Singer Shankar Mahadevan received an honorary doctorate from Birmingham City University (BCU) for his outstanding contribution to music and the arts on June 23 in a ceremony held at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. He shared his experience and said, “This is truly special, I feel privileged, I feel honoured and this is just the result of body of work that I have done. I would like to thank Birmingham City University and all the people who decided to confer this legendary, honourable doctorate on me. All I can say is that this is an occasion which tells that I need to work even harder, come up with even more beautiful songs and spread the joy of music which is Indian classical music all around the world.” Andy Street, the mayor of West Midlands County in the UK, made the announcement during a trade mission event in Mumbai in November last year. The occasion was also attended by the Table Maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain and the legendary guitarist, John McLaughlin.