Billy Joel is an American musician and pianist, performer, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. He has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, according to the RIAA. He's written 33 Top 40 hits, a six-time Grammy Award winner, has sold over 150 million records worldwide, inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame (1992), the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1999), the Long Island Music Hall of Fame (2006), and the Hit Parade Hall of Fame (2009). Yet, he's never been honored by the Kennedy Center Honors. Let's remedy that! Honors recipients are recognized for their lifetime contributions to American culture through the performing arts—whether in dance, music, theater, opera, motion pictures, or television. The primary criterion in the selection process is excellence. Joel, known around the world as a native New Yorker is, without a doubt, qualified to receive this award. And, although there is no reason to suspect that he might pass away soon, a key requirement to being selected as a Kennedy Center Honoree is that the performer in question must be alive and present at the ceremony in order to receive their Award, so we need to include him this year when the Kennedy Center's national arts committee and previous honorees choose the honorees for 2012. If you agree that Billy Joel should be honored by the Kennedy Center, please sign this petition.