Great American Songbook Hall of Fame
"We are excited to launch the Great American Songbook Hall of Fame to create a tribute to the people and personalities who created this music. There is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland and the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, but there is not a place that celebrates American Popular song in quite this way, and we wanted to honor those individuals who have given us such a tremendous gift. Honors have been established to acknowledge those that have made significant contributions to the Great American Songbook. New members will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in an annual ceremony and Gala performance. It is exciting to bring together people who have experienced this music in different ways. This will make it contemporary and current and help to keep the Songbook alive.
That's what it is all about." - Michael Feinstein
The Hall of Fame will elevate the Great American Songbook, much like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame have done for the respective musical genres. The Great American Songbook Hall of Fame will induct new members annually including lyricists, composers, and performers who created the soundtrack of our lives. Hall of Fame Inductees will be chosen based on such factors as musical influence on other artists, length and depth of career and body of work, innovation and superiority in style and technique, but musical excellence shall be the essential qualification of induction.
The Palladium serves as the official home of the Michael Feinstein Great American Songbook Initiative and the Hall of Fame. The Honorees will be recognized in the south lobby on the gallery level of the Palladium. Plans exist for the construction of the Great American Songbook Hall of Fame Museum and Archive on the campus of the Center for the Performing Arts.
Award Categories Include:
Legend: Awarded posthumously to an artist who made a significant 
contribution to the Golden Age of American popular music,typically defined as the period from the early years of the 20th century through the 1960s.
Songbook: Awarded to living songwriters, both lyricists and composers, who have made a significant impact on American pop culture by creating the most beloved songs from the American popular songbook.
New Standard: Awarded to the artist, songwriter, and/or performer, who continues to create the soundtrack of our lives by writing and/or performing music that will stand the test of time and become the pop standards of tomorrow.
2012 Inductees
Legend Award: Cole Porter
"It is my belief that Cole Porter would have been thrilled to be honored in his native state by being inducted into the Great American Songbook Hall of Fame. On behalf of my family, I sincerely thank you." - Margaret Cole Russell
Composer/lyricist Cole Porter's decades-long string of Broadway successes began with the 1928 hit, "Paris," and the introduction of "Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love.)" He followed with numerous musicals and films including Fifty Million Frenchmen, The New Yorkers, The Gay Divorce, Anything Goes, Kiss Me Kate, Born to Dance, Rosalie, and High Society.
Porter's productions introduced songs that were musically complex with witty, urbane lyrics that audiences loved. Songs such as "You Do Something to Me," "Love for Sale," "Night and Day," "Anything Goes," "In the Still of the Night," "Begin the Beguine," "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To," and "I Get a Kick Out of You" remain popular standards today and have been recorded by well-known artists from around the globe including Fred Astaire, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, U2, Artie Shaw, Elvis Presley, Django Reinhardt, Sheryl Crow, Diana Krall, Michael Buble, Jamie Cullum, Cesare Siepi, Sophie Milman, Joan Jett, Alanis Morrissette, and Michael Feinstein.
Songbook Award: Alan & Marilyn Bergman
"It is truly a great honor for us to be among the first inductees into the Great American Songbook Hall of Fame. And to receive this award from Michael Feinstein, who has done more than anyone to preserve the greatness of the past and insure its future, only deepens the pleasure of this honor." - Alan & Marilyn Bergman
As successful songwriters, Alan and Marilyn Bergman have contributed to the Great American Songbook for more than five decades. Their professional collaboration has resulted in sixteen Academy Awards, two Grammy Awards, three Emmy Awards, and one Ace Award. In 1983, Alan and Marilyn became the first songwriters to be nominated for three Academy Awards for Best Song of the five nominated songs. They are members of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and recipients of the National Academy of Songwriters Lifetime Achievement Award and the Songwriters Hall of Fame Johnny Mercer Award. Their creative efforts "The Windmills of Your Mind," "How Do You Keep the Music Playing?" "The Way We Were," "Moonlight," "It Might Be You," and the theme songs for "Maude," "Good Times," and "Alice" have become part of the fabric of American culture. Numerous artists have performed the Bergman's music including Barbra Streisand, Dusty Springfield, Jose Feliciano, Frank Sinatra, Maureen McGovern, James Ingram, Gladys Knight, Sting, and Beyonce.
New Standard Award: Barry Manilow
Although widely recognized as a singer-songwriter, Barry Manilow is also an accomplished producer and arranger. Manilow dominated the charts in the 1970s with 10 number 1 singles and five simultaneous best-selling albums while also producing Grammy nominated albums for Bette Midler, Nancy Wilson, and Dionne Warwick. Hit songs "Mandy," "Even Now," "Looks Like We Made it," "Weekend in New England," and "Tryin' to Get the Feeling" defined the period. Billboard magazine ranks Manilow as the "top Adult contemporary chart artist of all time." His incomparable musical career also included writing and singing commercial jingles for State Farm, Band-Aid, Stridex, McDonald's, Pepsi, and others. Manilow is an inductee of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, a recipient of numerous awards, and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He continues to write, produce, and perform and is the founder of Manilow Music Project, an organization devoted to providing musical instruments and materials to school music programs. His latest album, Live in London was released in April 2012.