The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) today announced that on June 8 it will honor singer-songwriter, musician and philanthropist Sting with its Songwriter Icon Award in Manhattan

Sting made a couple of surprise guest appearances in New York at the start of the month, firstly appearing with The Last Bandoleros during their show at Rockwood Music Hall where he joined the band on their single “Where Do You Go” and followed it up with a run through The Police’s “Next To You.” The following night he joined Pearl Jam on stage at Madison Square Garden to help out on vocals during the band's cover of "Driven To Tears" after which singer Eddie Vedder said “That’s incredible. That’s our all-time favorite singer, favorite bass player, favorite writer, favorite activist, favorite humanist. That was a real honor.”