BMI songwriting greats Don Black, Bobby Weinstein and the late Teddy Randazzo were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame on June 7 during the gala SHOF Annual Awards Show, held at the Marriot Marquis hotel in New York City.

In addition to the induction of Black, Weinstein and Randazzo, peerless BMI songwriter Dolly Parton was honored with the prestigious Johnny Mercer Award, reserved for a songwriter who has already been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in a prior year and whose body of work is of extraordinarily high quality and impact; legendary BMI publisher Don Kirshner received the Abe Olman Publisher Award for Lifetime Achievement; and John Legend was presented with the Hal David Starlight Award, which honors songwriters already making an impact with their songs in the early years of their careers.

Lyricist/librettist Don Black has penned such major pop hits as Michael Jackson's "Ben," Hot Chocolate's "I'll Put You Together Again" and the enduring movie theme "To Sir with Love." Key songs in Black's catalog include "Born Free," "Come September," "Diamonds Are Forever," "For Mama" and "To Sir With Love." He has collaborated with a number of SHOF inductees in his long career, including composer John Barry on the theme songs for the James Bond movies Thunderball, Diamonds Are Forever, and Man with the Golden Gun. He also teamed with Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber on such hit musicals as Tell Me on a Sunday, Sunset Boulevard and Aspects of Love. Other pairings include Quincy Jones on the movie soundtrack for The Italian Job.

Foremost among the many songs that the team of Bobby Weinstein and Teddy Randazzo wrote were "Goin' Out of My Head," a hit for Little Anthony & the Imperials, which tallied over six million performances, and "Hurt So Bad," also a hit for Little Anthony & the Imperials, that accounted for over four million performances. In addition, the duo wrote such classics as "Gonna Take a Miracle," "I'm on the Outside Looking In," "Pretty Blue Eyes" and "Have You Looked into Your Heart," and continued writing together until Randazzo's death in 2003. Key songs in the Weinstein/Randazzo catalog include "Goin' Out of My Head," "Hurts So Bad," "Gonna Take a Miracle," "I'm on the Outside Looking In" and "Pretty Blue Eyes."

Also slated for induction this year are Jackson Brown, Irving Burgie and Michael Masser.

Tickets for the Songwriters Hall of Fame begin at $1,000 each, and are available through Buckley Hall Events, (212) 573-6933. Net proceeds from the event will go towards the Songwriters Hall of Fame programs.

The Songwriters Hall of Fame was founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer and publishers Abe Olman and Howie Richmond. The SHOF not only celebrates songwriters and educates the public on their great achievements, but is also devoted to the development of new songwriting talent through workshops, showcases and scholarships. Full biographies and a complete list of inductees are available at the Songwriters Hall of Fame's Virtual Museum at songhall.org.

But Broadway is still the center of a certain universe - if you can make it there, well . . .

In 1999, Wildhorn became the first American composer in more than two decades to have three shows running simultaneously on Broadway: Jekyll & Hyde, The Civil War and The Scarlet Pimpernel. Inspiring a legion of devoted fans - to put it mildly - these productions yielded eight Tony nominations, national tours, a cast and a concept album from each, and a reputation for Wildhorn as the man who brings a contemporary passion and voice to the grand staging of classic tales.

Songs from Jekyll & Hyde (music by Wildhorn, book & lyrics by Leslie Bricusse) such as "Someone Like You," "A New Life," and "This Is The Moment" have been featured at the Olympics, the Super Bowl, the World Series, the Miss America Pageant, the 1996 Democratic National Convention and the Inauguration of President Clinton.

The French Revolution adventure The Scarlet Pimpernel (music by Wildhorn, book & lyrics by Nan Knighton) yielded the Top 40 AC hit "You Are My Home," a duet recorded by Peabo Bryson and Linda Eder, Wildhorn's "wife and muse." A star of the original production of Jekyll & Hyde, Eder has released four albums, all written and co-produced by Wildhorn.

His music has been performed by artists of an astounding variety of styles: a representative sample includes Whitney Houston (the international hit "Where Do Broken Hearts Go"), Natalie Cole, Kenny Rogers, Sammy Davis Jr., Liza Minnelli, Julie Andrews (new songs for Broadway's Victor/Victoria), Trisha Yearwood, Travis Tritt, Patti La Belle, Bebe Winans, Betty Buckley, Ben Vereen, the Moody Blues, Jeffrey Osborne, Jennifer Holliday, Molly Hatchet, John Raitt, Hootie and the Blowfish, Blues Traveler and Dr. John.

Wildhorn's new theatrical projects include next year's Broadway-bound Dracula (book lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton), which premiered last fall in California, as well as the still-developing Camille Claudel (to star Eder); Bonnie & Clyde; Cyrano; Scott and Zelda; and a full-length ballet, Natasha.

David Arnold, Lulu, Don Black, Barbara Broccoli, Michael Wilson, and BMI's Frances Preston

Paul Curran, BMI's Frances Preston, Robin Gibb, and BMI's Phil Graham

BMI's Phil Graham, Steve Winwood, and BMI's Del Bryant

Two songs achieved an amazing 6 million plays: Sting's classic "Every Breath You Take" (EMI Music Publishing Ltd./Magnetic Music.) and "More" by Marcello Ciorciolini, Norman Newell, Nino Oliviero and Riz Ortolani. Sting also received two other awards in the 2 million plays category for "If Ever I Lose My Faith In You" and "Spirits In The Material World" (EMI Music Publishing Ltd./Magnetic Music).

Van Morrison was the only honoree in the 5 million plays category for his classic "Brown Eyed Girl" (Universal Music Publishing). Honorees in the 4 million plays category included John Lennon and Sir Paul McCartney for "And I Love Her" (Northern Songs Ltd.). They also received a 2 million award for "Day Tripper" and a Pop Award for "Come Together". Other 4 million award winners were Barry and Robin Gibb for "To Love Somebody" (Gibb Brothers Music/BMG), and Claude Francois, Jacques Abel Jules Revaud and Gilles Thibaut for "My Way" (Eddie Barclay Editions [SACEM]/Jeune Musique Editions [SACEM]) recorded by Elvis Presley.

There were a total of seven winners in the 3 million performance category, including three for Steve Winwood: "Back In The High Life Again" (FS Ltd.), "The Finer Things" (FS Ltd.) and "Roll With It" (FS Ltd.); Mick Jagger and Keith Richards for "Honky Tonk Women"; Eric Clapton for "Tears In Heaven" (Warner/Chappell Music International Ltd.); Per Gessle for "It Must Have Been Love" (Jimmy Fun Music [STIM]) recorded by Roxette; and Sade for her smash hit "Sweetest Taboo" (Angel Music Ltd./Sony/ATV Music Publishing Ltd.).

Among those honored in the 2 million performance awards category were Sir Elton John, who scored three awards with "Someone Saved My Life Tonight," "I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That" and "Little Jeannie"; LuLu, Billy Lawrie and Steve DuBerry for the Tina Turner recording of "I Don't Wanna Fight" (Chrysalis Music Ltd. and Famous Music); Mick Jagger and Keith Richards for "Brown Sugar"; John Lennon and Sir Paul McCartney for "Day Tripper" (Northern Songs Ltd.); Sting for "If Ever I Lose My Faith In You" (EMI Music Publishing Ltd./Magnetic Music); Donovan Leitch for "Sunshine Superman" (Donovan Music Ltd.); Freddie Mercury for "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" (EMI Music Publishing Ltd./Queen Music Ltd.), which also received a Country Award for Dwight Yoakam's recording of the song.

Beth Orton's "Stolen Car" (EMI Music Publishing Ltd.) was named College Song of The Year.

Pop Awards honorees included John Barry for "Millennium" (EMI United Partnership Ltd.) which was based on a re-recording of the string part from the James Bond movie theme "You Only Live Twice," and Roger Waters for the Class of 99 hit of "Another Brick In The Wall." Also honored were B*Witched members Lindsay Armaou, Edele Lynch, Keavy Lynch and Sinead O'Carroll for "C'est La Vie" (Bucks Music Ltd.). Gary Numan scored with "Cars" (Beggars Banquet Music Ltd.) on which he collaborated with Fear Factory, and Gavin Rossdale for Bush's "Chemicals Between Us." Noel Gallagher was a winner with "Cigarettes and Alcohol" (Creation Songs Ltd., Sony/ATV Music Publishing) recorded by Rod Stewart, and John Lennon and Sir Paul McCartney were honored yet again for Junior Vasquez's version of "Come Together" (Northern Songs Ltd.).

Sir Elton John and Tim Rice were also honored with a Pop Award for Sir Elton's collaboration with LeAnn Rimes on "Written In The Stars" (Happenstance Ltd./Sixty Four Squares Music Ltd.). Jorgen Elofsson received a Pop Award for the Britney Spears' hits "Sometimes" and "(You Drive Me) Crazy" (BMG Music Publishing Scandinavia AB [STIM]/Zomba Music Publishers Ltd.); Australian writer Pam Sheyne scored an award for Christina Aguilera's hit "Genie In A Bottle" (Appletreesongs Ltd. / Warner/Chappell Music Ltd.).

The world of country music honored Freddie Mercury with a Country Award for "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" (EMI Publishing Ltd./Queen Music Ltd.) recorded by Dwight Yoakam and, as previously mentioned, the song also won an award in the 2 Million-Air category. The second Country Award winner was Steve Booker for "Somebody's Out There Watching" (Windswept Pacific Music Ltd.) recorded by The Kinleys.

The Dance Music Award went to Danski and DJ Delmundo for the Vengaboys smash hit "We Like To Party" (Violent Publishing BV), which also won a Pop Award. The Latin scene was also represented with a Latin Award going to Gianluca Grignani for "Mi Historia Entre Tus Dedos" (Universal Music Italia SRL [SIAE]).

Composer Richard Hartley was cited for his Emmy award-winning soundtrack of the American TV film "Alice In Wonderland."

The BMI Awards ceremony acknowledges the talents of British and European songwriters and composers whose works are represented by BMI in the United States. BMI is an American performing rights organization representing more than 250,000 American songwriters, composers and music publishers, and thousands of British and European songwriters and composers who license their works through BMI in the United States.