Steve Wonder dedicated a song to late-Sen. John McCain after the Arizona Republican’s death on Saturday.
While playing a show in Atlantic City, N.J., 68-year old Wonder learned of McCain’s passing and then devoted Billy Joel’s 1977 hit “Just the Way You Are” to him, according to People.
“This song goes out to Sen. John McCain,” Wonder told the crowd. “I wanted to see him before he left this planet, but I didn’t see him. I didn’t get the chance. But he grew to know compassion was not about any political party. It was about loving people for just the way they are.”
Since McCain’s passing, which comes a year after he was diagnosed with brain cancer, politicians, celebrities, and other prominent figures have discussed the impact the former GOP presidential nominee had on U.S. politics.
“Few of us have been tested the way John once was, or required to show the kind of courage that he did. But all of us can aspire to the courage to put the greater good above our own,” former President Barack Obama said in a statement. “At John’s best, he showed us what that means. And for that, we are all in his debt. Michelle and I send our most heartfelt condolences to Cindy and their family.”
McCain, a former prisoner of war, will lie in state in both the U.S. Capitol Rotunda and the Arizona State Capitol. He is one of only 30 individuals to be honored with the distinction since the practice began in the Capitol Rotunda in 1852.
