Queen Latifah, Dionne Warwick, and the Bee Gees’ Barry Gibb have been amongst the 2023 Kennedy Middle honorees at a ceremony that befell on December 3. Now, the John F. Kennedy Middle for the Performing Arts has shared footage from the present. The ceremony in Washington, D.C., hosted this 12 months by 2017 honoree Gloria Estefan, honors distinctive lifetime contributions to the humanities. These paying tribute included Missy Elliott, Chloe Bailey, and Gladys Knight, to an viewers that counted the president and first girl amongst its quantity. Rounding out this 12 months’s awards class have been Billy Crystal and opera singer Renée Fleming. Watch performances and excerpts under.
Missy Elliott sang Queen Latifah’s praises in a speech pertaining to her childhood publicity to Latifah’s music, earlier than Rapsody coated “Simply One other Day.…” “What Latifah has taught us,” Elliott mentioned, “is unity, to imagine in your self, and to like a Black lady from infinity to infinity.” Watch the complete speech under.
Chloe Bailey, Cynthia Erivo, and Gladys Knight all sang songs from Warwick’s storied discography, whereas Saturday Evening Stay’s Ego Nwodim and 2020 honoree Debbie Allen gave speeches within the soul legend’s honor. Bailey carried out “Stroll On By,” Erivo sang “Alfie,” and Knight picked out “Say a Little Prayer.”
Gibb’s tribute included a Michael Bublé model of “How Can You Mend a Damaged Coronary heart?” and Little Massive City’s take on “Lonely Days, Lonely Nights.” Ben Platt sang “Nights on Broadway” and Ariana DeBose carried out a medley of the Bee Gees’ hits, similar to “How Deep Is Your Love” and “Stayin’ Alive.”
Fleming, in the meantime, was honored by Dove Cameron with a rendition of the musical quantity “The Gentle within the Piazza,” plus a joint efficiency of “You’ll By no means Stroll Alone,” from Carousel, by Tituss Burgess, Christine Baranski, and the Jubilation Choir.
“Receiving the Kennedy Middle Honors is one thing that everybody hopes would possibly occur someday. I’ve typically thought of however by no means dreamed it may come true,” Gibb mentioned in a earlier assertion. In her assertion about receiving the dignity, Queen Latifah mentioned, “After we began on this journey many years in the past, we have been typically instructed ‘No’…. To now be acknowledged amongst so many multi-hyphenates feels unbelievable, not for simply me and my crew, however for our group.”
