June 24, 2002
Press Release
NASHVILLE, June 24, 2002—Performing rights organization BMI saluted the writers and publishers of the past year’s most performed Christian songs during the BMI Christian Music Awards tonight, with highest honors reserved for Dottie Peoples’s “Testify,” songwriter/publisher Toby McKeehan, Achtober Songs, and EMI Christian Music Publishing. Paul Corbin, Vice President, Writer/Publisher Relations, Nashville, and Joyce Rice, Director, Writer/Publisher Relations, Nashville, handed out the Citations of Achievement recognizing 28 songs among six categories, with the presentation culminating in the announcements of Christian Song, Songwriter, and Publisher of the Year (including all genres).
Staged at the company’s Music Row offices, the event spotlighted the top songs in the Adult Contemporary, Christian Hit Radio, Inspirational, Rock, Southern Gospel and Urban Gospel categories. Special performances were given by Dottie Peoples, Mark Schultz, and the quartet CrossWay for the crowd of two hundred writers, artists, and executives.
Dottie Peoples earned the BMI Crystal for Most Performed Christian Song of the Year as writer and publisher of “Testify.” Published through Dottie Peoples Publishing and International Atlanta Music Company, “Testify” was recorded by The Talley Trio for their Southern Gospel album Testament, as well as by Peoples for her album God Can and God Will.
With three award songs, Toby McKeehan led all 38 writers to repeat as BMI Christian Songwriter Of The Year [he shared the 2001 honor with Steven Curtis Chapman]. McKeehan, who records for Forefront Records as tobyMac and with Michael Tait and Kevin Max as dc talk, was cited for writing “All You Got” (AC & CHR), “Extreme Days” (Rock) and “Say The Words” (CHR). “All You Got,” recorded by Tait, appeared on both Tait’s Empty album and dc talk’s Solo EP. “Say The Words” was recorded by dc talk on their Intermission album; “Extreme Days” is from tobyMac’s debut solo effort, Momentum.
Songwriters recognized with two Citations each were Chris Eaton [PRS] (“Adore” and “Lift Me Up”) and Dottie Peoples (“Show Up and Show Out” plus “Testify”).
Placing three songs each on the most performed list, Achtober Songs and EMI Christian Music Publishing (through its companies River Oaks Music Company and Sparrow Song) shared the title of BMI Christian Publisher of the Year. As owner of Achtober songs, Toby McKeehan collected a second crystal obelisk for publishing his BMI Award songs. Casey McGinty and Chad Segura accepted on behalf of EMI Christian Music Publishing; this is EMI’s second consecutive victory.
Additional multiple award publishers were Boisseau Music Publishing, Dayspring Music, Dottie Peoples Publishing, International Atlanta Music Company, Lilly Mack Music, S. G. O. Music Publishing, Ltd., and Sony/ATV Songs LLC.
BMI’s Citations of Achievement are given in recognition of popularity in the field of Christian music, as measured by feature broadcast performances on American radio and television. The 2002 Christian Music Awards eligibility period ran January 1, 2001 through December 31, 2001.
Founded in 1940, BMI is an American performing rights organization that represents approximately 300,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers in all genres of music. Through its music performance and reciprocal agreements, it grants businesses and media access to its repertoire of approximately 4.5 million musical works from around the world.
A complete list of the winners of the 2002 BMI Christian Music Awards and high-resolution photos are available for downloading on the BMI Media Relations web site at press.bmi.com.
Caroline Davis:
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)—615/401-2728
Brian Tipton:
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) – 615/401-2746
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