Jeff Cohen

Special Guest John Oates Strums at “Songwriters Circle”

2008-03-18T14:10:00-05:00

BMI joined The New York Songwriters Circle on March 3 to present “Nashville Night,” with special guest John Oates at The Bitter End. Oates, along with a diverse line-up of songwriters including Kylie Sackley, Jeff Cohen and Hugh Prestwood, performed acoustic interpretations of their songs to a standing-room-only crowd.

Shown are (l-r): (Seated) Kylie Sackley, Tina Shafer (creator/owner of Songwriter’s Circle), Jeff Cohen, John Oates. (Standing) Rickie Trudeau, Shai Navon (Songwriter’s Circle), guest , Hugh Prestwood, and BMI’s Charlie Feldman.

Oates, one-half of the chart-topping pop duo Daryl Hall & John Oates, performed hook-laden new songs, showcasing his songwriting prowess; Sackley, scribe of Top Five singles for Leann Rimes (“Nothin’ ‘Bout Love Makes Sense”) and Faith Hill (“Sunshine and Summertime”), wowed the audience with her sentimental tunes and Australian flare; Cohen, creator of radio and television hits heard on Dawson’s Creek and Party of Five, delivered a witty performance stacked with anecdotes; and Prestwood, a Nashville Songwriters Hall of Famer, performed a rousing interpretation of “Ghost In This House,” a song he penned for Shenandoah.

Shown performing are (l-r): Kylie Sackley, Hugh Prestwood, Jeff Cohen, and John Oates.

For 18 years, The New York Songwriters Circle has been the premiere spot in NYC to feature the best up-and-coming as well as many legendary songwriters in an intimate and cozy atmosphere.

BMI PRESENTS ‘NASHVILLE NIGHT’: New York

2008-03-03T20:19:00-05:00

BMI Presents ‘Nashville Night’ Featuring John Oates (of Hall & Oates) at the New York Songwriters Circle at The Bitter End (147 Bleecker Street, NYC) at 8:00 p.m.

The showcase will also feature Kylie Sackley, Jeff Cohen, and Hugh Prestwood.

Cost: $15.00

Cohen Connects at FAB Function

2007-06-27T20:29:01-05:00

This year’s Florida Association of Broadcasters’ Convention in Palm Beach featured a performance by BMI songwriter Jeff Cohen, who played many of his top radio and television hits, as well as telling stories about how some of the tunes were written.

2007 John Lennon Scholarship Winners Announced

2007-05-03T17:20:00-05:00

Emily Shackelton, a 21-year-old Berklee College of Music student, has won first place and a $10,000 scholarship for her song, "Goodbye," in the 10th Annual John Lennon Scholarship competition. Recognizing the best and brightest young songwriters between the ages of 15 and 24, the scholarships were announced by Ralph N. Jackson, President of the BMI Foundation, Inc.

Listen to the winning songs:

Goodbye by Emily Shackelton

Don't Forget to Breathe by Kyle Ferguson

Where to Begin by Derek Daisey

Rain Like This by Zach Hillyard

Overrated by David Smits

Shackelton, a Minnesota native, will receive her award onstage in a special presentation during the BMI Pop Awards ceremony, to be held May 15 in Los Angeles at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel. The black-tie dinner recognizes the writers and publishers of the past year’s 50 most performed pop songs from BMI’s catalog of more than 6.5 million compositions.

Emily Shackelton
Kyle Ferguson
Derek Daisey

Tying for second place and each receiving $5,000 scholarships were Catawba College student Derek Daisey for his song “Where to Begin,” and Augustana College student Kyle Ferguson for his song “Don’t Forget to Breathe.” Honorable Mentions and $1,000 awards went to Berklee College of Music student Zach Hillyard for “Rain Like This,” and to University of Colorado Boulder student David Smits for “Overrated.”

Zach Hillyard
David Smits

The 2007 judges included hit songwriter Jeff Cohen, Zomba Songs’ Jennifer Blakeman, Dimensional Music Publishing’s Neil J. Gillis, esteemed jazz specialist Suzan Jenkins, and Spirit Music Group’s Justin Kalifowitz. The preliminary judging panel included Charles Feldman, Samantha Cox, Wardell Malloy, June Neira, and Ben Tischker, all from BMI's New York-based Writer/Publisher Relations team. Thousands of students representing schools from every state participated in the competition.

Established by Yoko Ono in 1997 in conjunction with the BMI Foundation, the John Lennon Scholarships have been made possible through generous donations from Ono with matching funds from Gibson Musical Instruments. Almost $200,000 has been awarded over the last ten years to students from select colleges, universities and music schools, and from national submissions from the National Association of Music Education/MENC chapters.

The BMI Foundation, Inc. is a not-for-profit corporation founded in 1985 to support the creation, performance, and study of music through awards, scholarships, commissions and grants. Tax-deductible donations to the Foundation come primarily from songwriters, composers and publishers, BMI employees and members of the public with a special interest in music. Because both the Foundation staff and the distinguished members of the Advisory Panel serve without compensation, over 95% of all donations and income are used for charitable grants.

Songwriters Gather at NY Acoustic Lounge

2006-06-21T18:00:00-05:00

The BMI New York office presented its monthly Acoustic Lounge showcase at the Living Room recently, with a stellar "in the round" performance by songwriters Boots, Chris Barron of Spin Doctors fame and Jeff Cohen.

Cohen, a former BMI executive, has written a number of BMI Award-winning songs, including the Evan and Jaron smash, "Crazy For This Girl," and "Holy Water" by country duo Big & Rich.

BMI Acoustic Lounge

2006-05-31T22:00:00-05:00

Nashville Tunesmith Cliff Goldmacher Brings Songwriter Workshop to BMI LA

2005-09-13T18:00:00-05:00

Veteran Nashville songwriter Cliff Goldmacher will be teaching a singer/songwriter workshop on Wednesday, October 26 at BMI Los Angeles. The workshop, being held from 7pm to 9pm at the performing rights organization's offices located at 8730 Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood, is free and open to participants on an advanced registration basis. Space is limited; participants can request admission by emailing LARSVP@bmi.com.

The workshop is geared toward singer/songwriters considering creating a self-released CD and will cover areas such as whether or not to hire a producer, the pros and cons of recording yourself, hiring session players, getting vocals you're happy with, as well as mixing and mastering. Attendees are invited to bring a recent artist demo and there will be a question and answer period at the end of the workshop.

A creative music industry leader in Nashville for the past 11 years, Goldmacher is a former editor at Performing Songwriter magazine and was a staff songwriter for Wrensong Music Publishing. Since opening Cliff's Walk-In Closet, he has recorded and produced over three dozen independent album projects for artists from Nashville and all over the country. He's worked with former PolyGram Recording artist Tom Kimmel on several projects and has been involved in recording and producing CD's for hit songwriters Mark D. Sanders, Fred Koller and Jeff Cohen. Goldmacher has also served as a panelist on engineering at the NAMM (National Association of Music Merchandisers) show in Nashville and currently teaches his recording workshop at organizations across the U.S., including BMI, NSAI and the Songwriter's Guild.

TV Execs Tune In To Special BMI Performance

2004-09-16T18:00:00-05:00

For the 10th consecutive year, performing rights organization BMI was a sponsor of the NAB 100 Plus Small Market Television annual conference held recently in Phoenix. The sponsorship included a special performance by BMI singer/songwriter Jeff Cohen on September 10 during a poolside dinner for the 200 conference attendees. Cohen performed some of his hit songs, including the Evan and Jaron smash "Crazy For This Girl," the new Big & Rich single "Holy Water," and "Truth About Romeo," the theme song from the WB TV show "Jack & Jill."

Shown after the performance are BMI's Mark Barron, NAB's Madelyn Bonnot, BMI singer/songwriter Jeff Cohen, NAB's Marcellus Alexander and BMI's Michelle Mazzara.

BMI Sponsors Kaua`i Music Festival

2003-06-16T18:00:00-05:00

BMI was a proud sponsor of the 1st annual Kaua`i Music Festival, a four-day celebration of the art of songwriting. The Festival, which took place June 1-4 on the island of Kaua`i in Hawaii, gave aspiring songwriters the opportunity to learn and improve their craft under the tutelage of some of the best songwriters in the world. The multi-faceted event featured seminar style instruction for small groups of songwriters in a variety of settings, as well as lectures and panel discussions by top music professionals.

Jeff Cohen, Hugh Prestwood, BMI's Charlie Feldman, Jesse Harris, Lisa Loeb, Lamont Dozier, BMI's J.W. Johnson, Peter Zizzo, Rich McSheehy (President of the Kauai Music Fest), (kneeling) Dweezil Zappa, and Russ Titelman

Some of BMI's hottest songwriters attended this unique event, including Lamont Dozier, Hugh Prestwood, Frank Myers, Lisa Loeb, Jesse Harris, Jeff Cohen, Kara DioGuardi, John Cruz and Peter Zizzo. Others in attendance included producers Russ Titelman, David Tickle, Dweezil Zappa, attorney Nick Ferrara, and Stephen Finfer of TVT Music Publishing. Dates for next years event will be announced soon.

Stephen Finfer, Russ Titelman, and Lamont Dozier

Peter Zizzo, Kara DioGuardi

Kara DioGuardi, and Jeff Cohen

Dweezil Zappa, Stephen Finfer, and Lisa Loeb

Kara DioGuardi, Lamont Dozier

BMI's Charlie Feldman, Kara DioGuardi, and Russ Titelman

Bottom Line for Jesse Harris and The Ferdinandos

2003-04-29T18:00:00-05:00

BMI songwriter Jesse Harris and his band The Ferdinandos recently headlined a spectacular show at New York's famous Bottom Line. Harris, who penned the Norah Jones hit "Don't Know Why," earned his first Grammy Award at the 45th annual ceremony held in New York City on February 23. The song, from the 23-year-old jazz-pop vocalist's multi-platinum debut album, Come Away With Me, earned the Song of the Year trophy for Harris.

Seen here after the show at the Bottom Line are Sony Music Publishing's Nate Krenkel, attorney Mike McCoy, fellow BMI songwriter and Lava recording artist Mary Anne Marino, Harris, BMI's J.W. Johnson and fellow BMI songwriter Jeff Cohen. photo: Chuck Pulin