BMI staged its 54th Annual Pop Awards on May 16, with top honors given to BMI Icons Crosby, Stills & Nash; Jesse Carmichael, Ryan Dusick, Adam Levine and Mickey Madden of Maroon 5 and Lil Jon as Songwriters of the Year; "She Will Be Loved" as Song of the Year; and EMI Music as Publisher of the Year. Hosted by BMI President/ CEO Del Bryant and Los Angeles VP/GM Barbara Cane at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel, the black-tie dinner recognized the writers and publishers of the past year's 50 most performed pop songs from BMI's catalog of more than 6.5 million compositions.

	BMI Pop Awards Photo Slideshow
	BMI Icon Tribute
	2006 BMI Pop Awards song list
	Crosby, Stills, & Nash Bio

A highlight of the gala ceremony featured a musical tribute to legendary singing trio Crosby, Stills & Nash, who were honored as BMI Icons for their "unique and indelible influence on generations of music makers." The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, whose signature three-part harmony has endured for more than three decades, join an elite list of previous BMI Icons that includes Paul Simon, James Brown, Brian Wilson, Isaac Hayes, Dolly Parton and Carlos Santana.

Martin Bandier and his EMI Music Publishing team accept the publisher of the year award

The musical partnership of David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash has produced some of the most timeless rock songs ever written, including "Marrakesh Express," "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes," "Helplessly Hoping," "Guinnevere," "Teach Your Children," "Wooden Ships," "Dark Star" and "Just a Song Before I Go." Called "the voice of an entire generation," CSN has just announced a summer reunion tour with Neil Young.

Maroon 5	Lil Jon	Crosby, Stills & Nash

Pop-rockers Maroon 5 were joined on stage by rapper Lil Jon to collect their BMI Songwriter of the Year Crystals for placing three songs each on the most performed list of 50. The trio of tracks earning Maroon 5 members Jesse Carmichael, Ryan Dusick, Adam Levine and Mickey Madden the prestigious title were "Sunday Morning," their two-time BMI Pop Award-winning smash, "This Love," and Song of the Year "She Will Be Loved."

Lil Jon picked up his third Songwriter of the Year win - he was both BMI's top Pop and Urban writer in 2005 - for penning "Lovers and Friends" (Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz featuring Usher & Ludacris), "Goodies" (Ciara featuring Petey Pablo) and "Salt Shaker" (Ying Yang Twins featuring Lil Jon), the latter two of which also made the list of top songs at the 2005 BMI Urban Awards. He was also honored at that ceremony as writer of the Song of the Year ("Yeah!"), as well as named one of BMI's Top 10 Urban Producers.

Included on Maroon 5's multi-platinum debut, Songs About Jane, "She Will Be Loved" was named BMI Pop Song of the Year for scoring the most airplay of any song on the most performed list during the award period. Co-written by the band's four BMI members, and published by Careers-BMG Music Publishing and February Twenty-Second Music, "She Will Be Loved" earned Maroon 5 their second Grammy this past February for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal; they were named Best New Artist the previous year.

EMI Music Publishing (EMI-Blackwood Music, Inc./EMI-Hastings Catalog, Inc./Stone Diamond Music) claimed its second consecutive BMI Pop Publisher of the Year prize with 18 songs on the top 50 list, giving the publishing giant the highest percentage of copyright ownership in award songs. EMI Chairman & CEO Martin Bandier accepted the company's 11th BMI Pop Publisher Crystal.

In addition to the Song of the Year, BMI also recognized the performance achievements of two other songs: "Beverly Hills" earned Most Performed Song on College Radio kudos for songwriter Rivers Cuomo of Weezer and publisher E.O. Smith Music, and "1, 2 Step," written by BMI Top 10 Urban Producer Jazze Pha and published by Bubba Gee Music, Noontime Tunes and Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., received BMI's very first Internet Song of the Year award by tallying the most hits on BMI-licensed web sites during the award period.

Three other songs besides "This Love" took home a second BMI Pop Award, including "Heaven" by Los Lonely Boys, which also won last year; D.H.T.'s version of "Listen to Your Heart," which earned a Pop Award in 1990 for the recording by Roxette; and the Hall & Oates remake of "I'll Be Around," which won a Pop Award in 1972 for the original Spinners hit written by Thom Bell and Phil Hurtt.

Songwriters Gavin DeGraw, Kara DioGuardi, George Pajon, Jr., will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas, Pharrell Williams of the Neptunes, and Full Force members Paul Anthony, Baby Gerry, B-Fine, Bowlegged Lou, Curt-T-T and Shy Shy each scored two BMI Pop Awards, while publishers Careers-BMG Music Publishing/Zomba Songs, Cherry River Music Co., Dimensional Songs of the Knoll, El Cubano Music, Ensign Music LLC, February Twenty-Second Music, Forceful Music/Mokojumbi Music, G. DeGraw Music, Inc., K'Stuff Publishing, Songs of TVT, Sony/ATV Songs LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group (Songs of Universal, Inc./Irving Music), Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp., Waters of Nazareth Publishing and will.i.am music, inc. were each cited for multiple award-winning songs.

Another of the ceremony's highlights included a special presentation to 21-year-old Catawba College student Dennis E. Reed, Jr., first place winner of the BMI Foundation's 9th Annual John Lennon Scholarship Awards. The Charlotte, North Carolina native, who got to share the stage with some of music's biggest stars, went home with a $10,000 scholarship for his song, "Out of Control." Established in 1997 by Yoko Ono in conjunction with the BMI Foundation and matched by generous donations from Gibson Musical Instruments, the John Lennon Scholarship program recognizes the talent of young songwriters between the ages of 15 and 24.

Listen to the winning songs:

1st Place: "Out of Control" by Dennis E. Reed, Jr | bio

2nd Place: "Second in Line" by Daniel R. Mitchell | bio

3rd Place: "Boats and Birds" by Meredith Godreau | bio

3rd Place: "Night Club" by Calvin Pia | bio

Honorable Mention: "Heart Music" by Nathan Zoob | bio

Second place went to University of Wisconsin student Daniel R. Mitchell, who received $5,000 for his song "Second in Line." Tying for third place and receiving $5,000 scholarships each were SUNY Purchase graduating senior Meredith Godreau for "Boats and Birds" and NYU student Calvin Pia for "Night Club." Seventeen-year-old Stuyvesant High School student Nathan Zoob, who earned an Honorable Mention for his song, "Heart Music," won a $1,000 scholarship.

Dennis E. Reed, Jr	Daniel R. Mitchell	Meredith Godreau

The 2006 judges included current hit songwriter Teron Beal, legendary songwriter/composer Charles Fox, esteemed jazz specialist Suzan Jenkins, Tony Award winner Maury Yeston, Columbia Records' Beka Callaway, Concord Music Group's Neil Gillis, EMI Music Publishing's Evan Lamberg and Zomba Music Publishing's Tanya Brown. The preliminary judging panel, chaired by BMI VP Charlie Feldman, included Samantha Cox, Wardell Malloy, June Neira, Ben Tischker and Erica Tompkins, all from BMI's New York-based Writer/Publisher Relations team. Thousands of students representing schools from every state participated in the competition this year. Many of them, including this year's first place winner, came through state and regional competitions administered by MENC, the National Association for Music Education.

Calvin Pia	Nathan Zoob

Established by Yoko Ono in 1997 in conjunction with the BMI Foundation, the John Lennon Scholarships have been made possible through generous donations from Ono with matching funds from Gibson Musical Instruments, awarding over $175,000 to students from select colleges, universities and music schools throughout the U.S.

The BMI Foundation, Inc. is a not-for-profit corporation founded in 1985 to support the creation, performance, and study of music through awards, scholarships, commissions and grants. Tax-deductible donations to the Foundation come primarily from songwriters, composers and publishers, BMI employees and members of the public with a special interest in music. Because both the Foundation staff and the distinguished members of the Advisory Panel serve without compensation, over 95% of all donations and income are used for charitable grants.]]> 2006-05-15T18:00:00+00:00