Jeff Bridges http://www.bmi.com/affiliate/rss/C170 This BMI RSS feed contains news articles, events, and musicworld articles for a specific affiliate or group. en affiliates@bmi.com Copyright 2008 2008-09-08T01:00:00-05:00 BMI Signs Singing Sensation Lisa Lavie http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/334933 Artists, Bridges, Jeff, Bryant, Del, Carey, Mariah, Lavie, Lisa, Musical Styles, Pop Lisa Lavie stopped by BMI's Los Angeles office to sign up for performing rights representation and meet with BMI President & CEO Del Bryant and Vice President & Los Angeles GM Barbara Cane.

Shown (l to r) are: BMI's Del Bryant and Barbara Cane (in back), Lisa Lavie, and Ben Margulies. Photo by Ellen S. Ratner

Lavie is the latest discovery of Grammy Award-winning songwriter/producer Ben Margulies, who played a major part in breaking Mariah Carey by co-writing her first three record-breaking No. 1 singles -- "Vision of Love," "Love Takes Time," "Someday" -- which launched her worldwide success.

Margulies and Lavie are currently finishing tracks for her forthcoming debut. The first completed song, "If I Only Knew," appears on the soundtrack to the Jeff Bridges movie, Stick It.

]]> 2006-08-07T18:00:00-05:00 Broad-Based Appeal Gives Sheryl Something to Crow About http://www.bmi.com/musicworld/entry/233438 Artists, Berry, Chuck, Bridges, Jeff, Clapton, Eric, Crow, Sheryl, Dixie Chicks, Henley, Don, Jackson, Michael, Kid Rock, Nelson, Willie, Nicks, Stevie, Sting, Musical Styles, Country, Pop, Musicworld, Feature Although her new album isn't due out until early 2002, Sheryl Crow has nonetheless been spending a good deal of time in the public eye lately, thanks to a variety of musical activities. Indeed, it's hard to imagine any other artist who could release collaborations with both Tony Bennett and Kid Rock in the same month, as Crow has with her contributions to Bennett's new duets collection, Playin' with My Friends, and Rock's just-released Cocky. She also recently co-produced five tracks for Stevie Nicks' Trouble In Shangri-La album, performs Chuck Berry's "Run Rudolph Run" on the new various-artists holiday collection A Very Special Christmas 5, appeared in a new commercial for the Gap, performed in Lifetime's Women Rock! telecast and at the City of Hope award dinner, and sang a duet with Willie Nelson on the Country Music Awards.

But the most timely of the singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist's recent public appearances was her appearance at the post-September 11 Tribute to Heroes telethon, where she tapped into the mood of the time with a moving performance of her song "Safe and Sound" (also currently featured in the Jeff Bridges/Kevin Spacey flick K-Pax).

Crow has been defying expectations ever since she trekked from her native Missouri to California in 1986. It didn't take long for the former music teacher, who holds a degree in classical piano from the University of Missouri, to make connections at the highest rungs of the pop-music ladder, first as backup singer with Michael Jackson on his 1987 Bad tour and subsequently singing backup with Don Henley, Sting, Rod Stewart, Joe Cocker and the late George Harrison. Celine Dion, Wynonna Judd and Bette Midler had covered her compositions by the time A&M released her breakthrough debut album, Tuesday Night Music Club - which yielded the hits "All I Wanna Do" and "Leaving Las Vegas" - in 1993.

The self-produced Sheryl Crow followed in 1996, producing the singles "If It Makes You Happy" and "Every Day Is a Winding Road," and establishing Crow as both a multi-platinum recording artist and a widely loved performer. 1998's The Globe Sessions produced "My Favorite Mistake" and "Anything But Down," while the live Sheryl Crow and Friends: Live in Central Park featured contributions from such famous friends as Eric Clapton, Chrissie Hynde, Stevie Nicks, Keith Richards and the Dixie Chicks.

Previewing her forthcoming album, Crow says, "There are more piano-based songs on this record. I've never really written songs on the piano because I wanted to rock a little harder."

It's apparent that the events of September 11 and Crow's participation in the Tribute to Heroes show moved the artist to consider reworking some of the lyrics on her forthcoming album. One of her new songs, for instance, bemoaned a lack of heroes in the world - an opinion she says she no longer holds. "I feel differently about all that now after what we've seen," Crow told the Los Angeles Times. "My home in New York City is right next to a fire station, and I had a lot of good friends and familiar faces in that department who are missing now."

]]> 2002-01-09T17:00:00-05:00 BMI Composers Score With Oscar http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/232920 Artists, Bridges, Jeff, Sting, Musical Styles, Film-TV Congratulations to the following BMI composers who are among the nominees for the 73rd annual Academy Awards, announced today (2/13/01) by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences:

Original Score

  • Chocolat (Miramax) by Rachel Portman - Portman won an Oscar in 1996 for her score to Emma
  • Mal�na (Miramax) by Ennio Morricone (SIAE)
  • The Patriot (Sony Pictures Releasing) by John Williams - Williams has won numerous Oscars for some of the top films of the last century including Schindler's List, E. T. -- The Extra-Terrestrial, Star Wars, Jaws and Fiddler On the Roof

Original Song

  • "My Funny Friend and Me" from THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE (Buena Vista) - Music by Sting and David Hartley; Lyrics by Sting

Supporting Actor

  • Jeff Bridges in THE CONTENDER (DreamWorks and Cinerenta/Cinecontender)

Oscars will be presented March 25 at the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium and will be televised live on ABC.

]]> 2001-02-14T17:00:00-05:00 Jeff Bridges http://www.bmi.com/musicworld/entry/233569 Artists, Bridges, Jeff, Crosby, David, Musical Styles, Film-TV, Pop, Musicworld, Hitmaker Jeff Bridges is the latest in a long line of well-known actors to launch a musical career. But, while the recently released Be Here Soon is the veteran film star's first album, he's no stranger to the music world.

Long before he established himself as the star of such hit flicks as Starman, Tucker: The Man and His Dream, The Fabulous Baker Boys and The Big Lebowski, Bridges had seriously considered pursuing a musical career. One of his compositions was even chosen by Quincy Jones for the soundtrack of the late-'60s Dustin Hoffman/Mia Farrow film John and Mary.

The late-blooming singer/songwriter acknowledges that it's taken him awhile to get started as a recording artist. "I tend to drag my feet getting to the party," Bridges observes. "That's the way I've always moved through life. I guess that's where the title of the album, Be Here Soon, comes from."

Six of Be Here Soon's nine tracks are original Bridges compositions; the other three were penned by Nashville tunesmith John Goodwin, a longtime Bridges pal. The songs touch on a variety of styles, from reggae ("Movin'") to r&b ("She Lay Her Whip Down") to jazz ("Buddha and Christ At Large"). The album, largely recorded in Bridges' own home studio, includes guest vocals by Doobie Brother-turned-solo-star Michael McDonald and David Crosby.

"Both music and acting are communal art forms," Bridges observes. "They're both best when you've got people truly interacting and inspiring one another, bouncing off ideas."

Be Here Soon is the first release on Ramp Records, a new independent label formed by Bridges in partnership with the aforementioned McDonald and songwriter/producer Chris Pelonis. Bridges expresses high hopes and high ideals for the new venture, stating, "I don't think Ramp will specialize in any one type of music. . . . It will be interesting to see what the catalog looks like in a couple of years."

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