Suzanne Vega will receive the 2026 Phoebe Jacobs Award from the Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine (LACMM) at Mount Sinai, the organization announced. The honor will be presented October 13 at the Wonderful World Gala at the Angel Orensanz Center in New York, an annual fundraiser for the center’s music therapy programs.
The award is named for Phoebe Jacobs, Louis Armstrong’s longtime publicist and a co-founder of the Jazz Foundation of America, and recognizes artists whose work reflects music’s capacity to heal and connect, according to LACMM director Dr. Joanne Loewy. Vega, known for songs including “Luka” and “Tom’s Diner,” has released ten studio albums over a career spanning more than four decades, most recently 2025’s “Flying with Angels.”
Past recipients of the Phoebe Jacobs Award include Rosanne Cash and John Leventhal, Paul Shaffer, Samara Joy, Bonnie Raitt, Norah Jones, Jackson Browne, Dionne Warwick and Jon Batiste, among others. This year’s gala will also introduce a new honor, the Sheila Jordan Trailblazer Award, recognizing leadership in the music and recording industries.
Based on a press release provided to Music Industry Weekly by Carol Klenfner PR.