This morning's announcement that the Grateful Dead will receive Kennedy Center honors in December is the latest indication that the Kennedy Center has finally gotten the memo – In music, sometimes people do their best and most lasting work in groups.
The Kennedy Center Honors were established in 1978 to honor individuals. It was not until 2008 that the Center recognized its first musical group: The Who. Prior to that, the most famous member of a group or duo had been singled out for honors – Paul Simon (2002), Tina Turner (2005), Smokey Robinson (2006), Diana Ross (2007) and Brian Wilson (2007).
Even after 2008, the Kennedy Center often chose to single out one member of a group rather than honor the entire group. The Beatles surely should have been honored by the Kennedy Center, but the Center chose Paul McCartney for a solo honor in 2002. (McCartney was unable to attend that year due to a family commitment and was eventually honored in 2010.)
Other group members honored as individuals and not as part of the groups with which they first rose to fame include Carlos Santana (2013), Sting (2014), Mavis Staples (2016), Gloria Estefan (2017), Lionel Richie ( 2017), Cher (2018), Gladys Knight (2022) and Barry Gibb (2023). In some cases, it made more sense to honor individuals. In other cases, it made less sense. Even Barry Gibb would undoubtedly say that his best and most enduring work was done in the Bee Gees with his brothers Robin and Maurice.
Both of Gibb's brothers had died by 2023, and the Kennedy Center generally does not honor people posthumously — though it made an exception for Glenn Frey, who had passed away by the time the Eagles were honored in December 2016. (He was alive when The Squad was cast in 2015. Miranda Lambert performed the Eagles' classic “Desperado” at the 2015 show as a mini-tribute.)
The rule about non-honor of group members needs posthumous revision. Honoring Earth, Wind and Fire, as the Kennedy Center did in 2016, without honoring its mastermind, Maurice White, is hard to fathom. Likewise, honoring the Grateful Dead without acknowledging primary songwriter and lead guitarist Jerry Garcia seems weak.
This year's other honorees are Bonnie Raitt; jazz trumpeter, pianist and composer Arturo Sandoval; director Francis Ford Coppola. and the legendary Apollo Theater in Harlem, which is the first venue to be honored.
The following is a complete list of groups honored with Kennedy Center Awards, along with the dates inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and who received lifetime achievement awards from the Recording Academy.
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The Who (2008)
Imported Members: Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey
Founding members not inducted: Keith Moon (died: 1978); John Entwistle (died: 2002)
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: 1990
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award: 2001
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Led Zeppelin (2012)
Imported Members: John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant
Founding members not inducted: John Bonham (died: 1980)
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: 1995
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award: 2005
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Eagles (2016)
Imported Members: Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Timothy B. Schmitt and Joe Walsh
Founding members not inducted: Randy Meisner (died: 2023); Bernie Lyndon
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: 1998
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award: N/A
Note: The Eagles were the first American band to be honored with the Kennedy Center. It's hard to imagine that the band has yet to receive a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy. 1977's “Hotel California” was the first rock track to win the record of the year, while the band also won Grammys for vocal performance in pop (“Lyin' Eyes”), rock (“Heartache Tonight”) and country (“How Long ”) – a neat trick.
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Earth, Wind and Fire (2019)
Imported Members: Philip Bailey, Verdine White and Ralph Johnson
Founding members not inducted: Wade Flemons (died: 1993); Maurice White (died: 2016); Michael Beal, Leslie Drayton, Yackov Ben Israel (aka Phillard Williams), Sherry Scott, Alexander Thomas, Chester Washington, Don Whitehead
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: 2000
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award: 2016
Note: EWF is the only R&B group to receive a Kennedy Center Honor.
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U2 (2022)
Imported Members: Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: 2005
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award: N/A
Notes: U2 were the first group to receive an honor at the Kennedy Center where all founding members were honored. As with the Eagles, it's surprising that U2 have yet to receive a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy. The group has won more Grammys (22) than any other group or duo in history, including two for record, album and song of the year.
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Grateful Dead (2024)
Imported Members: Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh and Bob Weir
Founding members not inducted: Ron “Pigpen” McKernan (died: 1973); Jerry Garcia (died: 1995)
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: 1994
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award: 2007
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/lists/groups-kennedy-center-honors-the-who-led-zeppelin-u2/