Legendary singer-songwriter-producer Barry Gibb was honored Monday night as the inaugural fellow of The Center for Popular Music at MTSU’s College of Mass Communication.

Gibb, a founding member of the Bee Gees and one of the world’s most successful songwriters, received the honor before speaking at MTSU’s Tucker Theatre for an event billed as his first lecture and performance combination.

The artist came to campus at the invitation of John Merchant, an assistant professor in MTSU’s Department of Recording Industry who toured with Gibb for years as part of his sound production team.

“Barry Gibb’s career has been characterized by its breadth, depth and consistently high quality, embracing shifts in popular music with intuitive ease — and emerging at the top of the charts in five different decades,” said Ken Paulson, dean of the college, who helped present the honor to Gibb.

“We are pleased to honor his singular achievements in popular music.”

You can read more about Gibb’s visit to MTSU and the honor he received at http://mtsunews.com/barry-gibb-speakers-series.