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The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has announced the recipients of the 2010 Kennedy Center Honors.
Singer and songwriter Merle Haggard, composer and lyricist Jerry Herman, dancer, choreographer and director Bill T. Jones, songwriter and musician Paul McCartney, and producer, television host and actress Oprah Winfrey will all receive awards that recognize their lifetime of contributions to American culture.
The awardees will be honored at a gala concert on Sunday, December 5 (click here for photos). Since its inception in 1978, the evening has become the highlight of Washington's cultural year, with the President and First Lady topping a guest list that reads like a who's who of American politics, business, philanthropy, and performing arts.
The gala will be broadcast December 28 at 9 p.m. on CBS.
— Report by Christina Wilkie and photographs Getty Images
Updated: 12/6/10 with photos of the night
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Merle Haggard | 
Jerry Herman |
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Bill T. Jones
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Paul McCartney
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Oprah Winfrey
| Awardees
Merle Haggard — Widely viewed as one of the founding fathers of the modern country sound, Merle Haggard is a singer, songwriter, guitarist, and instrumentalist.
Originally from Bakersfield, Calif., Haggard had a rough childhood and spent three years in San Quentin Prison for robbery before pursuing his musical career. Once he began, he had a string of hits that spanned three decades and which were often characterized as a rebellion against the heavily produced "twang" of Nashville country sounds. Haggards greatest hits include "Okie from Muskogie," "Mama Tried," "Carolyn," and "Sing me Back Home."
Haggard, 73, was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2009.
Jerry Herman — Herman is the composer behind some of the most beloved shows ever performed on Broadway, including "Hello, Dolly!", "Mame," and "La Cage aux Folles" (The Bird Cage).
After a childhood spent in Jersey City, N.J. with musical parents, Herman began composing as a teenager. His first Broadway hit was 1960's "A to Z," and from there he went on to be write the music for a dozen Broadway hits.
He has been nominated for 5 Tony awards, won two of them, and in 2009, won a Tony award for Outstanding Lifetime Achievement in 2009.
Bill T. Jones — Jones is among the most innovative professionals in American dance theater of the past generation, and his work, both as a soloist and with longtime partner Arnie Zane, has changed how modern dance is understood in America.
A native of upstate New York, Jones began dancing at Binghamton University, and soon after teamed up with Arnie Zane to form the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company in 1982. Together they created and performed more than 100 original works of modern dance, touring the world and pushing the boundaries of the art form.
Jones won a Tony award for Best Choreography in 2009 for his production of "Fela!"
Sir Paul McCartney — Since he first burst onto the international music scene as a member of the Beatles in 1960, McCartney has become one of the most influential and successful songwriters and musicians of all time.
Raised in Liverpool, England, McCarthy's father played the piano, and gave his son a trumpet, which McCartney soon traded in for a guitar. He teamed up with John Lennon at age 15 and the two of them began a lifetime of collaboration that would change the perception of music all over the world.
More than 30 of McCartney's songs have been Billboard number one hits in the U.S., and the Guinness Book of World Records cites his song "Yesterday" as the most covered song in the history of recorded music.
The Kennedy Center Honors will be the second time in a year that McCartney has been honored in Washington. In June he received the Gershwin Prize for his contributions to popular music in a live show at the White House before President Obama.
Oprah Winfrey — Regarded as one of the most influential performers in the world, Winfrey's internationally syndicated daytime talk show has changed American television and made her one of the world's wealthiest women.
Winfrey's roots in rural Mississippi make her rise all the more extraordinary -- after getting a full scholarship to college, she started out on a Chicago morning show in 1983. Her candid, confessional style was unprecedented, and her rise in the ratings was fast.
Winfrey's show airs every day, and its focus has shifted over the past decade to wellness, spirituality, and life improvement. She announced in 2010 that she will retire from television in the fall of 2011.
Note: Previous Honorees, as well as members of the Kennedy Center’s national artists committee, made recommendations of possible 2010 Honorees. Artists making recommendations included: Alan Alda, Emanuel Ax, Harolyn Blackwell, Joel Coen, Barbara Cook, Nora Ephron, Denyce Graves, Thomas Hampson, Bill Irwin, Hugh Jackman, Evgeny Kissin, Patti Lupone, Terrence McNally, Sherrill Milnes, Mark Morris, Edward Norton, Kid Rock, Meryl Streep and Frederica von Stade. Previous Kennedy Center Honorees, including Edward Albee, Warren Beatty, Carol Burnett, Bill Cosby, Elton John, James Levine, Steve Martin and Brian Wilson, also made nominations.
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