Pop Star Stevie Wonder Celebrated at White House
By PHILIP ELLIOTT
Associated Press Writer
 President
Barack Obama presents Stevie Wonder with the Library of
Congress Gershwin Award.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama thanked Stevie
Wonder for creating "a style that's uniquely American"
as he presented the singer-songwriter the nation's
highest award for pop music.
Obama, who called Wonder the soundtrack of his youth,
gave the star the Library of Congress' Gershwin Prize
for Popular Song during an East Room tribute Wednesday
that featured Tony Bennett, Martina McBride and Wonder
himself. The president joked that the group was "the
most accomplished Stevie Wonder cover band in history."
Wonder was emotional at times, thanking Obama for the
award and reflecting on what his election as the first
black president means to the United States.
"What is truly exciting for me today is that we truly
have lived to see a time and a space where America has a
chance to again live up to the greatness that it
deserves to be seen and known as, through the love and
caring and the commitment of a president - as in our
president, Barack Obama," he said.
Wonder cited Martin Luther King Jr., his faith and his
mother during an acceptance speech that flowed into a
set of Obama's favorite songs. The Grammy-winning
musician - he has 25 of the awards - joked that he
looked forward to writing more love songs - perhaps a
soundtrack for "you know, maybe I'll be a part of
creating some more of those babies."
Obama praised Wonder's decades-long career and a style
that has blended pop and funk, R&B and gospel.
"Stevie has always drawn on the incredible range of
traditions in his music and, from that, he's created a
style that's at once uniquely American, uniquely his
own, and yet somehow universal," Obama said. "Indeed,
this could be called the American tradition - artists
demonstrating the courage, the talent to find new
harmonies in the rich and dissonant sounds of the
American experience."
First lady Michelle Obama spoke in more personal terms,
calling Wonder "one of the world's greatest artists."
She recalled how she and her grandfather would listen to
Wonder's albums together.
"He'd blast music throughout the house and that's where
he and I would sit and listen to Stevie's music together
- songs about life, love, romance, heartache, despair.
He would let me listen to these songs over and over and
over and over again," she said.
The first album she bought was Wonder's "Talking Book,"
and she and Barack Obama used "You and I" as their
wedding song.
President Obama said he was lucky to have already loved
Wonder's music when he first met his mate.
"I think it's fair to say that had I not been a Stevie
Wonder fan, Michelle might not have dated me, we might
not have married," Obama said, with his wife sitting in
the front row. "The fact that we agreed on Stevie was
part of the essence of our courtship."
Although the president is a well-known fan - Wonder
performed at his nominating convention in Denver last
summer and at a Lincoln Memorial concert before his
January inauguration - the Library of Congress had
decided to honor Wonder before Obama won the election.
The Gershwin Prize honors George and Ira Gershwin and is
given for lifetime achievement in popular music. Paul
Simon claimed the nation's first prize in 2007.
Wonder's performance will be broadcast Thursday on PBS
stations as part of a White House series on the arts.
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