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February 26, 2009

WATCH: 'Please Give It Up!': The President Gives Stevie A Gershwin...

Washington Post | Read Full Story >

President Barack Obama on Wednesday thanked musician Stevie Wonder for creating ‘a style that’s uniquely American’ as he presented the singer-songwriter the nation’s highest award for pop music.

Washington Post:

An overjoyed Stevie Wonder beamed, the Motown music legend having just jumped onstage to provide an ad-libbed coda to Bennett’s rendition of “For Once in My Life.” President Obama and the rest of the crowd, packed inside the East Room of the White House, cheered.

For those about to sing, the commander in chief salutes you!

Wonder went to the White House last night to receive the Library of Congress’s Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, and a full-blown concert broke out. As George and Martha Washington peered over the temporary stage from their portraits, the stately East Room was transformed into the world’s most exclusive music hall (roughly 150 invited guests; not a scalper in sight) as Wonder headlined his own gala coronation-cum-concert.

Bennett joined pop titan Paul Simon, country belter Martina McBride, jazz diva Diana Krall, R&B songstress India.Arie and hip-hop star Will.I.Am, among others, in paying tribute to Wonder by performing songs from his deep catalogue. (“The most accomplished Stevie Wonder cover band ever assembled,” Obama joked.)



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