Paul McCartney Receives Kennedy Center Honor

The 2010 Kennedy Center honorees in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 4. Top row, (from L to R): Merle Haggard, Bill T. Jones, and Sir Paul McCartney. Bottom row, (from L to R): Jerry Herman and Oprah Winfrey. (Ron Sachs/Getty Images)

The 2010 Kennedy Center honorees in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 4. Top row, (from L to R): Merle Haggard, Bill T. Jones, and Sir Paul McCartney. Bottom row, (from L to R): Jerry Herman and Oprah Winfrey. (Ron Sachs/Getty Images)

Paul McCartney is one of five recipients of this year’s Kennedy Center Honor for a lifetime contribution to American culture.

The John F Kennedy Center for Performing Arts gave the award to Sir Paul yesterday, Dec. 4, together with Oprah Winfrey, composer Jerry Herman, singer/songwriter Merle Haggard, and Bill T. Jones.

“It’s a huge honor, it’s nice to get,” McCartney said, in an interview with J. Freedom du Lac. “That’s an era and a president that we were fans of. You knew something was attached to it. But I had to be educated that this is the one, the big American honor.”

Previous honorees include the likes of Johnny Cash, Diana Ross, Frank Sinatra, Smokey Robinson, Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan, Pete Townsend, and Brian Wilson.

McCartney was honored with The Gershwin Prize for Popular Song earlier this year by President Obama at the White House.

In May, McCartney also held a press conference at the Library of Congress.

This tops an extraordinary year for the 68-year-old whose current American tour has been a resounding success. McCartney will perform in New York at the prestigious Apollo Theater on Dec. 13.