So it’s no wonder that stars like Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan, U2, Aretha Franklin, Tom Petty, Celine Dion and many others have worked with Stewart as a musical go-to-guy with seemingly limitless imagination and creativity. His legacy is now spotlighted on his latest musical venture: The Dave Stewart Songbook, Vol. 1. The package is a 20-song, two CD collection of some of his best-known collaboratively written and solo songs newly recorded by his touring band with full orchestra, and comes with an accompanying hardcover book that tells the stories behind the creations and includes photographs by Stewart.

It spotlights Stewart’s musical alchemy and his affection for creative interaction with the likes of Jon Bon Jovi, Gwen Stefani, Bryan Ferry, Bob Geldof and Sinead O’Connor in addition to some of the aforementioned. “Writing songs with other people is like falling in love over and over again,” says Stewart. ”It’s a fast track into someone’s soul — you can feel their heart beating against yours.”

Stewart became a hot musical talent on the rise in his teens when his band Longdancer signed to Elton John’s Rocket Records. He united with Lennox in the late 1970s as the band The Tourists, and, by the early ’80s, the two became Eurythmics, rising to international stardom thanks to such hits as “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), “Here Comes the Rain Again,” “Would I Lie to You?” and “Missionary Man.”

As an artist in his own right, Stewart has issued albums under his own name as well as with the band Spiritual Cowboys (with Pretenders drummer Martin Chambers) and as Platinum Weird with singer Kara DioGuardi, for which Stewart created a fictitious early 1970s history that was spotlighted in a VH1 “mockumentary” about the band. He has also taken his song revisions a la Songbook on tour as Dave Stewart and His 30-Piece Rock Fabulous Orchestra.

As no less of an icon as Bob Dylan notes, “Captain Dave is a dreamer and a fearless innovator, a visionary of high order.”

Wexler was born January 10, 1917 in New York City to Polish immigrants who steered him to pursue a career in journalism, a path he choose after serving in World World II and earning a college degree. During his tenure as a writer for Billboard magazine in the 1940s, Wexler coined the term “rhythm and blues” for the magazine’s black music charts. While at Billboard, Wexler met Ahmet Ertegun and forged a friendship that lead to his position as co-director of Atlantic Records, a then small r&b label in New York.

Atlantic Records provided an outlet for African-American performers to release numerous ground-breaking records in the 1950s and ’60s, and later became the home for rock icons like Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones. Wexler’s production credits include Franklin’s “Respect” and Wilson Picket’s “In the Midnight Hour,” among other classic songs. In 1967, Wexler and Ahmet Ertegun sold Atlantic Records but both continued to oversee the company. Jerry’s musical tasted broadened, which lead to his work with such artists as Willie Nelson, Delaney & Bonnie, Carlos Santana, Dire Straits, and George Michael.

In 1987, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted Wexler for his sizeable contribution to the music industry. Known for historical perspective and appreciation of all genres of music, he recognized BMI’s role in and impact on the industry.

Wexler stated, “It’s hard to imagine what music would be like without BMI. Before World War II there was only one kind of music that seemed to be allowed in America. It was continuation of what had been the European tradition of 32-bar songs, whether they came from shows or popular songwriters. And it was an elite club. The lid was kept on rhythm & blues music, country music, ethnic music, folk. Once the lid was lifted — which happened when BMI entered the picture — the vacuum was filled by all of these archetypical American musics. BMI turned out to be the mechanism that released all those primal American forms of music that fused and became rock & roll.”

But, as is so often the case, the singer/actress didn’t exactly emerge from nowhere. The Sadie character was obviously influenced by Janis Joplin, so it was no big surprise when director Julie Taymor cast Fuchs, who’d performed as Pearl in the off-Broadway show Love, Janis.

The youngest of six children, Fuchs grew up in a small Florida town surrounded by music, whether it was records and radio, her siblings’ garage bands, or singing in the First Baptist Gospel Choir. By age 19, she’d relocated to New York City “to sing the blues,” performing around town with a variety of blues acts before connecting with guitarist Jon Diamond, with whom she formed the Dana Fuchs Band.

Steadily building a growing following, Fuchs at last came to the attention of the Love, Janis producers, singing a few bars of “Piece of My Heart” and nailing the role, which, in turn, helped consolidate her reputation among the city’s music cognoscenti.

With Diamond, Fuchs co-wrote her band’s debut CD, Lonely for a Lifetime (Q&W Music), a 12-song rave-up that reveals her musical debt to the likes of Etta James, Aretha Franklin, the Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan.

“These tracks are about addiction and religious hypocrisy,” she says, “and, like all of the tracks on the album, deal with subjects that I have a deep personal experience with. It’s crucial to me to have a passionate connection to what I’m delivering in order to create a sincere representation of me, my life and my influences.”

Not that fans of her blistering live shows should fret. “Live performance is the way I get to truly spill my soul and connect with an audience,” she declares. “I love being in the studio creating, but in live performance every second is a new creation.”

5:30 p.m - Cocktail Reception and Live & Silent Auction

8:00 p.m. - Gala Dinner, Tribute Concert and Award Presentation

For further information, contact Dana Tomarken at 310-392-3777 or click here.

He wrote his first hit song 50 years ago. It was a Ray Price hit called “City Lights,” and he wrote it when he was a disc jockey at a Georgia radio station. He had his first Top 10 record as a solo artist 47 years ago and he joined the Grand Ole Opry 46 years ago.

And he had his last big cut . . . well, what time is it? Anderson continues to be an in-demand songwriter, writing for Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley and a slew of other new millennium favorites. His co-written “Give It Away” was a rarity: a No. 1 hit that was co-written by a Country Music Hall of Famer (Anderson) and sung by another Hall of Famer (George Strait). And in 2005, his “Whiskey Lullaby” (written with Jon Randall and sung by Paisley and Alison Krauss) won the Country Music Association’s song of the year prize. BMI’s first country Icon is, as retired former Sony/ATV President Donna Hilley once noted, both an elder statesman and a contemporary talent.

“He’s young for his age,” Randall said. “I think he can go on indefinitely. I want to be Bill Anderson when I grow up.”

For the record, Anderson was born on Nov. 1, 1937. Writing top hits at his age is like Sandy Koufax pitching a no-hitter against a modern-day New York Yankees team. Anderson never figured it would work out this way, exactly, though he also never planned on retiring and fading away.

“I just knew that this is what I wanted to do for my life’s work,” he said. “But I do remember telling people I’d stop if it wasn’t working out.”

It worked out, in spades. He wrote “City Lights” when he was 19, entering the hit parade and launching a remarkable career in music. The songwriting success preceded his triumphs as an idiosyncratic solo artist: Though he didn’t have a classically superior voice, Anderson developed a signature vocal style that led folks to call him “Whispering Bill Anderson.” His breathy, intimate singing helped him to score smashes including “Mama Sang A Song,” “Still,” “I Get The Fever” and “Wild Week-End.”

“In the days when I came along, the style was the thing,” he said. “If you weren’t different, you didn’t stand much of a chance.”

Anderson’s career as a top-draw solo artist cooled in the late 1970s, though he remained a popular fixture on the Opry. He quit writing songs in the 1980s, figuring that his writing well was dry and that it was better to concentrate on other things (such as hosting game shows on ABC and The Nashville Network). But Steve Wariner’s version of Anderson’s “The Tips of My Fingers” became a radio hit in 1992, proving that a classic country song could resonate through the decades, and Wariner and Vince Gill kept pushing him to co-write.

“That’s when the writing thing started to bubble again, and that’s when I got happier than I ever had been in my life,” Anderson said.

And so Bill Anderson’s career entered unprecedented territory. Never before had someone been to the top of an industry as a songwriter in one decade, as a performer in another and then re-emerged as a top songwriter again decades later. His works have been sung at the Opry, at county fairs and at Carnegie Hall. And his longevity and versatility helped Anderson become a common denominator in the careers of a seemingly disparate group of artists: Ernest Tubb, James Brown, Loretta Lynn, Trini Lopez, Aretha Franklin, The Louvin Brothers, Elvis Costello, Merle Haggard, Dean Martin and Waylon Jennings have all recorded his songs.

A friend recently sent Anderson a 50th birthday card, which surprised him since he has long passed 50 and it wasn’t his birthday. But the date was August 27, 2007, and it was the 50th anniversary of the day he wrote “City Lights.” Ray Price recorded it the next year, and a small town disc jockey became a professional songwriter. The day Price recorded “City Lights,” Anderson received a congratulatory call from Roger Miller and then another congratulatory call from a publisher. Later that afternoon, he got a call from a second publisher who said, “If you’ll sign with us, I think I can talk Ray Price into cutting ‘City Lights’.”

“In four hours, I got a good lesson into the realities of the music business,” Anderson said.

In those days, Bill Anderson was still learning lessons. These days, he could teach them.

BMI will honor gospel greats Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Mighty Clouds of Joy and Pastor Marvin Winans at its ninth Annual Trailblazers of Gospel Music Awards Luncheon on Friday, Jan. 11, 2008. The ceremony will take place at Rocketown (401 6th Avenue South) in Nashville. The invitation-only celebration will host gospel music's premier songwriters, recording artists and music industry executives, as well as the genre's legends.

Contemporary and traditional gospel bridge builder Vanessa Bell Armstrong first entranced Gospel circles in the early 1980s. Her Onyx debut, Peace Be Still, yielded a title track that immediately and eternally resonates with listeners. A native of Detroit and mother of five, Armstrong has generated seven Grammy nominations, enjoyed mainstream chart success and side stepped into a role on Broadway. Her latest project, 2007's Walking Miracle, finds Armstrong continuing to inspire, reflect, unify and praise.

Legendary group Mighty Clouds of Joy must smile when they look back on 48 years of soul-saving, joy-inducing, ice-melting music. More than 35 albums and three Grammys punctuate the group's resume, and they have shared the stage with icons including the Rolling Stones, Paul Simon, Aretha Franklin and James Brown. Church gigs and White House invitations line Mighty Clouds of Joy's long career, while they consistently released simultaneously hip and authentic gospel hits.

Pastor Marvin Winans first gained recognition as an original member of ground-breaking familial quartet The Winans. Marvin Winans channeled his musical gifts into an impressive stream of outlets including songwriting, vocal dynamics, keyboards, production, the big screen and, most recently, work as a solo artist. As a producer, his credits include fellow honoree Vanessa Bell Armstrong. An active pastor, Winans has also recorded performances by the Perfected Praise Choir, featuring fresh arrangements and new hooks.

But New York native Lanz isn’t one to be fenced in by expectations. Signed to Interscope Records, which will be releasing her debut album, Young $ Restless, on Feb. 12, 2008, Lanz is currently on tour opening for no less a hip-hop icon than Snoop Dogg, winning converts and proving her mettle night after night.

Born Alana Michelle Josephs, the only child shuffled between her parents for a few years, eventually ending up with her mother. Despite what Lanz calls a “blissful” relationship, the reunion was soon shattered by her mother’s boyfriend’s unstable, drug-fuelled behavior. Combined with the absence of her father, Lanz increasingly turned to such straight-ahead, occasionally rage-fueled acts as Tupac, DMX and Eminem, and, in the process, began developing her own skills.

“As a young kid, instead of having my mind guarded, it wasn’t really shielded at all,” she says. “So real life at an early age was a real thing for me.”

Lanz started recording demos and rapping on the underground scene, eventually gathering a team of industry professionals and ultimately becoming the subject of label interest, leading to a meeting at Interscope honcho Jimmy Iovine’s home. The pair clicked, and Lanz is now finishing up her album with such well-established producers as Three 6 Mafia, Stargate, and Organized Noize.

“When you’re creating waves in uncharted waters, there’s always going to be haters who try to sink your float,” she says. “No matter how many times they try to stop me, I’ve kept right on my beautiful struggle. I’ve felt both the pain and the love so I speak for the kid always pushed on. I show them how to shove back. I'm not just trying to make it, I’m trying to be one of the best to ever do it.”