Valerie Simpson and Mike Stoller will join Usher in a tribute to songwriters on Grammy special
November 23rd, 2011
Valerie Simpson of the hit songwriting/performing duo Ashford and Simpson and Mike Stoller of the GRAMMY-winning songwriting team Leiber & Stoller — both of whom lost their longtime songwriting partners Nick Ashford and Jerry Leiber this past year — will join previously announced seven-time GRAMMY winner Usher in a tribute to songwriters on “The GRAMMY Nominations Concert Live!! — Countdown To Musics Biggest Night” www.grammy.com on Nov. 30 on CBS.
The show will also announce nominations in several categories as well as feature performances by past GRAMMY winners and/or nominees. Other previously announced performers are Jason Aldean, Lady Gaga, Ludacris, Lupe Fiasco, Rihanna, Sugarland, and The Band Perry. LL COOL J is once again set to host.
Canada’s SOCAN Songwriters, Publishers & Lyricists Celebrate 22nd Annual Awards
November 22nd, 2011
TORONTO, Nov. 21, 2011 /CNW/ – SOCAN and the Canadian music industry gathered tonight at Roy Thomson Hall to honour some of Canada’s most talented songwriters, composers, lyricists and music publishers at the 22nd annual SOCAN Awards Gala. Co-hosted by Steven Page, Michelle Wright and Abdominal, the SOCAN Awards acknowledged its members’ outstanding national and international achievements from the previous year.
“Tonight, we celebrate the impressive accomplishments of our English language songwriters, composers, and publishers, as we did for our French language members last week in Montreal,” said Eric Baptiste, CEO of SOCAN. “Canadian creators continue to score big at home and abroad, a tribute to their creativity and to our market savvy publishers. SOCAN is proud to serve such an extraordinary community in Canada and through our partner organizations around the world.”
Songwriters of the Year Honored at BMI Awards
November 9th, 2011
CMA awards week in Nashville continued last night with the third of the PRO awards sessions, all leading up to tonight’s CMA Awards celebration.
Broadcast Music, Inc. BMI celebrated the songwriters and publishers behind country music’s most-performed songs of the past year during last night’s 11/8 59th annual BMI Country Awards, staged at the organization’s Nashville offices.
Rhett Akins and Dallas Davidson shared the Songwriter of the Year crown. The frequent collaborators co-wrote four of the year’s most-performed songs: “All About Tonight” Blake Shelton, “All Over Me” Josh Turner, “Gimmie That Girl” Joe Nichols and “The Shape I’m In” Joe Nichols. Individually, Akins’ “Farmer’s Daughter” Rodney Atkins and Davidson’s “Rain Is a Good Thing” Luke Bryan also made the list.
Songwriter Ben Hayslip takes top ASCAP 2011 songwriting honors
November 7th, 2011
Songwriter Ben Hayslip was the night’s top winner, collecting his first ASCAP Songwriter of the Year Award on Sunday night during the performing rights organization’s 49th annual country awards.
Hayslip had a hand in writing five of ASCAP’s most-performed songs in the last year: “All About Tonight” (Blake Shelton), “All Over Me” (Josh Turner); “Farmer’s Daughter” (Rodney Atkins), “Gimme That Girl” (Josh Nichols) and “The Shape I’m In” (Joe Nichols).
“It’s unbelievable, it really is,” Hayslip says of landing five hits in one year. “I dreamed of being a lot of things in my life, from an NFL quarterback to a songwriter, but I don’t think I ever dreamed of having five hit songs in a year. Maybe I didn’t think it was possible.”
Legendary Songwriter Denny Randell Nominated for the Songwriters Hall of Fame
October 28th, 2011
LOS ANGELES, CA, Oct 27, 2011 MARKETWIRE via COMTEX — Veteran songwriter and GI Jams R co-founder Denny Randell is a 2012 nominee for induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Randell has collaborated with many songwriting partners, including co-nominee Sandy Linzer and with Bob Crewe. Randells catalogue with Linzer includes “A Lovers Concerto,” “Working My Way Back To You,” “Lets Hang On,” “Opus 17 Dont Worry Bout Me,” “Native New Yorker” and “Cant Get Enough Of You Baby.”
In Randells early career he wrote and produced a regional hit catching the attention of a top NY music publisher, who hired him as a staff songwriter and arranger. His work there led to his relationship with The Four Seasons, as an arranger/conductor and then a writer of some of their classic hits, including three in the Tony-winning Broadway show Jersey Boys.