"The Century Award is given to exceptional architects of our musical culture whose achievements have not yet been accorded the public homage they so justly deserve." That is how late Billboard editor in chief Timothy White described Billboard's highest honor in a letter to Buddy Guy, the second recipient of the award.
The inaugural award was given in 1992 and was named for the imminent 100th anniversary of Billboard in 1994. White created the award in conjunction with then-publisher Howard Lander, and personally conducted definitive interviews with the honorees before his death in 2002, establishing a tradition that continues today.
Here is the full list of Billboard Century Award honorees:
1992: George Harrison
"[He] makes me think of successful artists who don't get lazy but rather remain true to themselves and challenge us with their work," Tom Petty said in presenting the inaugural Billboard Century Award to his Traveling Wilburys bandmate, George Harrison. "But mostly I think of a disarming innocence and a nearly painful honesty." Saying Harrison "could not be more deserving of this award," he succinctly characterized the former Beatle's life and career. Perhaps because he knows the real awards must come from one's soul, and his music is nothing but soul music."
1993: Buddy Guy
"You are a hero to two generations of guitar heroes, and you are a role model for any gifted artist who aims to lead with his spirit," late Billboard editor in chief wrote in a personal letter to Buddy Guy that was published in Billboard. Speaking of his own experience with album "A Man & The Blues," White summed up the essence of Guy's work and influence, saying, "Like so much of your art, it will live and uplift as long as there is blues, rock, and any other music that pounds with the big beat of an honest heart."
1994: Billy Joel
Whether accused of sacrilege when joshing about pan-religious puberty rites on "Only the Good Die Young," or attacked for amplifying the collapse of America's economic promise in "Allentown." Billy Joel has seldom failed to annoy observers who like their popular music innocuous and easily dismissible. An eclectic talent often underestimated and critically contested, he has continually sparked argument and debate with his often-prickly everyday psalms, their beguiling pop settings regularly subverted by abrasive messages that locate the deep diffidence at the core of America's unfulfilled suburban idyll.
1995: Joni Mitchell
In presenting the 1995 Billboard Century Award to her, Peter Gabriel called singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell "a real pioneer" and a "regular inspiration" in his own career. "With her melodies, harmonies, guitar tunings, lyrics, extraordinary voice, and arrangements, she has continuously and courageously experimented, putting substance before style, passion before packaging, and all the time creating wonderful pictures with her songs."
1996: Carlos Santana
Years before a string of "comeback" albums, Billboard honored him for the unbridled creativity and sense of adventure that has laced everything from the mid-1960s' Santana Blues Band through to the star-studded collaborative albums of the 21st Century. Carlos Santana makes music in the service of his higher self, using the guitar as a tool of worship and an instrument of thanksgiving in which all listeners are invited to share.
1997: Chet Atkins
Chet Atkins shatters the notion that country music came out of the hills with a nervous tick in place of rhythmic savvy and tufted hayseed where its intellect should be. The guitar virtuoso proved that country music, like all the arts at their high end, was actually about humanity's boldest hopes for private reason, public excellence, and the honest communication that links both as a force for good.
1998: James Taylor
"One of the most gifted and utterly natural musicians of his time, James Taylor is also an artist who represents a timeless link between Stephen Foster, Jimmie Rodgers, Hoagy Carmichael, Pete Seeger, Ewan MacColl, and other great troubadour/stylists of modern song in the Western Hemisphere," said late Billboard editor in chief Timothy White of this quintessential singer/songwriter's career. "Another hundred years from now, James' music will still sound as ageless and intimate as it does today."
1999: Emmylou Harris
As a songwriter, musician, bandleader and industry leader, Emmylou Harris has both preserved and deepened this nation's awareness of its vital roots music. Throughout her career, Harris has shown the institution of country music institution what it means to keep passion, innovation, and rule-breaking artistic revivalism on the front burner in a genre that must always seem both ancient and anticipatory if it is to survive.
2000: Randy Newman
Late Billboard Editor In Chief Timothy White described Randy Newman as "arguably the greatest living storyteller in American popular music. Tough but tender, understanding but never unctuous, caustic but much too caring to be cruel, Newman knows that art always interprets rather than merely mirrors reality. And he has become a peerless annotator of all that ails and ennobles us."
2001: John Mellencamp
John Mellencamp's impact on rock over the past 25 years has been vast. yet as gainful diversions go, he pursues painting, filmmaking, exploring the prospect of composing for Broadway. As the spirit seizes him, though, he continues making "an often R&B-flavored folk music with a rock beat" that's basically intended to uncork his heart, empty his head and keep the man honest with himself.
2002: Annie Lennox
As a solo artist and as part of the Eurythmics, Annie Lennox has melded sound and vision and created frequently arresting new personas throughout a career in which she never compromised her musical ideals, all of which intersect with an unbreakably beautiful voice that can be angelic and menacing at the same time but is always melodic.
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2003: Sting
Between his career with the Police and as a solo artist, he has sold a combined 100 million albums and singles, according to A&M, his label. Today, his career and his lifestyle are something most people can only dream about: eight homes scattered throughout the world, tens of thousands of fans that scream his name in concert and membership in that elite group of artists known simply by one name.
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2004: Stevie Wonder
An astounding 45 years after his "Fingertips, Pt. 2" helped him simultaneously conquer three Billboard charts, Stevie Wonder's musical charm still enthralls. From preteen wunderkind to adult visionary, his musical evolution embodies a "What's next?" curiosity that still burns brightly.
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2005: Tom Petty
Worldwide sales of more than 50 million albums, with the Heartbreakers and as a solo artist and four Grammy Awards barely begin to tell the story of Tom Petty's 30-year career as a rock star. He has also been part of the Traveling Wilburys with his heroes George Harrison, Bob Dylan and Roy Orbison, recorded with the likes of Johnny Cash and circled the globe on too many sold-out tours to count. He has also added actor, DJ and author to his list of accomplishments.
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