EMI Music France/Blue Note artist and Grammy® nominee Stacey Kent received the prestigious National Order of Arts and Letters, a government decoration, in recognition of her contribution to the arts, today from French Culture Minister Christine Albanel. Culture Minister Albanel cited Kent “ as a painter of sentiment, spellbinding, mixing sophistication and sentiment, a luminous and unique talent ”. Previous recipients include Rudolf Nureyev, Philip Glass, and Yohji Yamamoto. In 2009, legendary drummer Roy Haynes also received the award alongside Kent (see photo). Stacey Kent will be performing this evening to a sold-out house at the Chatelet Theatre in Paris as part of the Blue Note Record Festival marking the legendary jazz labels 70th anniversary. Stacey Kent, a recent addition to the Blue Note roster of recording artists, now boasts seven best-selling albums including her platinum-selling “Breakfast on the Morning Tram” (2007) and “The Boy Next Door” (2003) both of which achieved Gold status. Her most recent album, the Grammy-nominated Blue Note release, 'Breakfast on the Morning Tram' (Blue Note/EMI Music) was released in 2007, and has remained at the top of the French jazz chart as well as holding its own in the top 20 of the general album charts. Its release around the world is sure to mirror this success. Nicolas Pflug, head of the Blue Note label in France said: "Stacey is in love with France- its language and its culture. She has sung some of the most beautiful songs in our national repertoire and her next album will be entirely in French. Receiving this National Order of Merit is a true honour for her and a great source of pride for Blue Note”.
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