The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences' MusiCares Foundation will bestow its coveted Person of the Year award on Paul Simon. The singer-songwriter will be honored on Feb. 19 at a dinner in Los Angeles.

Simon, who has won sixteen Grammys and has been nominated thirty-three times, is being honored for his ongoing dedication to funding various charities, including the United Negro College Fund, the American Foundation of AIDS Research and the New York Children's Health Project, which he co-founded.

Previous honorees include Stevie Wonder, Bonnie Raitt, Luciano Pavarotti, Tony Bennett, Gloria Estefan and Elton John. NARAS president Michael Greene called Simon "a man who brings people and cultures together by promoting unity through music."

The MusiCares Foundation dinner will be paired with a memorabilia auction in Los Angeles, two days before the Grammy Awards.

JAAN UHELSZKI
(November 22, 2000)