Raised in Encino, California in the late 1980’s, American music has left an indelible mark on Nicol and still remains a major influence on her classic pop/folk sound today.

Although the idea of living in sunny California appeals, especially while window gazing out into a vacuum of grey misery and classic British drizzle, Nicol explains a series of large earthquakes and subsequent minor injuries paved the way, at least in part, for a transatlantic move to London with the family during her early teenage years. Nicol’s geographic history has undoubtedly contributed to a unique Anglo-American blend.

N: ‘some people say to me, hey…you’ve got a posh English speaking voice, so what’s with the west coast sound dude? Well…musically, I take a lot of inspiration from the States but there are loads of British bands I adore too. I love artists like Stevie Nicks, Carol King, Tom Petty, Sheryl Crow….but I also listen to The Police, Elton John, Imogen Heap, Bowie...For me it’s all about great songs…it doesn’t matter where they hail from. Anyway, I did grow up in LA’.

So off to Blighty she went and it has to be said, English boarding schools.....a daunting prospect for anyone! However, the handy music room facilities did not go unnoticed. In fact Nicol spent the best part of her early teenage years working on intelligent melodies and insightful lyrics, some of which would later feature among a repertoire of timeless compositions….the kind Joni Mitchell would surely be proud of.

N: ‘I just felt there’s no better way to express myself. I wanted to write my own songs. I’ve never played covers. Even as a classically trained pianist, I would play a little Mozart and by the end of the session…the Dictaphone would be out, ready for my new ideas’.

Neither a scholarship offer from Saint Martins College of Art, nor an invitation to study at the Sylvia Young Theatre School could tempt Nicol away from her singing and writing. Maybe it’s just in the blood. Nicol’s uncle (formerly the guitarist in Johnny Kid and The Pirates) has toured with the likes of Van Morrison, Brian Ferry and Sir Paul McCartney.

Having recently completed numerous studio recordings, Nicol explains she is now ready to release her music to the world for the first time.

N: ‘You can’t hide forever; I just feel the time is right for people to get a chance to hear what I’m all about. I’m ready to get undressed and expose myself’. ‘How Does It Feel Now’, ‘Everybody Knows’, ‘Fall Down’, ‘Hayley’ and ‘Love’ are arguably the pick of the bunch, although Nicol is quick to confirm there is plenty more to come. A spiritual person, Nicol strongly believes in a ‘higher power’ and her own psychic ability. This ‘darker side’ leaves one curious to find out more, yet her endearing and charming honesty inspires a sense of optimism and satisfaction. Nicol is simply pop music at its best and most sophisticated.

When pressed, Fats softly declares undying admiration for Presley. “I like Elvis myself,” Domino says over the phone from his New Orleans residence. “So does everybody.” With a humble air that warmly wraps around each of his concessions, Fats says he was simply “lucky” such songs as “I’m Walkin’” and “Blueberry Hill” allowed him to support his family.

The man’s authentic modesty is awe-inspiring, especially when Fats could argue he doesn’t get enough credit for creating the rock-&-roll sound. His induction into the 1986 inaugural Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class prompted more comparisons to the Memphis boy who would be king: The Hall notes that Fats Domino “sold more records (65 million) than any other Fifties-era rocker except Elvis Presley.”

In fact, any query about who “started” rock & roll could be answered by taking roll call of that class. In addition to Fats and Elvis, 1986 alumni include Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke and the Everly Brothers.

The man the musicians themselves look to as the architect of rock sounds is, perhaps, most telling. “Elvis called Fats the ‘King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.’ Bob Marley said reggae started with Fats Domino,” says r&b scholar Rick Coleman, author of the 2006 biography “Blue Monday: Fats Domino and the Lost Dawn of Rock ‘n’ Roll.”

Evidence of his importance can be found on Vanguard Records’ new double-CD set, Goin’ Home: a Tribute to Fats Domino, which benefits Tipitina’s Foundation, a non-profit foundation dedicated to musical rebirth in the Crescent City.

On the tribute album, Paul McCartney sings “I Want to Walk You Home” and his Beatles mate John Lennon sings “Ain’t That a Shame.” The Fab Four’s 1968 “Lady Madonna” is homage to Domino. That same year, Fats cut his own version, marking his last appearance in the Billboard Top 100 pop singles.

Other iconic contributors to Goin’ Home include Elton John performing “Blueberry Hill,” B.B. King’s “Goin’ Home,” Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ “I’m Walkin’,” Robert Plant’s “It Keeps Raining” and Willie Nelson’s “I Hear You Knockin’.”

The emotional peak comes with Neil Young’s “Walking to New Orleans,” which he sang at a Katrina fund-raising concert. Fats’s version, released June 1, 1960, was his last Top 10 pop hit. A potent string of wonder and musical history preceded that nostalgic song.

On Dec. 10, 1949, Fats Domino cut eight tracks at Cosimo Matassa’s J&M Studios. Among them: “The Fat Man,” often called “the first rock & roll song.”

Domino’s songbook also includes “All By Myself,” “Be My Guest,” “Bo Weevil,” “Don’t Blame It On Me,” “Every Night About This Time,” “Let the Four Winds Blow,” “Going to the River,” “My Girl Josephine,” “I’m in Love Again,” “Please Don’t Leave Me,” “Poor Me,” “So Long,” “Something’s Wrong,” “Three Nights a Week,” “Valley of Tears” and “Whole Lotta Loving.’’ In Fats’s fashion, the man is quick to share credit with co-writer and producer Dave Bartholomew.

While the music is universally present, Fats had settled in to a peaceful life with family and dear friends, flying contentedly below the world’s contemporary radar — until Katrina nearly killed him. The musician and his family chose to ride out the storm in their home in the Lower 9th Ward, the working-class neighborhood where he grew up. As helicopters plucked victims off roofs, there were media reports Fats was missing. That fear ended with the publication of a New Orleans Times-Picayune photo of Domino being helped off a boat after being rescued from his house.

Like almost everyone in the Lower 9th, he lost everything. But Fats says, “I ain’t missed nothing, to tell you the truth, and I was able to replace what I lost.” Today, he and his family live in a West Bank suburb, while their home is being rebuilt.

Thanks in large part to Tipitina’s Foundation, Fats Domino has become the quintessential face of New Orleans’ rebirth. The foundation is an offshoot of the New Orleans music venue. “Before the storm, our programs were designed to uplift the music culture of New Orleans,” says Bill Taylor, executive director. ”Since Katrina, it’s about saving that same culture.”

In May of 2007, Fats tore through an exhilarating 32-minute set at Tipitina’s. Proceeds benefited the foundation’s drive to provide musical instruments to New Orleans public schools, and to help musicians recover. Profits from the Goin’ Home tribute will also go to Tipitina’s Foundation. Twenty-five percent of monies earned at that red-letter show went toward the restoration of Fats’ Lower 9th home. In addition to helping Domino rebuild, funds will also fuel the construction of a Lower 9th community center and other programs aimed at lifting the neighborhood.

Haydee Ellis, the longtime family friend who helped orchestrate the concert and album, says her experiences recruiting talent for Goin’ Home demonstrate the appreciation artists have for Fats. “I talked to Randy Newman. . . . I said ‘we would enjoy your participation on this album’.” Newman, who performs “Blue Monday,” emphatically told her, “I’d love to. I’ve been stealing from Fats for years.”

2007 BMI London Awards Song List

Gabriel’s achievements, whether musical, visual or humanitarian, are the work of a true visionary. The co-founder of rock band Genesis, Gabriel left the group in 1975 to begin a critically acclaimed, Grammy Award-winning solo career. Thus far, he has released 11 albums featuring self-penned gems and BMI million-performance songs, including “Big Time,” “Solsbury Hill,” “Sledgehammer” and “In Your Eyes,” and composed soundtracks for numerous films, including Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ. Amongst other bold endeavors, Gabriel founded Real World companies in 1987, housing his recording, publishing, film and multi-media ventures under one progressive roof. 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. Published by EMI Music Publishing Ltd. (PRS) and recorded by Bedingfield, “Unwritten” was the title track to Bedingfield’s platinum-selling debut album.

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. Published by Universal Music Publishing Ricordi srl (SIAE) and Warner/Chappell Music Publishing Ltd. (PRS), the award-winning song first leapt to the top of the British charts solely thanks to digital downloads.

Bestowed on the song with the most hits on BMI-licensed websites, the Internet Award went to James Blunt’s infectious “You’re Beautiful,” co-authored by Blunt, Amanda Ghost and Sacha Skarbek (all PRS), and published by Bucks Music Group Ltd. and EMI Music Publishing Ltd. (both PRS).

The Gorillaz’s “Dare,” co-written by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett (both PRS), took home BMI’s Dance Award. Also published by EMI Music Publishing Ltd. (PRS) and featuring the vocal stylings of Shaun Ryder, “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. The Police’s “Every Breath You Take” topped the list, with a staggering nine-million performance award for songwriter Sting (PRS). Sting was also honored for five-million performance song “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic.” Living legend Van Morrison (PRS) penned two hits on the list: his classic “Brown Eyed Girl,” which has amassed eight million performances, and four million performance song “Have I Told You Lately That I Love You.” Additional “Million-Air” recipients included Sir Elton John, John Lennon, Sir Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Sir Trevor Nunn, Lord Lloyd Webber, Shania Twain and Steve Winwood (all PRS).

KT Tunstall (BMI), Harry Gregson-Williams, Rupert Gregson-Williams, Natasha Bedingfield, James Blunt, Pete Townshend, Snow Patrol members Gary Lightbody, Nathan Connolly, Paul Wilson, Tom Simpson and Jonny Quinn (all PRS), along with Alexandre Desplat (SACEM) and Karl Bartos (GEMA), garnered multiple awards in recognition of their songwriting skills: each composed two or more songs on the most-performed Pop, Film, Television, Cable, Emmy, Golden Globe or Urban Award lists. Reflecting music’s increasingly global reach, BMI also honored two Jamaican hitmakers alongside the European songwriters and publishers. Don Corleon, writer of "Break It Off" and "When you Gonna (Give it Up to Me),” and “Break It Off” co-writer Kirk Ford both received their first London Awards.

High-resolution photos from the event will be available to registered users only at bmi.com/press. To request access, please contact mediarelations@bmi.com.

Now he’s poised for even greater fame, in the wake of “This Is My Now” (co-written with his pastor, Jeff Peabody) being chosen as the tune for the top two finalists of the sixth season of American Idol, Blake Lewis and eventual winner Jordin Sparks, to perform during the May 22-23 finale shows.

“This is just surreal,” Krippayne enthuses. “We believed in the song, but you just never know.”

After beating out some 25,000 other submissions, “This Is My Now” made the cut to the final 20 tunes by AI producer 19 Entertainment’s a&r staff. Over half a million fans cast votes after listening online, with “Now” proving victorious.

The 36-year-old has notched seven national number one 1 singles at inspirational radio, thanks largely to his pop-oriented instincts. “Billy Joel and Elton John were big influences on me — probably Billy more than Elton,” he says. “If you’re a piano player, you tend to choose one or the other as you are growing up.”

While Krippayne is hopeful that “Now” proves to be a “neat stepping-stone to new opportunities,” he maintains that the AI triumph won’t go to his head.

“If I’ve learned anything over the past year or two, it’s that I’ve got a long way to go to really make a difference, to be a true follower of Jesus. That’s where I’ve been living lately, trying to sort out what’s really important in life and how to represent Christ in the world.”

Amy Winehouse won Best Contemporary Song for “Rehab,” following up on her 2007 Brit Award for Best British Female Vocalist. She previously won an Ivor for her debut single, “Stronger Than Me,” while her debut album, Frank, was nominated for the prestigious Mercury Prize.

American band The Scissor Sisters showed their immense popularity in England by winning the PRS Most Performed Work award for “I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’,” co-written by Scott Hoffman, Jason Sellards and Sir Elton John.

“A Moment Like This,” written by John Reid and Jorgen Eloffson and performed by Leona Lewis, won Best Selling UK Single, while five-piece band The Feeling won Songwriters of the Year.

The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Peter Gabriel, whose efforts as a vocalist, video artist, songwriter and social activist have won him worldwide fame and critical approval over the course of several decades.

George Fenton (l), winner of the Academy Fellowship, is pictured after the Ivor Novello Awards presentation with BMI's Brandon Bakshi.

The Academy Fellowship was awarded to film-television-theatre composer George Fenton. His film work ranges widely, from Groundhog Day to Ghandi, while his TV work includes the critically praised series The Jewel in the Crown.

Fun, smart, musically adventurous and thematically provocative, the 13 songs on Life, all of them written and produced by Mika, combine euphoric rushes of melody with darker, unexpected elements. They range from bright daytime melodramas to night-time tales of love, loss, abandonment, hope and happiness. Each is a splendid blend of fresh imagination and deft pop craftsmanship. They are songs, Mika says, “about transitions,” about people in the process of becoming whoever they want to be. Sort of like Mika himself.

“Transitions are important, because that’s when everything gets destabilized, and that makes you question and re-evaluate everything,” he explains. “For songwriting, that’s an endless source of inspiration, because it makes you look at things. You can’t take anything for granted.”

A self-taught piano virtuoso, gymnastic vocalist and born entertainer, Mika has music in his bones. His four-octave voice, which he knows when to restrain and when to unleash, needs to be heard to be believed, and he uses it to powerful effect on Life. Whether praising the delights of the larger-framed woman on the funk-rocking “Big Girl (You Are Beautiful),” describing the journey of a married man who discovers that he’s attracted to men on the burlesque “Billy Brown,” or simply celebrating the joys of being alive on “Love Today,” he is unafraid to revel in the pleasure he takes in making music. “I wrote ‘Love Today’ when I was happy, really happy,” he recalls. “When you’re on a buzz, you assume that everyone in the world feels the way you do. So I put it in a song.” Motorola has licensed “Love Today” for online and mobile-phone spots in its RED campaign

The moods on Life in Cartoon Motion swing wildly - as do the rush of musical surprises that continually tumble forward. That sense of delirious unpredictability accounts, in part, for the album’s title. “Inevitably when you put certain subjects into a pop song, a cartoon-like quality arises,” Mika says. “It’s like how Homer Simpson can talk about anything from politics to Michael Jackson’s weirdness to homosexuality and get away with it because it’s a cartoon. That’s where the title comes from.”

Mika’s background, however, wasn’t always so playful. He was born in Beirut in the mid 80s, and his family moved to Paris at the height of Lebanon’s brutal civil war. His father was subsequently taken hostage and held at the American embassy in Kuwait, and the family eventually settled in London. Mika found himself lost in the chasm of these wrenching and frightening events.

“It was the combination of moving as well as a horrible time I had at school in the first few years of living in London that led me to forget how to read and write, and stop talking for a little while,” he says. “I was pulled out of school for over six months; in order to sort myself out. This is when music really became important. It got me back on my feet.”

By the time he was 9, Mika knew that songwriting was what he wanted to do. “After I started singing, I started to get jobs everywhere,” he says. “I did everything from recordings with the Royal Opera House to a chewing gum jingle. One reason I got so much work was that I was insanely cheap. My mother and I had no idea what I was supposed to get paid.  Looking back on it, 45 quid for an Orbit chewing gum jingle could have been a little too cheap!”

When he was 11, Mika catapulted onto the stage of a Richard Strauss opera, and the glamour of that environment instantly seduced him. “It was a magical world that you could live in,” he says. “A parallel universe for people that is illusory and enchanting.”

When it came time for college, he enrolled at the Royal College of Music. An obsessive songwriter, he would crash parties, hijack the piano and start performing his tunes. One such occasion led to a development deal, which, unfortunately, only ended up crushing his spirit. “The executives would try and twist me into a direction that went totally against my nature,” he recalls. “Basically, they wanted me to follow whatever was popular.”

To fend off depression, Mika wrote “Grace Kelly,” a hilariously bold operatic spoof set to a Technicolor pop backdrop. “It was a f-off song to the people I was working with,” he explains. “That’s where the line ‘Shall I bend over/Shall I look older,/Just to be put on your shelf’ comes from. I was so angry. That company had every resource except a soul.” The infectious pomp and catchy chorus of “Grace Kelly” became a benchmark for the kind of music he wanted to make. “You can’t be afraid to stand out,” he says. “If no one was going to take a punt on it, then so be it. I would do it myself.” He found himself in Miami, recording demos with anyone who was interested, in any studio he could get for free. Eventually the right deal came along, and the result is this startlingly appealing album.

These songs all reflect Mika’s distinctive touch - they are simultaneously theatrical and intimate, accessible and gleefully subversive. “‘Why not?’ is one of my mottoes,” Mika says, laughing. “I always knew that the first album I ever made would have to be a completely ‘no apologies’ album. There’s a kind of youth to that as well. This is the kind of record that I knew I would only be able to make once in my life. It’s my coming-out-of school, leaving-university album - that whole transition period from childhood to adulthood. That energy keeps it alive.”

And it is just the beginning of what Mika is capable of delivering musically. “Playing live is where it all comes together for me,” he says. “I often get stressed when recording - it’s so full of decision making. You’re constantly deciding what should stay on the song forever. I love undoing all that in my live sets, and going places where I wouldn’t necessarily go on the record.”

http://www.mikasounds.com/us/

The current Broadway season has theatre-goers scrambling for seats to shows from BMI’s ever-growing list of writers from the Tony-honored BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop.

A CHORUS LINE
A revival of A Chorus Line opened Oct. 5, 2006, at the Schoenfeld Theatre in New York. The ground-breaking and record-breaking musical features lyrics by BMI writer Edward Kleban, who won the 1975 Tony, Drama Desk, Olivier Awards and the Pulitzer Prize in Music for the show’s lyrics. Kleban was a member of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Workshop for over 20 years.

A Chorus Line begins on a bare stage, where casting for a new Broadway musical is almost complete. The competition has been narrowed down to just 17 dancers. During the show we find out the dancers’ dreams and disappointments. By the show’s finale, the final chorus line of eight is chosen.

In 2001, a musical biography of Kleban, A Class Act, was produced on Broadway. The show features Kleban’s music and lyrics and has scenes set in the BMI Workshop. Mr. Kleban, who died in 1987 at the age of 48, posthumously won an Obie for his score for A Class Act, and was nominated for a Tony and a Drama Desk Award. Linda Kline, Kleban’s literary executor and a BMI Workshop member, is co-writer. The Kleban Foundation, created according to his will, awards grants to aspiring theatre lyricists and bookwriters so that they may carry on the tradition of the American musical theatre, which he loved so dearly.

Joel Siegel of ABC-TV wrote, “This proves you can be a singular sensation twice. The choreography, the staging, the set and the score are still magic. You’ll dance out humming the score. The music moved me to tears twice. And something I’ve never done, during the finale, I whispered wow under my breath.”

Jon Lahr in The New Yorker described A Chorus Line’s score “full of wit and fun. Edward Kleban’s shrewd lyrics sit easily on Marvin Hamlisch’s inspired score.”

Entertainment Weekly proclaimed, “This sensational revival blows the sequins off most Broadway musicals. It’s thrilling!”

Michael Sommers of the Star-Ledger wrote, “Welcome back, you beautiful thing! The show glows with dynamic and dazzling songs by composer Marvin Hamlisch and lyricist Edward Kleban,” and Joe Dziemianowicz of the Daily News asserted, “There’s nothing better. The score sounds fantastic, too. As long as ‘A Chorus Line’ is kicking on Broadway, audiences have somewhere exciting to go.”

MARY POPPINS
Based on P.L. Travers’ cherished stories and the classic 1964 Walt Disney film, Mary Poppins features the Sherman Brothers’ original Academy Award-winning songs, bringing to life the story of the Banks family and their magical nanny.

Mary Poppins marks the first collaboration between Disney, producer of the The Lion King (BMI’s Elton John and Tim Rice) and Beauty and the Beast (BMI’s Alan Menken) with Cameron Mackintosh, legendary producer of the record-breaking Phantom of the Opera, Cats and Les Miserables. The Cameron MackIntosh Foundation provides underwriting for the annual BMI Workshop Musical Theatre Showcase at Manhattan Theatre Club.

Mary Poppins, with classic songs by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, and new songs by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, opened Nov. 16, 2006, at the historic New Amsterdam Theatre in New York.

The Sherman Brothers are leading composer/lyricists in family entertainment. Among their many hits is the most translated and performed song on earth: “It’s a Small World (After All).” Robert Sherman endows the BMI Foundation’s Robert B. Sherman Scholarship, which is given annually to a college student who is a musical theatre composer/lyricist.

The Shermans’ career spans almost 50 years and includes two Academy Awards for Best Score and Best Song for “Chim Chim Cher-ee” from Mary Poppins. Their other Broadway credits include Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Over Here, which is being prepared for a lavish West End revival.

Additional songs are by composer/lyricists George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, Olivier Award winners for the musical Honk and founders of London’s Mercury Musicals.

Michael Kuchwara of the Associated Press wrote, “All the big, classic Sherman Brothers songs are here, and new songs by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe fit seamlessly into the proceedings. In fact, one or two of them, including Mary’s opening number, ‘Practically Perfect,’ possess an instant hypnotic quality.”

Terry Teachout wrote in The Wall Street Journal, “I’ll be surprised if it doesn’t run for at least a century!”

SPRING AWAKENING
Based on the scandalous 1891 play about troubled teens, Spring Awakening opened off-Broadway last summer and opened at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre on Dec. 10, 2006. This ground-breaking show is by BMI writers Duncan Sheik (music) and Steven Sater (book and lyrics).

Christopher Isherwood of the The New York Times called Sheik and Sater’s score “ravishing” and declared that “Broadway would never be the same. The music, spare in its simple orchestrations, lush in the lapping reach of its seductive choruses, embodies the shadowy air of longing that infuses the show, the excitement shading into fear, the joy that comes with a chaser of despair. The singing throughout is impassioned and affecting, giving powerful voice to the blend of melancholy and hope in the songs.”

Grammy Award-nominated singer/songwriter Duncan Sheik’s self-titled debut album, both a popular and critical success, introduced the hit singles “Barely Breathing” and “She Runs Away,” and spent 30 weeks on the Billboard 200. Other albums include Humming, Daylight, Phantom Moon with lyrics by Steven Sater and his latest, White Limousine.

Sheik’s film soundtracks include Great Expectations, The Saint, Teaching Mrs. Tingle, Three to Tango, What a Girl Wants, Transamerica and A Body Goes Down. Sheik and Sater recently wrote original songs for the feature film A Home at the End of the World. For the stage, their Nightingale workshopped both at the O’Neill Musical Theatre Conference and La Jolla Playhouse, and is announced for La Jolla’s 2007 season.

Sater’s plays include the long-running Carbondale Dreams, Perfect for You and Doll (Rosenthal Prize, Cincinnati Playhouse).

HIGH FIDELITY
The romantic musical comedy High Fidelity follows the adventures of Rob, a record store owner who knows almost everything about pop music, but almost nothing about how to hang on to a girlfriend. This new musical adaptation of Nick Hornby’s best-selling novel marks the first-time collaboration of fast-rising songwriters Tom Kitt and Amanda Green (daughter of actress Phyllis Newman and legendary Broadway lyricist Adolph Green) and book writer David Lindsay-Abaire (a Tony nominee last season for his play Rabbit Hole).

Kitt and Green first met and collaborated in 2006 in the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop, and songs from High Fidelity have been featured in BMI Workshop showcases. Tom’s work has been heard in film (The Two Ninas), television (Dawson’s Creek), and original recordings (Julia Murney, The Tom Kitt Band). Amanda’s shows include Hallelujah Baby (Arena Stage 2004; additional lyrics) directed by Arthur Laurents, For The Love of Tiffany (NY Fringe Festival 2003) and Up the Week Without a Paddle (L.A. Drama Critics Circle nomination, Garland Award, Best Score).

Frank Rizzo in Variety wrote, “This is a musical that celebrates the power of pop culture with wit, verve and a killer beat. Nailing the music in all its varied forms is Tom Kitt’s tuneful score and the sharp, funny and telling lyrics of Amanda Green.”

Terry Teachout proclaimed Green “a master of the craft of packing everything you need to know about a character into a neatly wrapped, deftly rhymed package.”

The Philadelphia Enquirer calls the musical numbers the show’s “mother lode. Act II bubbles over with so many show-stealers that you begin to wonder whether it has anything left to plunder. Indeed, it keeps bringing out the treasure.”

And Entertainment Weekly declared that High Fidelity is “the unique show that charms both your college drinking buddy and your mother.”

THE APPLE TREE
A revival of The Apple Tree, which opened Dec. 14, 2006, at the Roundabout’s Studio 54 Theatre, features a score by BMI writers Jerry Bock (music) and Sheldon Harnick (lyrics). The original production, which opened at the Shubert Theatre in 1966, was nominated for seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Bock and Harnick are the Pulitzer- and Tony Award-winning writing team responsible for Fiddler on the Roof, She Loves Me, The Rothschilds and Fiorello.

The Apple Tree contains three short musicals, all pertaining to the subject of temptation. The first is based on Mark Twain’s interpretation of Adam and Eve, the second, Frank Stockton’s classic fable of The Lady or the Tiger, and the third, Passionella, Jules Pfeiffer’s delicious look at a chimney sweep who is transformed into a glamorous movie star.

Composer Jerry Bock personally selects and endows the BMI Foundation’s Jerry Bock Award, which is given bi-annually to a composer/lyricist team from the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop.

Ben Brantley of The New York Times wrote that The Apple Tree “is somewhere you should definitely spend time if you need reassurance that musicals can still float next door to heaven,” and praised Bock and Harnick’s “remarkably fresh comic and musical stylings, which speak slyly in an assortment of musical tongues.”

Terry Teachout declared, “musical comedy fans, rejoice!” and Broadway.com wrote, “With a lovely score and witty book by the legendary Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, ‘The Apple Tree’ is a must-see revival for lovers of musical theater.”

BMI Broadway blockbusters from earlier seasons include:

Avenue Q
2004 Best Musical and Best Score Tony Award by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, who met and first wrote together in the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop; plays nightly at New York’s Golden Theatre and in London at the Noel Coward Theatre.

Beauty and the Beast
Now in its 12th year at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, has music by Alan Menken, who also honed his craft at BMI’s Musical Theatre Workshop; he is currently a member of the Workshop’s Steering Committee. Menken’s Sister Act is currently breaking box office records on its pre-Broadway tour, and his Little Mermaid is in preparation for Broadway next season.

Chicago
1997 Tony Award for Best Musical Revival, by John Kander and Fred Ebb, celebrates its tenth year at the Ambassador Theatre. Kander and Ebb’s Curtains opens on Broadway March 22 at the Hirschfeld Theatre.

The Color Purple
2006 Tony nominee featuring a score by BMI writers Brenda Russell and Allee Willis plays at the Broadway Theatre.

Jersey Boys
With music by Bob Gaudio and lyrics by Bob Crewe, the 2006 Tony Award winner for Best Musical celebrates its 500th performance at Broadway’s August Wilson Theatre.

The Lion King
Music by Sir Elton John (PRS) and lyrics by Tim Rice (PRS), winner of the 1998 Best Musical Tony, is in its ninth year at Broadway’s Minskoff Theatre.

Mama Mia!
With songs by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus of ABBA, Mama Mia! has been playing at the Winter Garden Theatre since 2001.

Monty Python’s Spamalot
2005 Tony Award for Best Musical with book and lyrics by Eric Idle and music by Eric Idle and John Du Prez, directed by BMI writer Mike Nichols, continues its run at Broadway’s Shubert Theatre.

The Producers
Won an unprecedented 12 Tony Awards including Best Musical and Best Score for Mel Brooks‘ music and lyrics, plays at the St. James Theatre.

Tarzan
With music and lyrics by Phil Collins, continues at Broadway’s Richard Rodgers Theatre.

Tarzan, The Lion King, Mary Poppins and Beauty and the Beast are all Disney Broadway productions.

Built around singer/songwriter John Ondrasik, the group first made waves with its second album, 2000’s America Town (Columbia), featuring the Grammy-nominated song “Superman (It’s Not Easy).” Although already a hit before 9/11, afterwards the tune became a kind of spiritual national anthem, leading to Ondrasik’s being invited to join Paul McCartney, Elton John and The Who to perform at the post-9/11 fund-raiser “The Concert for New York.”

Ondrasik recalls “sitting at a piano in Madison Square Garden playing a song that seems to provide solace to the emergency workers and their families. Halfway through, seeing these burly firefighters with tears rolling down their faces: It was the most important thing I’ll ever do musically.”

Following up such a significant moment would be a difficult task, and Ondrasik took a couple of years to craft the Battle for Everything album, which yielded another inspirational hit with “100 Years.” “It means a lot as a writer when your songs find their way into everyday lives,” he says. “To hear MP3s of ‘100 Years’ sung at graduations, or to speak to folks about how certain songs helped out, inspires me to keep on swinging.”

Ondrasik aims squarely for the fences with his latest album, Two Lights, which grew out of conversations the songwriter had with a wide range of Americans, from cops (the Ben Folds-ish humor of “Policeman’s Xmas Party”), to surfers and soldiers.

The last subject looms large on the album’s title track. “Two Lights” came about following a dinner Ondrasik had with a young Iraq-bound soldier and the man’s father, a Vietnam War vet. “I wanted to write a song that talked about the reality of how these parents feel,” Ondrasik explains. “The simple thing of ‘Two Lights’ is two lives: the father’s and the son’s. That’s what inspired this song, the look of pride and fear in a father’s eye.”

Ondrasik also turns his keen observational skills on himself, via first single “The Riddle.” Written for his children, the song’s video features John’s blue Mustang, itself passed down to Ondrasik from his own father, and the inspiration for the song “’65 Mustang.” “At its heart it’s a love song from a father to his son,” he says.

Lest anyone think Ondrasik is always brooding, keep in mind his monthly NHL column for SI.com. Why hockey? Look to the band’s seemingly odd name, which refers to the number of penalty-box minutes given to brawling hockey players. “Like everyone in my demo,” he laughs, “I think I know a hell of a lot more about sports than I actually do.”

2006 Music Industry Trusts' Award recipient Harvey Goldsmith (center) is congratulated by BMI London's Brandon Bakshi and Octopus TV's Andrew Eborn

The Live 8 co-organizer and original Live Aid promoter has been instrumental in developing the live-touring industry in Europe. From acts as diverse as Pavarotti, Queen, Riverdance, The Who, Madonna, Eric Clapton and the Earls Court presentations of Carmen and Aida, Harvey has promoted some of the best loved performers and shows in live music.

The Music Industry Trusts' Award is given each year to an artist or music business professional who has made an outstanding contribution to the British music industry. Previous recipients include Sir Elton John, Beatles' producer George Martin and ex-Genesis singer Peter Gabriel. The ceremony is also a fundraiser for Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy and the Brit Trust.]]> 2006-11-01T04:00:00-05:00 http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/334997 Bryant, Del, Cropper, Steve, Guy, Buddy, John, Elton, Marconi, Simon, Paul, Starr, Ringo, Pop, Rock, Licensing Marconi Awards & Dinner held during the NAB Radio Show in Dallas, Texas. Cropper led The Formats, a band made up of uniquely talented VIPs in the broadcasting industry that included BMI President & CEO Del Bryant who sang back-up.

Shown after the performance are BMI's Mike O'Neill, NAB President & CEO David Rehr, BMI songwriter Steve Cropper; BMI's Del Bryant, and NAB Vice President John David.

As a founding member of the legendary Booker T and the MG's, Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee Steve Cropper was involved in virtually every record issued by the seminal Stax recording label from 1961 until 1970. His songwriting credits include the classics "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay," "Knock on Wood" and "In the Midnight Hour." As a member of the original incarnation of the Blues Brothers, he recorded three albums with them, including the No. 1 Briefcase Full of Blues. Over the past 20 years. Cropper has continued to be an in-demand musician and producer, and his talents are showcased on CDs by Elton John, Paul Simon, Ringo Starr, Buddy Guy, Steppenwolf and Johnny Lang.]]> 2006-10-05T05:00:00-05:00