LOS ANGELES (Top40 Charts/ SESAC Official Website) Panamanian artist Joey Montana was SESAC Latina Songwriter of the Year 2012 while the Puerto Rican songwriter Leo
James won in the Song of the Year category for his composition "Dándole ", the most played track on radio during the period of eligibility. The Publisher of the Year was EMI Foray Music, represented here by Nestor Casonú.
The emotional ceremony for the annual awards was held at a special gala at the historic Beverly Hills Hotel in the presence of important personalities in the industry, members of SESAC Latina and media representatives.
The event included a live music show with a performance by top Mexican pop trio Reik, who performed their hit tracks "
Peligro" and "Creo en ti" and regional mexican stars Calibre 50, who performed their recent hit "Mujer De Todos, Mujer De Nadie" and "El Buen Ejemplo".
The awards were presented by Trevor Gale, Sr. Vice President of SESAC and J. J. Cheng, Vice President of SESAC Latina, and
Celeste Zendejas and Albert Ramirez III, SESAC Latina's Associate Directors. The awards recognize authors and publishers of the songs played on radio, songs that reached # 1 on the charts, songs that had significant chart longevity, and the composer and song of the year.
For his song "
Promise" recorded by
Romeo Santos/Usher, written by Rico Love, a well known American composer won two awards: One for radio rotation and the other for having achieved # 1 on the Billboard charts. Also winning in this category was
Patricia Espinoza Loredo and Lina
Patricia Bojorquez, co-authors of "Inténtalo", the 'tribal' hit single recorded by 3BallMTY.
The SESAC Latina 2012 # 1 Award was also given to Jesus Ariel Barreras; composer of "Llamada De Mi Ex,"
Banda El Limon de Rene Camacho's hit record that remained on the top of the regional mexican charts for 16 weeks.
During the ceremonies, J. J. Cheng said that this was the third time that the SESAC Latina
Music Awards took place at the historic Beverly Hills Hotel, which is currently celebrating its 100th Anniversary.
Defining the year as "fantastic" for the extraordinary achievements of the composers and publishers affiliated with SESAC Latina, she gave a warmly welcome to attendees who traveled from Mexico, Texas, New York, Puerto Rico, Miami, Panama, Spain and Ecuador especially to attend the ceremony.
