October 1, 2018
Ed Sheeran Wins ‘Song Of The Year’ For The Third Consecutive Year With ‘Shape Of You’
Liam Payne, Tinie Tempah, Natasha Bedingfield and James Arthur also Recognised at London Ceremony
Broadcast Music, Inc.® (BMI®), the global leader in music rights management, tonight honoured acclaimed film composer Harry Gregson-Williams with the BMI Icon Award at the 2018 BMI London Awards. Guests including Liam Payne, James Arthur, Natasha Bedingfield, Tinie Tempah and Trevor Rabin, attended the awards at London’s Dorchester Hotel for an evening of celebration for UK and European songwriters, producers and publishers of the most-performed songs of 2017.
Harry Gregson-Williams, one of Hollywood’s most sought-after and prolific composers, received the BMI Icon Award in recognition of his unique and indelible influence on generations of music makers. On receiving this award, Gregson-Williams joins an elite group of composers and songwriters who have received the BMI Icon for their exemplary contributions to the art of music. Previous recipients include Sting, Graham Gouldman, Sir Tim Rice, Queen, Ray Davies, Van Morrison and Bryan Ferry to name just a few.
He was presented with the prestigious award by BMI President & CEO Mike O’Neill.
Upon accepting the award Harry said: “Thank you very much, I do feel incredibly fortunate to even be here tonight, and the truth is I do recognise that I have been lucky to have had the opportunity to write the scores for so many awesome movies over the past 20 years. Many of the highlights for me have been happy collaborations with others far more talented and extraordinary than me. And of course I would not be standing here had it not been for the significant part that BMI played, and still plays in my life. Their guidance and support have been unwavering and truly significant and I’d like to sincerely thank everyone at BMI for this award”.
BMI also honoured Ed Sheeran and Johnny McDaid, with the prestigious ‘Song of the Year’ award for ‘Shape Of You’. This is the third consecutive year for Sheeran picking up the accolade having previously won for ‘Love Yourself’, as performed by Justin Bieber in 2017 and for ‘Thinking Out Loud’ in 2016. Also honoured are the publishers Ed Sheeran Music Ltd, Sony /ATV Music Publishing Ltd and Spirit B-Unique Polar Patrol. The award is given to the most performed song of the previous year by UK or European writers in the BMI catalogue.
The ‘Dance Song Of The Year’ was awarded to Anders Froen, Noonie Bao, Linus “LotusIV” Wicklund, Sarah Aarons and Alessia Cara for ‘Stay’, as performed by Alessia Cara.
Natasha Bedingfield was presented with the BMI Million-Air award for 5 million performances of her song ‘Unwritten’. Trevor Rabin also received the Million-Air Award for 5 Million performances of ‘Owner Of A Lonely Heart’, as performed by Yes. Liam Payne and James Arthur both received BMI London Awards for ‘Strip That Down’ (Liam Payne / Ed Sheeran / Brian Derek Thompson) and ‘Say You Won’t Let Go’, (James Arthur / Neil Ormandy / Steven Solomon), respectively.
Tinie Tempah’s publishing company Imhotep Music Ltd, picked up their first ever award as they were honoured with a BMI London Award for ‘Passionfruit’, as performed by Drake.
Other honourees on the night include Caroline Ailin and Ian Kirkpatrick for ‘New Rules’ as performed by Dua Lipa, Sam Smith for ‘Too Good At Goodbyes’, Jamie Hartman for ‘Human’ as performed by Rag’n’Bone Man, and Jack Patterson, Ina Wroldsen and Ammar Malik for the UK No.1 hit single ‘Rockabye’, as performed by Clean Bandit & Anne Marie featuring Sean Paul.
A complete list of winners is available at https://www.bmi.com/news/entry/2018-bmi-london-awards High-resolution photos and video footage will be available for download from http://www.epklink.com/bmilondonawards2018.
Contacts:
BMI (US) - Liz Fischer - (001) 212-220-3160 -
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Maria Barham - DawBell - 07956 211 788 -
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Amy Allen - DawBell - 0203 327 7177 -
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Richard Dawes - DawBell - 0203 327 7111 -
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