On Monday, Billy Joel was among five artists — including Joan Baez, Garth Brooks, Stephen Sondheim and Stevie Wonder — recognized by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers with its first ASCAP Centennial Awards at a gala at New York's Waldorf Astoria.

Two nights later, Joel is set to collect the Library of Congress' Gershwin Prize for Popular Song at Washington, D.C.'s DAR Constitution Hall. He'll be the sixth recipient, and will be feted by Tony Bennett, John Mellencamp, Kevin Spacey and other stars at an event set to air Jan. 2 on PBS.

“I'm starting to suspect that I have some kind of terminal disease,” Joel jokes. “They keep giving me all these awards, and I'm thinking, 'Are you trying to tell me something I don't know?' I mean, I'm 65 — I'm supposed to be irrelevant. I keep trying to have a dignified exit, and getting pulled back in.”

Read more at USA Today.

Photo by Myrna Suarez

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• * Joan Baez, Garth Brooks, Billy Joel, Stephen Sondheim And Stevie Wonder To Receive ASCAP Centennial Awards – August 21, 2014
• * Billy Joel To Receive Library of Congress Gershwin Prize For Popular Song – July 22, 2014