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ABOUT THE 49TH KENNEDY CENTER HONOREES
PAUL ANKA
Paul Anka has been writing and recording hits for nearly
seven decades. He became a star at 15 when “Diana” went to
No. 1 in 1957, followed by hits including “Puppy Love” and,
later, “(You’re) Having My Baby.” He went on to write “My
Way” for Frank Sinatra and the theme for “The Tonight Show
Starring Johnny Carson,” the longest-running theme in
television history.
Anka toured with the Cavalcade of Stars alongside Buddy
Holly, Frankie Lymon, and Chuck Berry and became the
youngest entertainer to headline at the Copacabana. Knowing
the power was in the pen, Anka wrote for Connie Francis,
Lesley Gore, and Buddy Holly, including the last song Holly
ever recorded, “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore,” and later wrote
“She’s a Lady” for Tom Jones and “I’m Not Anyone” for Sammy
Davis Jr. In the early 1960s, he became a junior associate
of Sinatra and the Rat Pack and wrote the theme for the 1962
film “The Longest Day.”
Later highlights include “Hold Me ‘Til the Mornin’ Comes,” a
1983 duet with Peter Cetera; “Body of Work,” a 1998 duets
album featuring Sinatra and Celine Dion; and “This Is It,” a
posthumous 2009 hit he co-wrote with Michael Jackson. His
2005 album “Rock Swings” hit No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Jazz
Albums chart. The holiday album “Songs of December” followed
in 2011.
In 2013, he published his autobiography, “My Way,” a New
York Times bestseller. That year, “Duets” made Anka the only
artist with an album on the Billboard Top 100 in seven
consecutive decades. In 2014, “Love Never Felt So Good,”
another Jackson co-write, reached No. 1 in more than 50
countries. In 2018, “Don’t Matter to Me,” a collaboration
with Jackson on Drake’s album “Scorpion,” reached the
Billboard top 10.
Anka is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the
Canadian Music Hall of Fame. His honors include the
Songwriters Hall of Fame’s Johnny Mercer Award, BMI’s Icon
Award and France’s National Order of Merit.
Anka appeared on “The Masked Singer” in 2020 and continues
to write and record. His albums “Making Memories” (2021) and
“Sessions” (2022) included a duet with Olivia Newton-John
and a new “My Way” with Michael Bublé and Andrea Bocelli.
His latest album, “Inspirations of Life and Love,” was
released in 2026. The album arrives as Anka continues to
captivate sold-out audiences worldwide, proving his music
and legacy remain as powerful as ever.
DAVID FOSTER
David Foster is one of the most illustrious composers of our
time. With 16 Grammy Awards, including three for Producer of
the Year, an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe, and three Oscar
nominations for best original song, Foster has earned a
reputation as a keen spotter of new talent, playing a key
role in the discovery and career launches of Celine Dion,
Josh Groban and Michael Bublé.
Few other individuals can claim to have their fingerprints
on more major moments in all of popular music than David
Foster. He has created hit songs for a diverse array of
artists including Barbra Streisand; Whitney Houston; Michael
Jackson; Madonna; Andrea Bocelli; Chicago; Rod Stewart;
Stevie Wonder; Earth, Wind & Fire; Toni Braxton; Natalie
Cole; Michael Bolton; Seal; Chaka Khan; Kenny Rogers; Dolly
Parton; Hall & Oates; Brandy; ’N Sync; Boz Scaggs and Gloria
Estefan.
In 2008 and 2011, Foster stepped out as a performer in his
own right with the PBS specials “Hit Man: David Foster and
Friends” and “Hit Man Returns,” which became PBS’
highest-rated shows in decades. In 2018, Foster started
touring with his show ‘An Intimate Evening with David
Foster.’ The shows garnered rave reviews and were so
successful that he now devotes much of his time to selling
out concerts around the world.
Foster recently wrote the music to the new musical about the
iconic animated character “Betty Boop” which opened on
Broadway in 2025 and is about to embark on a national US
tour. In 2023 David released a Christmas album with
Katharine McPhee, titled “Christmas Songs.”
Foster has made charitable work his life’s other priority.
Meeting with a young girl from his hometown who was awaiting
a liver transplant had a profound impact and led him to
create The David Foster Foundation in 1986. Its mission is
to provide financial support to Canadian families with
children in need of life-saving organ transplants and
provide awareness and education of the need to become a
registered organ donor.
ANDY GARCIA
Andy Garcia has been honored for his work as an actor and
director in film and television and as a music producer. His
performance in Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather: Part
III” earned him Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations
for Best Supporting Actor. He later received an Emmy
nomination and his second Golden Globe nomination for his
portrayal of legendary Cuban trumpeter Arturo Sandoval in
HBO’s “For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story,”
which he also executive produced.
In 2026, Garcia premiered his film “Diamond” at the Cannes
Film Festival to critical acclaim. He wrote, directed and
stars in the film alongside Brendan Fraser, Vicky Krieps,
Dustin Hoffman, Bill Murray, Danny Huston and Rosemarie
DeWitt. He also wrote its original score with longtime
collaborator Arturo Sandoval.
Garcia’s upcoming films include “The Prince” with J.K.
Simmons and Giancarlo Esposito and “Maserati” opposite
Anthony Hopkins. He was most recently seen in “Eenie Meanie”
and “Pain Hustlers.”
His other film credits include Steven Soderbergh’s “Ocean’s
Eleven,” “Ocean’s Twelve” and “Ocean’s Thirteen,” the “Book
Club” films, “Father of the Bride,” which he also executive
produced, “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again,” “The Mule,” “The
Untouchables,” “Internal Affairs,” “Dead Again,” “Black
Rain,” “When a Man Loves a Woman,” “Modigliani” and “City
Island,” which he also produced. He also earned acclaim for
his performance opposite Jeff Bridges in Hal Ashby’s “8
Million Ways to Die.”
On television, Garcia most recently appeared in Season 2 of
Taylor Sheridan’s “Landman.” His other television credits
include “Modern Love,” HBO’s “My Dinner with Hervé” and “Ballers.”
Through his production company, CineSon Productions, Garcia
made his directorial debut with the documentary concert film
“Cachao… Como Su Ritmo No Hay Dos.” He also produced,
directed, wrote the music for and starred in “The Lost
City.” Under his CineSon label, Garcia has won Grammy and
Latin Grammy Awards for producing and performing on albums
by Israel “Cachao” López.
Garcia’s honors include a star on the Hollywood Walk of
Fame, the Crystal Globe from the Karlovy Vary International
Film Festival and lifetime achievement awards from the
Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors and the Imagen
Foundation. This fall, he will receive the Stella della Mole
Award at the Turin Film Festival, where “Diamond” will also
screen.
DAVID MAMET
For more than five decades, David Mamet has been one of the
most distinctive voices in American theater and film. A
Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright, screenwriter, director
and author, he is known for his sharp, rhythmic dialogue
that has captivated audiences on stage and screen.
Mamet’s plays include “Oleanna,” “American Buffalo,”
“Speed-the-Plow,” “Boston Marriage,” “November,” “Race,”
“The Anarchist” and “Glengarry Glen Ross,” winner of the
1984 Pulitzer Prize for drama. He wrote the screenplays for
“The Verdict,” “The Untouchables,” “Ronin,” “Hoffa,” “The
Edge” and “Wag the Dog,” and he has twice been nominated for
an Academy Award. He has written and directed a dozen films,
including “Homicide,” “The Spanish Prisoner,” “State and
Main,” “House of Games,” “Spartan,” “Redbelt,” “Henry
Johnson” and the forthcoming film version of
“Speed-the-Plow.”
He also wrote the novels “The Village,” “The Old Religion,”
“Wilson,” “The Diary of a Porn Star,” “Some Recollections of
St. Ives” and “Chicago,” and many books of nonfiction,
including “Bambi vs. Godzilla: On the Nature, Purpose and
Practice of the Movie Business,” “Theatre,” “Three Uses of
the Knife,” “Everywhere an Oink Oink: An Embittered,
Dyspeptic and Accurate Report of Forty Years in Hollywood,”
and two New York Times bestsellers, “The Secret Knowledge:
On the Dismantling of American Culture” and “Recessional:
The Death of Free Speech and the Cost of a Free Lunch.”
His 2013 HBO film “Phil Spector,” starring Al Pacino and
Helen Mirren, earned him two Emmy Award nominations, for
writing and directing. He was co-creator and executive
producer of the CBS series “The Unit,” is a founding member
of the Atlantic Theater Company and is chief cartoonist of
The Free Press.
BARBARA MANDRELL
Born to a musical family in Houston, Texas, Mandrell began
playing the accordion and reading sheet music before she
could read words. By age eleven, she was a prodigy on the
steel guitar. Her performance at a music trade show caught
the attention of legendary country guitarists Chet Atkins
and "Uncle" Joe Maphis. Soon after, Maphis invited Mandrell
to join his show at the Showboat Hotel in Las Vegas. It
became one of the single greatest influences on her
musicianship, and by the time she was a teenager, Mandrell
was touring with The Johnny Cash Show.
A short time later, Mandrell’s father, Irby Mandrell, formed
the Mandrell Family Band, and the act embarked on a
successful tour across Asia. The formation of the band also
brought Mandrell together with her future husband Ken Dudney,
after her dad hired him as the drummer.
Mandrell’s career took off in Nashville, and she scored her
first hit with a remake of Otis Redding’s classic “I’ve Been
Loving You Too Long.” A succession of No.1 hits followed,
with songs such as “Sleeping Single in a Double Bed,” “(If
Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want to Be Right” and “I Was
Country When Country Wasn’t Cool.” In 1980, the Country
Music Association named Mandrell Entertainer of the Year.
She earned that accolade again in 1981 and is one of the
most awarded country acts in history. Mandrell and her
sisters, Louise and Irlene, enjoyed a lauded television
career that began in the 1980s with her NBC variety show,
Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters.
In 1997, Mandrell officially retired with a final concert
titled Barbara Mandrell and the Do-Rites: The Last Dance. It
was filmed at the Grand Ole Opry for a highly-rated TNN
concert special. Two years later, in 1999, Mandrell was
inducted into the Country Gospel Music Hall of Fame. The
next year, the Academy of Country Music honored Mandrell
with its most prestigious award, The Pioneer Award. In 2009,
Mandrell became the only woman ever to be inducted into the
Steel Guitar Hall of Fame and was also inducted into the
Country Music Hall of Fame. In 2014, Mandrell was inducted
into the Musicians Hall of Fame.
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