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.

]]> 2006-06-21T18:00:00-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/234188 Artists, Big & Rich, Cohen, Jeff, Evan and Jaron, Type, Licensing 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.

]]> 2004-09-16T18:00:00-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/233116 3 Doors Down, Amazed, Arnold, Brad, Austin, Dallas, Babyface, Berry, Chuck, Bolton, Michael, Bryant, Del, Carey, Mariah, Diddley, Bo, Evan and Jaron, Gibb, Robin, Gibbons, Billy, Groban, Josh, Hardson, Tre, Jackson, Janet, Jennings, Will, Lifehouse, Little Richard, Mirwais, Neville, Ivan, Parton, Dolly, Roberts, Matt, Rooney, Rooney, Cory, Staples, Mavis, Thorogood, George, Twain, Shania, Wilshire, Country, Pop, Rock, Feature, BMI Pop Awards BMI saluted the writers and publishers of the past year’s 50 most performed songs during the 50th Annual BMI Pop Awards tonight, with superlatives reserved for Rob Thomas’s song “If You’re Gone,” songwriter Brad Arnold of 3 Doors Down and Universal Music Publishing. Frances W. Preston, President & CEO, and Barbara Cane, Vice President & General Manager, Writer/Publisher Relations, Los Angeles, handed out BMI Citations of Achievement to more than 150 writers and publishers during the dinner event, which culminated in the announcements of Song, Songwriter, Publisher and College Song of the Year. A highlight of the golden-anniversary gala, staged at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, was the presentation of the first BMI ICON Awards to Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley and Little Richard in recognition of their “unique and indelible influence on generations of music makers.”

Little Richard; Frances W. Preston, BMI President & CEO; Chuck Berry; and Bo Diddley

“If You’re Gone” earned the BMI Pop Song of the Year crystal for songwriter Rob Thomas of matchbox twenty and publishers Bidnis, Inc. and EMI-Blackwood Music, Inc. This distinction is given to the song tallying the most feature broadcast performances during the eligibility period. A #1 single from matchbox twenty’s Lava/Atlantic album Mad Season, “If You’re Gone” brings Thomas’s BMI Awards total to 11. With this win, Thomas, who was named 1999 BMI Pop Songwriter of the Year, joins an illustrious list of those who have taken both Song and Songwriter trophies, including Stephen Bishop, Michael Bolton, Mariah Carey, Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, Barry and Robin Gibb, Will Jennings, Bert Kaempfert (GEMA), Dolly Parton, Carole Bayer Sager and Shania Twain.

Rob Thomas

Brad Arnold

Brad Arnold of 3 Doors Down placed four songs on the Most Performed List of 50 to collect the BMI Pop Songwriter of the Year reward. From the band’s debut album The Better Life on Republic/Universal Records, the songs earning Arnold the crown were “Be Like That,” “Duck and Run,” “Kryptonite” (2nd award) and “Loser.”

BMI's Barbara Cane, Universal Music Publishing's David Renzer, BMI's Frances W. Preston, Songwriter of the Year Brad Arnold, BMI's Del Bryant and Universal Music Publishing's Tom Sturges

With 11 songs cited - including Arnold’s four - Universal Music Publishing (through its companies Irving Music, Songs of Universal, Inc., and Universal-Songs of PolyGram International, Inc.) claimed the BMI Pop Publisher of the Year prize; David Renzer, President, Worldwide Universal Music Group, accepted the crystal obelisk. The Publisher of the Year title is given to the publishing concern with the highest percentage of copyright ownership in award songs. Universal’s other top performing tunes were “All Or Nothing,” “Breathe,” “Breathless,” “Change Your Mind,” “Hemorrhage (In My Hands),” “Play” and “Ride Wit Me.”

Johnny Lang performing during the Chuck Berry tribute

3 Doors Down lead singer Brad Arnold shows off his Songwriter of the Year crystal

Of the 86 songwriters recognized, ten, in addition to Arnold, were multiple winners. Placing three songs each on the list were 3 Doors Down members Todd Harrell and Matt Roberts and previous songwriter victors Janet Jackson (1990) and Cory Rooney (2000); double honorees were Mirwais Ahmadzai, 3 Doors Down’s Chris Henderson, and Red Hot Chili Peppers Flea, John Frusciante, Anthony Kiedis and Chad Smith.

Little Richard and Ivan Neville (Neville performed the Little Richard tribute)

Publishers gathering three or more awards were Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., EMI-Blackwood Music, Inc., Escatawpa Songs, Sony/ATV Songs LLC, Black Ice Publishing, Cori Tiffani Publishing and Ensign Music Corporation.

Mavis Staples

“Hanging By A Moment” grabbed Most Performed Song on College Radio kudos for songwriter Jason Wade of Lifehouse. The song, from Lifehouse’s debut DreamWorks album No Name Face, is published by G-Chills Music and Songs of DreamWorks.

Josh Groban and Chuck Berry

Among this year’s honorees, 15 songs have earned the status of BMI Million-Air (accumulating at least one million broadcast performances) for a total of more than 22 million performances. Based on an average length of three minutes, one million airplays is the equivalent of 50,000 hours or 5.7 years, continuously. Million-Airs on the 2001 list translate into over 1.1 million hours or 125.4 years of airplay.

BMI's Tracie Verlinde (2nd left) and Myles Lewis (right) with members of Lifehouse

Five of the 50 top Pop are repeat achievers. “Amazed” collected its third consecutive Pop Award; the 2000 BMI Country Song of the Year has accrued nearly four million performances. Four songs picked up second Awards: last year’s honorees “Kryptonite,” “With Arms Wide Open” and “Breathe” (also Pop Song of the Year), and “Lady Marmalade,” first recognized in 1975.

BMI songwriter/producer Dallas Austin, BMI Board member Frank Melton and Chuck Berry

BMI’s Citation of Achievement is given annually in recognition of popularity in the field of popular music, as measured by feature broadcast performances on American radio and television. This year’s Pop Awards' eligibility period ran October 1, 2000 through September 30, 2001.

Evan and Jaron

High-resolution photos are available for downloading on the BMI Media Relations web site at press.bmi.com.

ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons and Bo Diddley

Tatiana Litvin, BMI songwriter Tre Hardson, BMI songwriter Dallas Austin, BMI's Catherine Brewton, Jody Gerson and actor Orlando Jones

George Thorogood

members of CrazyTown

Speakers on the publisher's forum included Eric Beall, Zamba Music Publishing; Julia Kirkendall, CD Enterprises; Rebecca Wright, Universal Music Publishing Group; and BMI’s Charlie Feldman, who moderated.

Bill Holland, Billboard magazine’s Washington, DC Bureau Chief, was the luncheon keynote speaker, while the afternoon focused on creative issues with panelists Kara Dio Guardi, who has written for Ricky Martin, Marc Anthony and Jessica Simpson; Jeff Cohen, writer of the Evan and Jaron hit “Crazy for this Girl” and many songs for TV and film and moderated by Washington songwriting legend Pete Kennedy.

Seen here are (l-r): keynote speaker Bill Holland, songwriters Kara Dio Guardi, Jeff Cohen and Pete Kennedy, and BMI's Charlie Feldman.

Cohen's first big break after leaving BMI to pursue his music career was landing the theme song to the WB show Jack and Jill. The track, "Truth About Romeo," had already been recorded by his band, Pancho's Lament, on their self-titled debut CD. Since then, Jeff has had a number of his songs featured on Dawson's Creek and Party of Five. Three of his songs have also reached MP3.com's Rock Top 10.

As if the singer/songwriter's immediate success on the web and on TV wasn't impressive enough, Cohen co-wrote the radio hit "Crazy For This Girl" for the pop duo Evan and Jaron. The pair has been seen on shows such as MTV's Total Request Live promoting their smash single.

At BMI, Cohen started in the Licensing department but quickly moved to Writer/Publisher Relations, which allowed him to work directly with the artists and songwriters. While moving up to his position as Director, Cohen signed artists such as the Spin Doctors and Lisa Loeb, proving he had a knack for spotting talent. It was during this time that he would form his band with his friend and drummer Pete DeMeo, although Pancho's Lament would perform only on rare occasions.

Eventually, however, the encouragement of Cohen's friends and his love for music would convince him to leave his career as a BMI executive and pursue his dream of being a professional musician and songwriter. It is now obvious he made the right decision.

But there's something distinctly unorthodox - or shall we say orthodox - about this Atlanta-bred, Los Angeles-based duo. Observant Jews, the pair refuses to perform on Friday nights and keeps kosher on the road, even when this means cooking their own meals when the proper cuisine can't be found.

"It's very difficult to coexist being Jewish and a rock musician," Evan once told a journalist from a Cleveland Jewish publication. "Our rabbi was concerned about us going on the road. With all the girls, would we stay strong? But we're making a really good run at it. Our existence is proof that you can be both."

There's nothing preachy about Evan and Jaron's manner or music. The Lowenstein twins' recent, self-titled breakthrough album on Columbia Records brims with hooky and full-bodied pop-rock. The duo's seamless vocal harmonies give their songs a sense of distinction, particularly on tracks like "Crazy for This Girl."

Evan and Jaron were discovered by Jimmy Buffett after they were hired to perform at the singer's Margaritaville Café in Key West, FL in the mid-'90s. Chris Blackwell subsequently signed the duo to Island Records. But Blackwell left the company just as Evan and Jaron completed their first Island album, the cleverly titled We've Never Heard of You Either The twins then got lost in the front office shuffle at the record company and were dropped from the label.

Knowing a good thing when they saw it, Columbia Records signed Evan and Jaron and paired them with producer T-Bone Burnett. Their self-titled album also includes guest performances by drummer Mick Fleetwood and John Medeski, keyboardist with Medeski, Martin & Wood. A number of songs were co-written by outside artists, including producer Glen Ballard and Semisonic frontman Dan Wilson.

Interestingly enough, Evan and Jaron tend to have an easier time writing songs with other people than they do with each other.

"It's weird; we just can't sit down and write together," says Evan of his partnership with Jaron. "It's like we know each other too well. It's nice to write a song with someone you don't know so well, sort of like how you can go to a bar and tell a stranger your whole life story."