Musician and songwriter Paul Simon will be honoured with the first Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, a new award from the U.S. Library of Congress.

The new award "recognizes the profound and positive effect of popular music on the world's culture," the Washington, D.C.-based Library of Congress said in a statement Monday announcing the winner.

Paul Simon performs at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in May 2006.
(Alex Brandon/Canadian Press)

"Few songwriters have had a broader influence or contributed more to song genres than Paul Simon," Librarian of Congress James H. Billington said.

"Because of the depth, range and sheer beauty of his music, as well as its ability to bridge peoples and cultures, he is the perfect first recipient of this prestigious award."

Simon, who achieved fame as part of the folk duo Simon and Garfunkel in the 1960s, went on to a solo career and worked closely with African performers for the 1986 album Graceland.

Art Garfunkel is among the artists who will pay tribute to Simon when the honour is presented to him on May 23.

The gala, to be broadcast June 27 on PBS, will also feature appearances by James Taylor, Stephen Marley, Marc Anthony, Lyle Lovett, Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Philip Glass.

Simon has received 12 Grammy Awards, including album of the year three times for Bridge Over Troubled Water in 1970, Still Crazy After All These Years in 1976 and Graceland.

He also has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His last album, Surprise, was issued in 2006.

The Library of Congress is home to the George and Ira Gershwin Collection, the world's largest resource for the documentary legacy of the Gershwin brothers.

The prize was created by Peter and Bob Kaminsky, Mark Krantz and Cappy McGarr, who created the Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, now in its 10th year.