Barry Gibb and Dionne Warwick are among those tapped for 2023 Kennedy Center Awards. Joining the music legends are Billy Crystal, Queen Latifah, and operatic soprano Renée Fleming. The New York Times reported the event will be taped on December 3rd in Washington, D.C. at the Kennedy Center Opera House and broadcast later that month on CBS.
Barry Gibb's longtime friend, Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson was the first to salute his friend, posting on Facebook: “Congratulations to Barry Gibb, a recipient of the 46th Kennedy Center honors. . . I really admire the guy. He is like King Kong.”
Not too long ago, Barry Gibb explained that he and his late-brothers, Robin and Maurice Gibb — served as both their own harshest critics and mutual sources of inspiration: “They drove me as much as I drove them, and they drove each other. And there were many situations in our lives where we didn't agree and there were any situations in our lives where we completely were on the same page. We just had, the first time in our lives, we just had the Number Ones album go in at Number One in the catalog charts in America. That gives us 45 years of hit records, and I don't think we could've done that if it had just been one of us. No way.”
Dionne Warwick told us why she feels it's still important to keep recording and staying active in the studio: “The audience that has now grown up with me now have children who are having children, and I want them to know who Dionne Warwick is, and that I can be a part of their CD collection now, as they're called, instead of records. Remember vinyl? I loved it. But, y'know, they can now say, 'Yeah,' y'know, 'I know who she is, and I like her stuff, too.'”