Canadians Paul Anka and David Foster are among the performers to receive this year’s Kennedy Center honours, though the Dec. 7 ceremony will not be held at the historic Washington, D.C., venue as a result of the legal battles that have emerged in Donald Trump’s second term as president.
Actor Andy Garcia, director and playwright David Mamet and country music legend Barbara Mandrell are also among this year’s honorees.
“We are proud to honour this year’s class and to continue a tradition that has defined the Center for nearly 50 years,” Trump said in a statement.
Anka, 85, is in his eighth decade in show business. Born in Ottawa to Lebanese parents, he performed at local talent shows and on CBC productions like Pick the Stars and Cross-Canada Hit Parade before Diana hit No. 1 on the U.S. charts in 1957.
Anka also scored hits with songs like Lonely Boy and Put Your Head on My Shoulder, while also writing songs that became famous for others — It Doesn’t Matter Anymore by Buddy Holly, Johnny’s Theme for the Tonight Show hosted by Johnny Carson, and My Way, recorded by hundreds of artists, most famously by Frank Sinatra.
“After 70 years of doing what I love and being a part of the fabric of the American culture, I am humbled to receive this prestigious honour,” Anka, who continues to perform around the world, said on social media on Monday.
Victoria native Foster, who turned 77 on Sunday, spent a handful of years playing in bands around Canada before joining Skylark, the B.C.-based group that earned a Top 10 Billboard hit in 1973 with Wildflower.
After the band dissolved, Foster’s stature as a studio musician and then producer grew. He produced pop and adult contemporary hits over a span of decades for artists such as Earth, Wind and Fire, Chicago and Whitney Houston, whose Foster-produced version of Dolly Parton’s I Will Always Love You spent a then-record 14-week run atop the Billboard charts beginning in late 1992.
David Foster is seen with his wife Katharine McPhee Foster at the Breakthrough Prize ceremony on April 18 in Santa Monica, Calif. (Jordan Strauss/Invision/The Associated Press)
In addition, Foster helped produce some of the earliest hits outside of Canada for Céline Dion and Michael Bublé.
Anka helped arrange a U.S. green card for Foster in the 1970s and the pair have also occasionally collaborated on music. Anka performed My Way to honour Foster at his Canada’s Walk of Fame ceremony in 2002.
They’ve each been inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and been appointed officer of the Order of Canada.
Both dual Canada-U.S. citizens, they’ll join Joni Mitchell and Lorne Michaels as the only Canadians to receive Kennedy Center honours since they were first awarded in 1978.
Court battles over venue name, building repairs
The Cuban-born Garcia, 70, appeared on various television and movie productions before a breakthrough on the big screen in 1987’s The Untouchables. He earned an Oscar nomination for supporting actor for 1990’s The Godfather Part III, portrayed the casino boss in Ocean’s Eleven and two sequels, and has recently been in Taylor Sheridan’s series Landman.
Chicago native Mamet, 78, is among the most acclaimed playwrights of his time, known for his hard-boiled dialogue in Glengarry Glen Ross and American Buffalo, which were later adapted for the big screen. In addition to screenwriter credits that include The Verdict and The Untouchables, Mamet has directed the films House of Games, Oleanna and State and Main.
The Trump-aligned Kennedy Center board voted to close most of the performing arts venue just hours after a federal judge blocked the institution from returning President Donald Trump’s name to the building.
Mamet has also been outspoken in support of conservative politics. He told Fox News last year that he was once a “brain-dead liberal.”
Mandrell, 77, is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame whose many hits include Years and Sleeping Single in a Double Bed. In addition to her solo work, she often performed with sisters Louise and Irlene, while also hosting a number of country music variety and award shows.
The Kennedy Center honours were established in 1978 and have been given to a broad range of artists.
Until Trump’s first term, presidents of both major political parties traditionally attended the annual ceremony, even when they disagreed with the politics of a given performer.
In his second term, Trump fired the institution’s board of directors and replaced them with loyalists who named him chairman. A number of performers across music and performing arts genres subsequently cancelled events or associations with the Kennedy Center, protesting what they viewed as the venue’s politicization.
Trump personally announced last year’s honorees — which included Sylvester Stallone and music acts KISS, Gloria Gaynor and George Strait — and hosted the show that honoured them.
The current U.S. president has insisted his name be added to the building in some form. President Lyndon Johnson and Congress had established that the venue, whose origins date back to the 1950s, would be named for assassinated president John F. Kennedy.
In addition to the manouevres concerning t1he name, legal battles have played out over repairs needed for the Potomac River waterfront building. The Kennedy Center has closed, with its stages absent of performances for months.
This year’s honours program will be held on Dec. 7 at Washington’s Capital One Arena, home to the NHL’s Capitals and NBA’s Wizards.
