Sir Elton John and Bernie Taupin win Gershwin Prize for Common Tune : NPR

Elton John and Bernie Taupin promote the movie Rocketman on the Cannes Movie Competition in 2019.

Loic Venance/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

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Loic Venance/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

Elton John and Bernie Taupin promote the movie Rocketman on the Cannes Movie Competition in 2019.

Loic Venance/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

Celebrated songwriting duo Elton John and Bernie Taupin will share this 12 months’s Gershwin Prize for Common Tune. One of the vital prestigious music prizes within the U.S., the award was established in 2007 by the Library of Congress in honor of one other nice songwriting crew, George and Ira Gershwin, whose papers are held by the Library.

“They’re the epitome of what George and Ira Gershwin stand for: legendary songwriting groups which have actually resonated with generations of music lovers,” the Librarian of Congress, Dr. Carla Hayden, instructed NPR.

That is the third time the Gershwin has been awarded to a pair of artists because the prize was established in 2007. Gloria and Emilio Estefan had been collectively honored in 2019, and Burt Bacharach and Hal David gained the award in 2012. Different previous recipients, almost all A-list celebrities, have included Paul Simon, Stevie Surprise, Tony Bennett and Willie Nelson. Final 12 months’s Gershwin winner was Joni Mitchell, the third girl to be acknowledged. And Sir Paul McCartney was the primary British musician to be honored, in 2010.

In a Library of Congress assertion, Bernie Taupin mentioned, “To be in a home together with the good American songwriters, to even be in the identical avenue is humbling, and I’m completely thrilled to simply accept.”

“I have been writing songs with Bernie for 56 years, and we by no means thought that that in the future this may be bestowed upon us,” Elton John added, in the identical assertion. “It is an unbelievable honor for 2 British guys to be acknowledged like this.”

John and Taupin first met in 1967, by way of a newspaper commercial looking for songwriters. Since then, their albums have offered a whole bunch of tens of millions of copies. Their hits embrace “Tiny Dancer,” Rocket Man,” Do not Let The Solar Go Down On Me” and “Goodbye Yellow Brick Street, which spent two months atop the Billboard Prime 100.

“Their course of appears easy: Taupin writes lyrics and sends them to John, who goes to work on the piano and creates a tune,” the Library of Congress wrote in its announcement.

Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden says her favourite tune by the duo is “Bennie and the Jets,” which got here out in 1973.

“It was a primary hit on African-American radio stations,” she mentioned. “And I keep in mind being a youngster who did not even know who the musicians had been. However we beloved that tune and performed it time and again. In order that simply actually emphasizes personally how this music transcends so many issues.”

The 2 musicians had been inducted into the Songwriters Corridor of Fame in 1992. Earlier this 12 months, Elton John grew to become an EGOT, one in every of solely three pop stars who’s gained an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony. (Maybe now that he has a Gershwin, we will name him an EGGOT.)

A televised tribute live performance for the pair is scheduled to be broadcast nationally on PBS stations on April 8^th from Washington, D.C.