Multiple award winner, Country Music Hall of Fame member, and Country music icon Garth Brooks has been named as the newest recipient of the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. Brooks will join a host of previous winners including Tony Bennett, Paul Simon, Carole King and Willie Nelson.
The 57 year old Brooks is the youngest artist to receive the award. As a part of the ceremonies, Brooks will be honoured with an all star tribute concert in Washington, DC.
Noting that an award is only as good as the names written on it, Brooks said that he is humbled by the honour.
The Tulsa, Oklahoma native broke onto the Country music scene in 1989 and has sold out stadium and arenas all across the country multiple times. According to the RIAA – Recording Industry Association of America – Brooks has sold over 148 million albums in the United States alone; a feat topped only by The Beatles. He has earned seven Diamond Awards – one for each album selling at least 10 million copies each.
feature photo credit: By Toglenn – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=81395725