Herbie Hancock Awarded 2025 Polar Music Prize: Celebrating a Legacy of Jazz and Peace 

Stockholm, Sweden – March 19

Jazz icon Herbie Hancock has been named a 2025 Polar Music Prize Laureate, one of music’s highest honors, recognizing his unparalleled contributions to jazz and his lifelong dedication to peace and youth mentorship.

Mr. Hancock’s musical journey began as a child prodigy, performing Mozart with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at age 11. He rose to prominence in the 1960s with Miles Davis’s Second Great Quintet, later pioneering jazz-funk with albums like Head Hunters in 1973. His innovative spirit has earned him 14 Grammy Awards and an Academy Award, blending genres and pushing boundaries across six decades.

As president of the International Committee of Artists for Peace (ICAP), Mr. Hancock has tirelessly championed the arts as a force for unity, while guiding young people as future peacemakers. His roles as a UNESCO Cultural Ambassador and the inspiration behind International Jazz Day further amplify his global impact, bringing cultures together through music’s universal language. Hancock once said, “Music is a language that transcends borders and speaks to the heart – it’s a tool for building bridges where words alone might fail.”

The Polar Music Prize, often called the “Nobel Prize of Music,” was established in 1989 by Stig Anderson. Mr. Anderson, who died in 1997, was a Swedish manager of musical groups, including ABBA, for whom he also co-wrote several of their hits, including “Dancing Queen” and “Mamma Mia.” He used the proceeds from his own career to establish the award, which celebrates both classical and popular music, honoring artists whose work has profoundly shaped the global musical landscape.

Mr. Hancock shares this year’s honor with other luminaries, with the ceremony set for May 27 in Stockholm, hosted by the Swedish royal family.