Harvard honors Elton John for efforts to fight HIV and AIDS

NEW YORK — Elton John will receive an award from Harvard University next month for his philanthropic efforts to fight HIV and AIDS.

The Elton John AIDS Foundation announced Tuesday that the 70-year-old singer will be awarded the Harvard Foundation's Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Award on Nov. 6. Previous winners include Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Secretaries General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon, Kofi Annan, Boutrous-Boutrous Ghali and Javier Perez de Quellar.

John says the award is "both gratifying and tremendously humbling." He says he remains committed to "sustain and grow the progress we've made to eradicate stigma and end the spread of HIV/AIDS, once and for all."