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Billy Joel will become the sixth recipient of the prestigious Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song at a ceremony in November.

The award, named after songwriting brothers George and Ira Gershwin, recognises “a living musical artist’s lifetime achievement in promoting the genre of song as a vehicle of cultural understanding; entertaining and informing audiences; and inspiring new generations.”

Joel has welcomed the announcement:

The great composer, George Gershwin, has been a personal inspiration to me throughout my career. And the Library’s decision to include me among those songwriters who have been past recipients is a milestone for me.

Librarian of Congress, James H. Billington, said in a statement:

Billy Joel is a storyteller of the highest order. There is an intimacy to his songwriting that bridges the gap between the listener and the worlds he shares through music.

When you listen to a Billy Joel song, you know about the people and the place and what happened there. And while there may be pain, despair and loss, there is ultimately a resilience to it that makes you want to go to these places again and again.

Importantly, as with any good storyteller, the recognition experienced in a Billy Joel song is not simply because these are songs we have heard so many times, but because we see something of ourselves in them.

The Grammy-winning singers will receive the prize in Washington, D.C. in November and will be honoured at a number of events.

Billy Joel has had 33 Top-40 hits and 23 Grammy nominations since signing his first solo recording contract in 1972. He was presented with a Grammy Legend Award in 1990, and inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999. He received the Songwriters Hall of Fame’s highest honour, the Johnny Mercer Award, in 2001. In 2013, Joel was one of five individuals to receive Kennedy Center Honors.

The previous recipients of the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song were Carole King, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, Sir Paul McCartney, and the songwriting duo Burt Bacharach and Hal David.