Mel Brooks, Dave Brubeck, Grace Bumbry, Robert De Niro, and Bruce Springsteen receive Kennedy Center Honors. Watch video!

This year, Mel Brooks, Dave Brubeck, Grace Bumbry, Robert De Niro, and Bruce Springsteen were the five artists honored with this year’s Kennedy Center Honors for their lifetime contributions to American culture. This is the seventh tar-studded event that is held every year in which this year’s is hosted by Caroline Kennedy.

On Wednesday (December 30), Mel Brooks, Dave Brubeck, Grace Bumbry, Robert De Niro, and Bruce Springsteen were all invited to attend the White House ceremony before they could meet US resident, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe Biden on the stage.

Wondering what has they done? Please read the following:

Dave Brubeck, has written a number of jazz standards including “In Your Own Sweet Way” and “The Duke”. Brubeck’s style ranges from refined to wild, reflecting both his mother’s attempts at classical training to his improvisational skills.

Bruce Springsteen, The Boss just turned 60 this year and is still feeling his oats. Bruce & The E Street Band is still playing to sold-out arenas around the world. Bruce Springsteen is simple one of music’s mega-stars of the 21st century.

Mel Brooks, now why would Mel Brooks be mentioned in music since he’s mainly known for his outrageous movies like “The Producers,” “Blazing Saddles,” “Young Frankenstein,” and “High Anxiety.” “The Producers” won an Academy Award for best original screenplay, and the beginning of a lucky streak that continued right through the movie’s transformation into a smash play on Broadway.

Grace Bumery, As a youth Grace Bumbry sang in church choirs and was obsessed with singing as a child. In 1955 she entered Northwestern University, where she studied voice and later transferred to the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California. In 1958 she was joint winner of the Metropolitan Opera Auditions. She made her professional debut in a recital in London in 1959.