The music and the tributes were flowing as KISS, Sylvester Stallone, George Strait, Gloria Gaynor and Michael Crawford were feted at the Kennedy Center Honors on Sunday night (Dec. 7) in Washington, DC.
“Billions and billions of people have watched them over the years,” Donald Trump, the first president to host the Honors, said of this year’s class during his opening remarks.
The 48th edition of the annual gala will be broadcast on CBS (select Paramount+ customers will also be able to stream the show) on Dec. 23 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Billboard caught up with some of the honorees and performers at the show to get their thoughts on the honors and their big night:
Shout It Out Loud: “It doesn’t matter if you’re country or rock or pop, rap. We all share one common thread in all the music, and that’s courage,” said country superstar Garth Brooks, on stage inducting one of his biggest musical influences, KISS. “And if you think about it, you take the stage in front of people you don’t know. You bare your soul not knowing what you’re going to get back. That takes courage. Now, try that in six-inch black boots, black leather, paint your face and spit fire and blood. That takes more than courage people, that takes balls.” Brooks performed one of the band’s seminal anthems “Shout It Out Loud,” followed by Marcus King’s soulful rendition of the power ballad “Beth,” from the band’s 1976 album Destroyer. Cheap Trick brought it home with a finale of Kiss’ traditional show closer “Rock and Roll All Nite.”
Rocky Start: “They loved the movie, they loved the music, it fit like a glove and it worked.” The original Rocky theme, “Gonna Fly Now,” reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1977, and the song’s composer, Bill Conti, remains acutely aware of how rare that achievement is for an instrumental track, when the music is as integral to the storytelling as the script. “The music had to be pretty good, the story had to be pretty good, and the people listening had to be ready for it. I had high hopes I could deliver something he would feel in his spirit, but we didn’t have a clue” what a massive hit the song would be, he told Billboard of his early meetings with then-fledgling writer and actor Sylvester Stallone. Conti joined Arturo Sandoval, backed by an orchestra, to perform the theme. Kurt Russell, Stallone’s brother Frank Stallone, Blessing Offer, Neal McDonough and Garrett Hedlund also paid tribute to Sly.
Attitude of Gratitude: KISS singer/guitarist Paul Stanley stans his fans. “What’s always been the template for us, and other bands have since copied, is reciprocity. It’s not only about what you get from people, it’s what you give them. It’s always been a two-way street with us,” he told Billboard on the red carpet. “When people say to me, Thank you for making my life what it is, I say, Thank you for making my life what it is. If you appreciate your fans deeply, they are that much more dedicated to you. I wouldn’t be here without them. It’s always interesting to me when someone says, do you mind when someone wants a photo. I say, ‘I’m here because of that person.’”
Michael Crawford, Mind Blown: Phantom of the Opera star Crawford shared his experience at the Medallion Ceremony at the White House the previous night. “It was extraordinary. They were playing our music, and to hear your own voice coming through and you’re in the White House was quite amazing,” he told Billboard. Crawford said he knew President Trump was a big fan. “He had been to see the show a few times and had been to see concerts a few times. But I had not really met him. The whole experience is unbelievable, it’s mind-blowing is the expression.”
Sweet Tweet: Need proof that once in a while Twitter does spawn positive relations? Look no further than Grammy-winning collaborators Gloria Gaynor and Jason Crabb. “We were going to play Carnegie Hall and Gloria and I started tweeting back and forth and I invited her to the show, so she came out and I just pulled her on stage. So that’s how it all started happening, on Twitter,” Crabb shared. “We became friends, we started writing together, and she asked me to be part of her Christian record and write for it,” he says of Testimony, which won Gaynor a 2020 Grammy for Best Roots Gospel Album, 40 years after the singer picked up a statuette for her signature disco anthem “I Will Survive.” Crabb, Elle King and Deniece Williams were among those who paid tribute to Gaynor.
