Jack DeJohnette and others played a tribute for Hancock’s work. And Snoop Dogg took the stage and brought some rap into the mix to celebrate Hancock’s influence on the birth of hip-hop.
“Herbie we love you, baby,” he said. “Thank you for creating hip-hop.”
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor led the tributes for Arroyo, whom she met while a judge in New York City.
“I’m here for the diva,” she said. “Now we justices are fond of using words precisely. Long before diva took on a different meaning, it meant the most celebrated of female opera singers.”
Arroyo found opera while imitating the singers outside an opera workshop when she was growing up in Harlem. Soon she was signing a contract with New York’s Metropolitan Opera and had a breakthrough with “Aida” in 1965. She went on to star in the great opera houses of London, Paris and Vienna.
President Barack Obama saluted the honorees Sunday night, and top entertainers offered tribute performances for each honoree. The show will be broadcast Dec. 29.
Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report.
