Elton John News Round-Up: Honor From Harvard, Surprise ‘Lion King’ Performance
Elton John‘s work combating HIV and AIDS will be recognized Monday (November 6) by Harvard University.
John will receive the Harvard Foundation’s Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Award in recognition for his Elton John AIDS Foundation. In a statement, John says the award is “both gratifying and tremendously humbling…It’s an honor to share this recognition with such illustrious past recipients. I remain committed, now more than ever, to helping sustain and grow the progress we’ve made to eradicate stigma and end the spread of HIV/AIDS, once and for all.”
John established the foundation during 1992, along with other charitable endeavors such as the Elton John Sports Fund for British athletes and the Elton John Scholarship Fund at the Royal Academy of Music in England.
Previous recipients of the Harvard Award include Desmond Tutu, Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Kofi Annan.
…In other news, Sir Elton made a surprise appearance at the 20th anniversary celebration of the Broadway stage adaptation of The Lion King and performed “Circle of Life” along with over 100 cast alumni.
Gary Graff is an award-winning music journalist who not only covers music but has written books on Bob Seger, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen.
Additional reporting by Erica Banas.
