Carole King to Receive Gershwin Prize From Library of Congress

Carole King will receive the 2013 Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, which honors the “lifetime achievement of artists whose work exemplifies the standard of excellence associated with towering songwriters George and Ira Gershwin.”

“I was so pleased when the venerable Library of Congress began honoring writers of popular songs with the Gershwin Prize,” King said in a statement. “I’m proud to be the fifth such honoree and the first woman among such distinguished company. I look forward to performing in the nation’s capital.”

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King will be honored during a series of events, which includes a performance in the Library of Congress’s Coolidge Auditorium. Previous Gershwin Prize winners include Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder and Paul Simon.

“Carole King has been one of the most influential songwriters of our time,” said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. “For more than five decades, she has written for and been recorded by many different types of artists for a wide range of audiences, communicating with beauty and dignity the universal human emotions of love, joy, pain and loss.”