September 16, 2003
BMI Honors Top UK, European Writers and Publishers at London Awards
DAVE STEWART’S ‘UNDERNEATH IT ALL’ NAMED SONG OF THE YEAR
Press Release
Download this document in Word format.LONDON, September 16, 2003 – BMI, the American performing rights organization, tonight saluted the top UK and European songwriters and publishers in the pop, urban, country, dance, college and film/TV music genres at its 2003 London Awards. The gala dinner and awards ceremony, which honors the most performed songs on US radio and television written by members of its sister performing rights organizations, was hosted by BMI President & CEO Frances W. Preston along with BMI Senior Vice President of Writer/Publisher Relations Philip Graham. The invitation-only event was held in the Ballroom of London’s Dorchester Hotel.
“Underneath It All,” written by Eurythmics co-founder Dave Stewart (PRS), published by BMG Music Publishing Ltd. (PRS), and recorded by No Doubt (featuring Lady Saw), was honored as the Song of the Year and received the organization’s highest accolade, The Robert S. Musel Award. The prestigious award is named for the late Robert Musel, BMI’s long-time UK consultant.
“19-2000,” written by Damon Albarn (PRS) and Jamie Hewlett (PRS), and published by EMI Music Publishing Ltd. (PRS), was named College Song of the Year for the most performances on college radio in the US. The Gorillaz’ hit is from the virtual cartoon band’s self-titled album, which also produced last year’s College Song of the Year, “Clint Eastwood.”
Receiving two Million-Air certificates each this evening were multiple BMI Award-winning songwriter/artists Sting (PRS) and Sir Elton John (PRS). Sting’s “Every Breath You Take,” published by EMI Music Publishing Ltd./Magnetic Music (PRS), reached the seven million performance plateau and his “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic,” also published by EMI Music Publishing Ltd./Magnetic Music (PRS), received a four million performance award. Sir Elton John received a six million performance award for “Your Song,” co-written with Bernie Taupin and published by Universal Music Publishing (PRS), and a three million performance certificate for “Island Girl.” Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl,” published by Universal Music Publishing (PRS), also reached the six million performance plateau, and the Bert Kaempfert (GEMA) classic “Spanish Eyes,” co-written with Charles Singleton and Eddie Snyder and published by Doma Edition Bert Kaempfert (GEMA), received a five million performance award. Million-Air awards are given to the writers and publishers of the most performed songs in the BMI repertoire that have achieved more than one million US radio and television performances, or the equivalent of more than 5.7 years of continuous airplay.
BMI Pop Awards went to Paul Oakenfold (PRS) for “Starry Eyed Surprise” (co-written with Fred Neil and published by Mute Song [PRS]); Daniel Bedingfield (PRS) for his smash, “Gotta Get Through This,” published by Reverb Music Ltd. (PRS); and to Trevor Horn (PRS) and publisher Unforgettable Songs Ltd. (PRS) for the Eminem hit “Without Me,” which also received an Urban Award. The multi award-winning rap song was co-written by BMI songwriters Jeff I. Bass, Kevin “DJ Head” Bell and Eminem.
Other awards included both Pop and Urban certificates to the Michael Jackson song “Butterflies,” published by Perfect Songs Ltd. (PRS) and written by Marsha Ambrosius, half of female singing duo Floetry; a second Pop Award to the Paul Herman (PRS)-penned and Cheeky Music Ltd. (PRS)-published “Thank You,” which was last year’s Song of the Year; a Latin Award to “Yo No Soy Esa Mujer,” written by Mike Shepstone (PRS), Carlos Toro Montoro (SGAE) and Christian De Walden; and Country Awards to the Brooks & Dunn hit “The Long Goodbye,” written by Ronan Keating (IMRO) and published by Universal Music Publishing (PRS), and to the Rascal Flatts song “These Days,” written by Steve Robson (PRS), Jeffrey Steele and Danny Wells, and published by Rondor Music (London) Ltd. (PRS). “Emotion,” written by Barry and Robin Gibb, and published by Gibb Brothers Music/BMG (PRS), received its second Pop Award for the Destiny’s Child cover version; the Bee Gees classic hit won a BMI Pop Award in 1978.
Music from the top US movies and television shows were also honored including David Bergeaud (SACEM) for the Cable TV Award-winning show Strong Medicine, Pete Townshend (PRS) for the smash TV hits CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and CSI: Miami, David Arnold (PRS) for the James Bond thriller Die Another Day, and George Fenton (PRS), who took home two Film/TV Awards for his Emmy Award-winning documentary Blue Planet: Seas of Life and the hit movie Sweet Home Alabama.
For a complete list of 2003 BMI London Awards winners, please visit bmi.com. High-resolution photos from the event will be available to registered users only. To request access, please contact .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
BMI, founded in 1939, is an American performing rights organization that represents more than 300,000 songwriters, composers, and music publishers in all genres of music. Through its music performance and reciprocal agreements with sister organizations around the world, it grants businesses and media access to its repertoire of approximately 4.5 million musical works.
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Contacts:
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Chris Poole Pat Baird
Midas PR BMI
020 7584 7474/Mobile: 077-20446083 212 830 2528
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BMI songwriter/artist Marsha Ambrosius of singing duo Floetry chats with film composer David Arnold at the BMI London Awards. Arnold took home a BMI Film Music Award for his score to the Bond film Die Another Day and Ambrosius picked up a BMI Pop Award for writing the Michael Jackson hit song "Butterflies." The gala awards ceremony, honoring the top UK and European writers and publishers of the past year, was held at London's Dorchester Hotel September 16.
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Ex-Eurythmics guitarist Dave Stewart (center) holds his BMI Crystal for writing the Song of the Year at the BMI London Awards held at the Dorchester Hotel September 16. Stewart's song, "Underneath it All," was the most performed song by a UK songwriter in the United States during the past year and received the Robert S. Musel Award. Stewart is flanked by BMI Senior Vice President Writer Publisher Relations Phil Graham and BMI President and CEO Frances Preston at the gala awards ceremony, which honors the top UK and European writers and publishers of the past year.
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BMI songwriter/artist Marsha Ambrosius of singing duo Floetry gets bussed by Song of the Year winner Dave Stewart at the BMI London Awards. Stewart's song, "Underneath it All", was named Song of the Year and Ambrosius picked up a BMI Pop Award for writing the Michael Jackson hit song "Butterflies." The gala awards ceremony, honoring the top UK and European writers and publishers of the past year, was held at London's Dorchester Hotel on September 16.
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Irish songwriter Ronan Keating (left) is congratulated by BMI's Frances Preston and Phil Graham. Keating took home a BMI Country Award for his Brooks & Dunn smash, "The Long Goodbye."
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BMI's Phil Graham and Frances Preston present a Million-Air Award to EMI Music Publishing's Peter Reichardt for the Police hit, "Every Breath You Take." The song, which earned a seven million performance award, was written by Sting.
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BMI's Brandon Bakshi (left) and Phil Graham (right) congratulate songwriters Spencer Davis and Muff Winwood, co-writers of the Spencer Davis Group classic "Gimme Some Lovin'," which received a Million-Air Award for reaching the three million performance plateau.
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