Australian rocker-turned-politician Peter Garrett will on Friday be made an Officer in the Order of Arts and Letters by France's new Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand.
Garrett, who before becoming his country's environment minister was frontman in the band Midnight Oil, will receive the award in person from the minister, a nephew of the late Socialist president Francois Mitterrand, the ministry said.
The Order Of Arts And Letters award, one of France's top honours, recognises people who have made a significant contribution to the arts.
Garrett, known as much for his bald head and lanky frame as his distinctive vocals, rose to fame as the lead singer of Midnight Oil.
The band had worldwide hits in the late 1980s and early 1990s with Beds are Burning and Blue Sky Mine before disbanding in 2002.
Garrett turned to politics and became the Labor party's star recruit when he was elected to parliament in 2004. He became environment minister when the party won office in 2007.
The band reunited earlier this year to perform benefit concerts for Australian bushfire victims.
AFP
