BMI Honors Songwriters in Pop Music, Movies and Television

BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.) held two of their annual awards this past week honoring those who have sold the most over the last year and lifetime achievements for some of the all-time greats.

Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff were honored with the BMI Icons award at the Wednesday night Pop Awards to recognize their "unique and indelible influence on generations of music makers." They had previously won 86 BMI Pop and R&B awards and are members of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriter's Hall of Fame.

Gamble and Huff's tribute included performances of If You Don't Know Me By Now by Gavin DeGraw, Don't Leave Me This Way by Estelle and Me and Mrs. Jones by Michael Buble.

Song of the year went to Colbie Caillat for Bubbly while eight people were given the Songwriter of the Year award based on the fact that they each had two songs in the BMI top 50 most performed list. Universal Music Publishing Group took Pop Publisher of the Year and Taylor Swift received the President's Award which "honors an exceptional individual in the entertainment industry deserving of special recognition."

The following veteran artists received awards for having one of the 50 most performed BMI songs:

• Gary Rossington, Ronnie VanZandt, Warren Zevon, Kid Rock and Uncle Kraker for All Summer Long (recorded by Kid Rock)
• Michael Jackson and Frankie Storm for Don't Stop the Music (Rihanna)
• Gary L. Jackson, Raynard Miner and Carl William Smith for (You're Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher (Michael McDonald) - This is the second time the song has won this award
• Cyndi Lauper for Time After Time (Quietdrive) - This is the third time the song has won this award

Thursday night was BMI's Film & Television Awards where David Newman took home the Richard Kirk Award for his "significant contributions to film and television music."

Mike Post received the Classic Contribution Award " in recognition of his dedicated involvement with the BMI Foundation’s Pete Carpenter Fellowship." Post scored two top ten hits with the themes from The Rockford Files and Hill Street Blues.

Other veteran artists taking awards:

• Randy Edelman for The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emporer
• Pete Townshend for CSI, CSI:Miami and CSI: New York
• Mike Post for Law and Order: SVU
• Tony Asher, David Byrne and Brian Wilson for Big Love