November 29, 2005
BMI Honors Top European Songwriters and Publishers at Annual London Awards; ‘It’s My Life’ Named Son
Snow Patrol’s ‘Run’ Scores College Song of the Year and D.H.T.’s
‘Listen to Your Heart’ Wins Dance Award
Press Release
Download this document in Word format.LONDON, November 29, 2005 – American performing right organization Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI) tonight saluted the top European songwriters and publishers in the pop, urban, country, dance, Latin, college, Christian and film/tv music genres at its 2005 London Awards. The gala dinner and awards ceremony, which honors the most performed songs on US radio and television written by members of its foreign sister societies, was hosted by BMI President & CEO Del Bryant and BMI Senior Vice President Phil Graham. The invitation-only event was staged in the Ballroom of London’s Dorchester Hotel.
A highlight of the gala celebration was a special tribute to legendary songwriter and recording artist Steve Winwood, who was honored as a BMI Icon for his “enduring influence on generations of music makers.” The Grammy Award-winning singer joins a distinguished list of honorees that includes Van Morrison, Paul Simon, Brian Wilson, Carlos Santana and Dolly Parton, among others.
Winwood’s 40-plus year career includes international stardom as both a solo artist and as a member of the Spencer Davis Group, Traffic and Blind Faith. He penned such classics as the Spencer Davis Group’s “Gimme Some Lovin’” and Blind Faith’s “Can’t Find My Way Home”; co-wrote all of Traffic’s biggest songs, including “The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys” and “Dear Mr. Fantasy”; and enjoyed a string of mega-hits in the 80s with BMI Award winners “While You See a Chance,” “Valerie,” “Back in the High Life Again,” “Higher Love,” “Finer Things” and “Roll With It.”
“It’s My Life,” written by Mark Hollis (PRS) and published by Universal Music Publishing Ltd., was named Song of the Year and received the organization’s highest accolade, the Robert S. Musel Award. This prestigious award is named for the late Robert Musel, BMI’s long-time UK consultant. Originally a hit for 80s synthpop band Talk Talk (of which Hollis was a member), the No Doubt remake also won a Pop Award at the 2004 London Awards and at the 2005 Pop Awards held in Los Angeles.
“Run,” written by Snow Patrol members Iain Archer, Nathan Connolly, Gary Lightbody, Mark McClelland and Jonny Quinn, and published by Big Life Music Ltd. and Kobalt Music Publishing Limited (all PRS), was named BMI’s College Song of the Year for tallying the most performances on American college radio. Included on the band’s breakthrough album Final Straw, the song peaked at #15 on Billboard’s Modern Rock chart. “Run” also received a Pop Award during the ceremony.
The BMI Dance Award went to “Listen to Your Heart” written by Per Gessle and Mats Persson and published by Jimmy Fun Music (all STIM). Recorded by Belgium-based duo D.H.T., the song is a remake of the 1989 #1 hit by Roxette, which won a BMI Pop Award in 1990. The D.H.T. version spent several weeks in the Top Ten of the Adult Contemporary, Hot Digital Songs, Pop 100 and Hot 100 Billboard charts, and reached the #25 position on the Hot Ringtones chart.
Million-Air certificates were also presented throughout the evening in recognition of those songs that have had two million or more US radio and television performances. Topping the list were Sting’s “Every Breath You Take,” which reached the eight million performance plateau and the Van Morrison classic “Brown Eyed Girl,” which won a seven million performance award. “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton’s “Layla” each earned certificates for six million performances, while “To Love Somebody” by the Bee Gees was recognized for five million plays.
Sir Elton John (PRS) and writing partner Bernie Taupin took home the night’s most Million-Air awards with “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” (five million); “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” and “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues” (four million); “Bennie and the Jets” (three million); and Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting,” “Something About the Way You Look Tonight” and “Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word” (two million). Songs written by the late John Lennon (PRS) also earned multiple Million-Air certificates, including “Let It Be” (five million), “Here, There and Everywhere” (three million) and “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” (two million).
Other Million-Air winners included the Kinks anthem “You Really Got Me,” written by Ray Davies (PRS), which earned a four million performance award; 2002’s Song of the Year “Thank You,” written by Paul Herman (PRS) and recorded by Dido, with three million plays; and last year’s Song of the Year “Forever and For Always” by Shania Twain (PRS), which achieved two million performances. “Forever” is also a two-time BMI Pop Award winner (2003 and 2004) and a 2004 Country Award winner.
In addition to a two million performance certificate for “Behind Blue Eyes,” Who guitarist Pete Townshend (PRS) received three TV Music Awards for the themes to CSI, CSI: Miami and CSI: NY. Film composers Harald Kloser (AKM) [Alien vs. Predator, The Day After Tomorrow], Harry Gregson-Williams (PRS) [Man on Fire, Shrek 2] and Rolfe Kent (PRS) [Mean Girls, Sideways] each picked up a pair of Film Music Awards, while ex-Police drummer Stewart Copeland (PRS) earned a TV Award for the music to ABC’s smash series Desperate Housewives.
Additional awards included a Pop Award to Keane members Tom Chaplin (PRS) and Richard Hughes (PRS) for “Somewhere Only We Know,” a Country Award to Steve McEwan (PRS) for the Brooks & Dunn hit “That’s What It’s All About,” Pop and Urban Awards to Enya, Nicky Ryan and Roma Ryan (all PRS) for the Mario Winans song “I Don’t Wanna Know” (featuring P. Diddy and Enya), and Christian and Pop Awards to Brendan Graham (IMRO) for “You Raise Me Up” by Josh Groban.
For a complete list of the 2005 BMI London Awards winners, please visit bmi.com/london. High-resolution photos from the event will be available to registered users only at press.bmi.com. To request access, please contact .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Now marking its 65th year in business, Broadcast Music Inc. is an American performing right organization that represents more than 300,000 songwriters, composers and publishers in all genres of music. With a repertoire of more than 6.5 million musical works from around the world, the non-profit-making corporation collects license fees from businesses that use music, which it then distributes as royalties to the musical creators and copyright owners it represents.
# # #
Contacts:
Hanna Pantle, BMI Chris Poole, CP PR Ltd.
44-207-486-2036 or 310-289-6328 44-207-486-2036
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson of Roxette
download
Cream lyricist Pete Brown with Cream member Jack Bruce
download
Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson of Roxette
download
Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson of Roxette
download
BMI Icon Steve Winwood
download
BMI Icon Steve Winwood
download
Steve Winwood (center) accepts his Icon award from BMI Senior Vice President of Writer/Publisher Relations Phil Graham and BMI President & CEO Del R. Bryant at the BMI London Awards
download
BMI Senior VP Phil Graham, Song of the Year writer Marc Hollis, BMI President & CEO Del Bryant, Universal Music Publishing's Sarah Leber, and BMI Senior Executive Brandon Bakshi
download
Kobalt Music Publishing executive, BMI Senior VP Phil Graham, Snow Patrol's Iain Archer, BMI President & CEO Del Bryant, Snow Patrol's Mark McClelland and BMI Senior Executive Brandon Bakshi gather on stage for the College Song of the Year presentation to Snow Patrol for "Run"
download
Cream member Jack Bruce and Cream lyricist Pete Brown
download
BMI Senior VP Phil Graham, Roxette members Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson, and BMI President & CEO Del Bryant
download
BMI Senior Executive Brandon Bakshi, BMI award-winning songwriter Elena Kiper and BMI President & CEO Del Bryant
download
BMI award-winning songwriter Alton Ellis, BMI President & CEO Del Bryant, BMI Senior VP Phil Graham and Snow Patrol's Mark McClelland
download
BMI Icon Steve Winwood is congratulated by BMI President & CEO Del Bryant
download