On Sunday, he received the award for “Best Original Song” from
the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at the 87th Academy Awards
ceremony. Common, whose birth name is Lonnie Lynn Jr., shared the honor with John
Legend for the song “Glory.”
The two artists also performed the song at the nationally
televised event shortly before the Academy announced that they had won.
“Glory” is part of the soundtrack for the Harpo Films movie “Selma.” “Selma” tells the story of the activists who risked their lives during civil rights demonstrations in Selma, Alabama in 1965. The protests helped lead to the passage of the Voting Rights Act later that same year.
Earlier this year, Common and John Legend won the
Golden Globe award for “Best Original Song – Motion Picture” and a Critics’
Choice Award for the “Glory.”
Common recently returned to FAMU in 2010 to perform in a
Haiti Relief Concert and in 2011 to deliver the first lecture for that academic
year’s Lyceum Series.