Queen Latifah was in her dressing room on the set of the TV show The Equalizer in Brooklyn when she heard the news that she had been named a Kennedy Center honoree.
“I was shocked for just a second,” she said in an interview. “I sat there looking out the window at New York City and I was like, ‘Wow, can you believe it?'”
Billy Crystal was also caught off guard when he got a call. “When they said, ‘Wait a minute, there’s something I want to talk to you about,’ I said, ‘Oh, am I being audited?'” he recalled. .
They will join Grammy Award-winning singer Dionne Warwick, soprano singer Renee Fleming, and pop singer and songwriter Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees at the 46th Annual Kennedy Center Honors for Lifetime Artistic Achievement on December 3. Awarded.
Queen Latifah, who became the second hip-hop artist to win the award (LL Cool J in 2017), called the honor an all too late celebration of hip-hop’s contribution to American art. This year’s celebration, which is usually attended by the president and other key government officials, coincided with hip-hop’s 50th anniversary.
“It will allow us to be part of the fabric of America for a moment. That’s who we really are,” she said. “It will be a night of hip-hop music and one of her daughters celebrated by those in the highest positions in the world’s most powerful country.”
The Kennedy Center Honors will be hosted by Gloria Estefan and aired on CBS at a later date.
A Tony and Emmy award-winning comedian and actor, Krystal was a cast member on Saturday Night Live and appeared in movies such as When Harry and Sally Met and City Slickers. However, in an interview, she said she began to cry when she found out about her. He had been selected as an award winner.
Images of his long career raced through my mind. He told jokes to his parents as a child, gave his early performances as a stand-up comedian in Greenwich Village, and hosted nine Academy Awards.
“I just thought of all the people I worked with, all the frustrations, the ups and downs, the in-between,” he said. “And it all boils down to hearing them say you’re one of the winners.”
Warwick, who captivated millions with hits like “Don’t Make Me Over,” “Walk On By,” and “I’ll Never Love This Way Again,” has been at the Kennedy Center. said it was “about” to give her this honor to sing for the rest of her life. “I got it,” she said.
She added, “Singing is a gift God gave me, and I use it the way He wants me to use it and the way people want me to use it. Also,” he added.
Fleming, who has sung at the Metropolitan Opera, some of the world’s greatest opera houses and concert halls, as well as Buckingham Palace, the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony and the Super Bowl, heard the voice while driving back from a shopping trip to Loews. It says. News that she was selected for a prestigious award. She stopped the car immediately.
“It’s what you always dream about,” she said.
Gibb, the sole surviving member of the Bee Gees, which formed with two brothers, said he never imagined he would win the award.
The award reminded him of his brother. He remembers saying he wanted to be a pop star when he was eight.
“I remember being on the street corner and saying that’s what I wanted to do and they were like, ‘Oh, can we be pop stars too?'” he recalled. “It was a very simple, childish conversation. And that was the decision. That was the turning point for us. Let’s do it together.”
“I wish they were here to share this,” he said.
