Chuck Berry appears in...
Snoop Dogg, Drake, B.o.B, Lex Luger, Universal Music Publishing & More Honored at BMI Urban Awards
Urban music’s top creators shared the stage tonight at BMI’s Urban Awards at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood. The annual event celebrates the songwriters, producers and music publishers of the past year’s most-performed r&b, rap and hip-hop songs in the BMI repertoire. The 2011 ceremony featured high-wattage star power and broke BMI records. The incomparable Snoop Dogg was honored as a BMI Icon. With seven songs among the most-performed, Drake…
Gregg Allman: The Long Rider

Gregg Allman is no stranger to the blues. As singer, songwriter, and organ player for the Allman Brothers Band, he has taken them about as far as they have ever gone. As skeletal 12-string Piedmont finger-picking stretches into swirling chromatic rhapsodies of improvisation, his Hammond B-3 sloshes against thundering double drummers and dueling Les Pauls howling through 100-watt Marshalls. The sound conjures electric ghosts…
Snoop Dogg to be Named BMI Icon at Annual BMI Urban Awards
Snoop Dogg will be saluted as a BMI Icon at the BMI Urban Awards, slated for Friday, August 26 at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. BMI President & CEO Del Bryant will share hosting duties with Catherine Brewton, Vice President, Writer/Publisher Relations, Atlanta, as the entertainment community gathers to celebrate the most-performed urban songs, songwriters and producers of the…
The Genius of Billy Sherrill

The word genius is bandied about far too often. Sometimes flippant but often rooted in the depths of fervent, if over-eager, admiration, the label has lost some of its luster. “She’s a genius” just doesn’t sparkle like it used to. But listen: Billy Sherrill is a genius. Listen to Tammy Wynette’s “’Til I Can Make It on My Own.” The song seems to tremble…
Indie Spotlight: Alex Winston

Recent New York City transplant Alex Winston carries hometown Detroit with her. At about 16 and with encouragement from both her mom and her dad, she began playing venues and knocking on doors, soaking up her city’s rich sonic history even as she mingled with other members of its promising musical future. Winston proudly records most of her music on GarageBand “between 1 and 5 a.m.,” and…
BMI Jewels Make Up Majority of Rolling Stone’s Top 500

In its June issue, Rolling Stone magazine offered the latest version of its “500 Greatest Songs of All Time," an update of its countdown originally released in 2004. Nuggets crafted by BMI songwriters overwhelmingly dominate the list: Standards from the BMI catalogue make up more than 60% of the classic roll call. Nine out of the top 10 picks are BMI gems: The Rolling Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,”…
BMI Honors George Clinton, T-Pain, Lil Wayne and Many More at Urban Awards in New York

BMI saluted the world’s premier R&B, rap and hip-hop songwriters, producers and publishers Thursday, September 10 at its annual Urban Awards. BMI President & CEO Del Bryant and Catherine Brewton, Vice President, Writer/Publisher Relations, Atlanta, hosted the ceremony at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Broadway at 60th Street, New York City. View videos from the event Hip-hop titans T-Pain…
George Clinton to Become BMI Icon at Urban Music Awards

Ceremony Slated for Sept. 10 in New York Funk originator George Clinton will be named a BMI Icon at the organization’s annual Urban Awards ceremony Thursday, September 10. Staged at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Broadway at 60th Street, New York City, the event will also salute the world’s premier r&b, rap and hip-hop songwriters, producers and publishers by celebrating…
Sweet Dreams: Roy Orbison and the Birth of the Pop Masterpiece

BMI legend Roy Orbison - rock & roll's greatest singer, a crooning rockabilly Caruso who brought opera's high drama to the malt shop jukebox, broke the hearts of bobbysoxers, and pioneered the three-minute pop masterpiece - started out in a dust-covered oven called Wink. He was a West Texas sensation by the time he was 17, playing to crowds as big as 10,000 in 100 degree heat…
Jacksons To Be Honored as BMI Icons

The Jacksons will be named BMI Icons at the organization’s eighth annual Urban Awards ceremony, to be held Thursday, September 4, in Los Angeles. Staged at the Wilshire Theatre in Beverly Hills, the event will also salute the world’s premier r&b, rap and hip-hop songwriters, producers and publishers by touting the most-performed urban songs of the past year in the BMI repertoire. BMI President & CEO Del…
