Elton John and Bernie Taupin are this year’s recipients of the Library of Congress’ Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.
EGOT status and a Gershwin Prize in the same month? 2024 is proving to be another landmark year for Elton John.
The famed performer and his longtime creative partner, lyricist Bernie Taupin, are this year’s recipients of the Library of Congress’ Gershwin Prize for Popular Song — the nation’s highest award for influence, impact and achievement in popular music.
“Elton John and Bernie Taupin have written some of the most memorable songs of our lives,” Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress, said in a Tuesday statement. “Their careers stand out for the quality and broad appeal of their music and their influence on their fellow artists.”
“More than 50 years ago, they came from across the pond to win over Americans and audiences worldwide with their beautiful songs and rock anthems,” Hayden added. “We’re proud to honor Elton and Bernie with the Gershwin Prize for their incredible impact on generations of music lovers.”
The iconic songwriting duo behind the hits “Your Song,” “Tiny Dancer,” “Rocket Man,” “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” and “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” will be honored with a tribute concert in Washington, D.C., that will air on PBS stations nationwide on April 8.
“I’ve been writing songs with Bernie for 56 years, and we never thought that that one day this might be bestowed upon us,” the “Bennie and the Jets” and “Crocodile Rock” singer said in a statement, noting that “it’s an incredible honor for two British guys to be recognized like this.”
“To be in a house along with the great American songwriters, to even be in the same avenue is humbling, and I am absolutely thrilled to accept,” Taupin added.
John, 76, and Taupin, 73, join the ranks of past Gershwin Prize recipients, including Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, songwriting duo Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Carole King, Billy Joel, Willie Nelson, Smokey Robinson, Tony Bennett, Emilio and Gloria Estefan, Garth Brooks, Lionel Richie and Joni Mitchell.
The honorees are selected by the librarian of Congress, who consults with a board of scholars, producers, performers, songwriters and music specialists.
Earlier this month, John was drafted into the rarefied class of EGOT winners — artists who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award. The superstar clinched the E — and the 19th spot in the class — with his Emmy win for his variety special “Elton John Live: Farewell From Dodger Stadium.” The special was based on his trio of Dodger Stadium shows in November 2022, when he paid tribute to his landmark 1975 concert at the Los Angeles venue.
He also has five Grammys, two Oscars (for the songs “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” from “The Lion King” and “[I’m Gonna] Love Me Again” from “Rocketman”), and a Tony (“Aida”) on his proverbial mantle. Taupin, who has always stayed more behind the scenes than his bedazzled counterpart, also won an Oscar for the song from “Rocketman.”
While 2024 brought the awards, 2023 marked another milestone for John. The Rocket Man bid farewell with his globe-trotting Farewell Yellow Brick Road retirement tour over the summer after wearing 16 Gucci suits and playing 330 shows with 6.25 million fans. The tour, which launched in 2018, became the highest grossing tour of all time (but was ultimately overtaken by Taylor Swift’s juggernaut Eras tour).
Before the Dodger Stadium shows, the “Cold Heart” singer played a handful of concerts at the Forum in Inglewood and Staples Center (now Crypto.com Arena) in downtown Los Angeles in 2019, commemorating his five-decade touring love affair with L.A. that former Times music critic Robert Hilburn helped launch in the 1970s.

The three-time Tony Award-winning Broadway legend created indelible roles: Anita in West Side Story, Rose in Bye Bye Birdie and Velma Kelly in Chicago.
Chita Rivera, who appeared in more than 20 Broadway musicals over six decades has died, according to her daughter, Lisa Mordente. The three-time Tony Award-winning Broadway legend created indelible roles — Anita in West Side Story, Rose in Bye Bye Birdie, Velma Kelly in Chicago, and Aurora in Kiss of the Spiderwoman. She was 91.
Rivera « was everything Broadway was meant to be, » says Laurence Maslon, co-producer of the 2004 PBS series, Broadway: The American Musical. « She was spontaneous and compelling and talented as hell for decades and decades on Broadway. Once you saw her, you never forgot her. »
You might think Chita Rivera was a Broadway baby from childhood – but she wasn’t. Born Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero in Washington, D.C., she told an audience at a Screen Actors Guild Foundation interview that she was a tomboy and drove her mother crazy: « She said, ‘I’m putting you in ballet class so that we can rein in some of that energy.’ So I am very grateful. »
Rivera took to ballet so completely that she got a full scholarship to the School of American Ballet in New York. But when she went with a friend to an audition for the tour of the Broadway show Call Me Madam, Rivera got the job. Goodbye ballet, hello Broadway. In 1957, she landed her breakout role, Anita in West Side Story, with a score by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim.
« Hearing ‘America’ was just mind-boggling, with that rhythm, » Rivera told NPR in 2007 for the musical’s 50th anniversary. « I just couldn’t wait to do it. It was such a challenge. And, being Latin, you know, it was a welcoming sound. »
West Side Story allowed Rivera to reveal not only her athletic dancing chops, but her acting and singing chops. She recalls Leonard Bernstein teaching her the score himself: « I remember sitting next to Lenny and his starting with ‘A Boy Like That,’ teaching it to me and me saying, ‘I’ll never do this, I can’t hit those notes, I don’t know how to hit those notes.’ « 
But she did hit them, and being able to sing, act and dance made her a valuable Broadway commodity, said Maslon. « She was the first great triple threat. Broadway directors like Jerome Robbins and Bob Fosse saw the need to have performers who could do all three things and do them really well. »
And, from 1960 to 2013, she headlined some big hits — as well as some major flops. In 1986, Rivera was in a serious taxi accident. Her left leg was shattered, and the doctors said she’d never dance again, but she did – just differently.
« We all have to be realistic, » she told NPR in 2005. « I don’t do flying splits anymore. I don’t do back flips and all the stuff that I used to do. You want to know something? I don’t want to. »
But her stardom never diminished. And the accolades flowed: she won several Tony Awards, including one for lifetime achievement, a Kennedy Center honor, and a Presidential Medal of Freedom. Rivera didn’t do much television or film – she was completely devoted to the stage, says Maslon.
« That’s why they’re called Broadway legends, » he says. « Hopefully you get to see them live because you’ll never get to see them in another form in quite the same way. »