LONDON, UK. (Top40 Charts/ BMI London Awards) - American music rights organization Broadcast
Music Inc. (BMI) saluted Europe's premier songwriters, composers and music publishers tonight at its 2007 London Awards. Hosted by BMI President & CEO Del Bryant, along with Executive Director, Writer/Publisher Relations
Europe & Asia,
Brandon Bakshi, the event was staged in the Grand Ballroom of London's Dorchester Hotel. In addition to honoring the past year's most-played songs on U.S. radio and television, the gala dinner and awards ceremony also recognized
Peter Gabriel (PRS) as a BMI Icon for his 'influence on generations of music makers.'
Gabriel, co-founder of rock band Genesis, left the group in 1975 to begin a critically acclaimed, Grammy Award-winning solo career. Thus far, he has released 11 albums featuring BMI million-performance songs and composed soundtracks for numerous films. An early participant in Human Rights Now! and recipient of the Nobel Peace Laureates' 'Man of Peace' Award, Peter Gabriel founded world human rights advocacy supergroup TheElders.org in July 2007, with Richard Branson and Nelson Mandela.
'Unwritten,' co-penned by Danielle Brisebois and Natasha Bedingfield (PRS), received one of the organization's highest accolades, the Robert S. Musel Award for Song of the Year. The award, named after the U.S. performing right organization's longtime consultant to the U.K., annually honors the most-performed song of the year written by a member or members of BMI's European sister organizations.
International phenomenon 'Crazy,' co-written by GianFranco Reverberi and GianPiero Reverberi (both SIAE), along with Gnarls Barkley's Cee-Lo Green, earned BMI's College Song of the Year crown for tallying the most performances on American college radio.
The Internet Award for the most hits on BMI-licensed websites, went to James Blunt's 'You're Beautiful,' co-authored by Blunt, Amanda Ghost and Sacha Skarbek (all PRS).
The Gorillaz's 'Dare,' co-written by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett (both PRS), took home BMI's Dance Award. 'Dare' debuted atop the UK singles chart, officially making it the Gorillaz's first No. 1 hit in Britain.
Prestigious 'Million-Air' certificates were also presented throughout the evening in recognition of those songs that have achieved over three million U.S. radio and television performances � the equivalent of more than 17 years of continuous airplay.
Broadcast Music, Inc.� (BMI) is an American performing right organization that represents more than 350,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers in all genres of music and more than 6.5 million works. BMI's recently announced financial results, $839 million (U.S.) in royalty collections for its 2007 fiscal year, are the highest for any copyright organization in the world. BMI has represented the most popular and beloved music from around the world for over 65 years. The non-profit-making U.S. corporation collects license fees from businesses that use music, which it then distributes as royalties to the musical creators and copyright owners it represents.
For a complete list of 2007 BMI London Award winners, please go to bmi.com/london.
