Taio Cruz was named Songwriter of the Year at ASCAP’s London awards last night for a second successive time as Steve Mac scooped the Song of the Year prize.
The US society honoured EMI Publishing’s Cruz with the accoloade at its 32nd annual London awards and dinner following his ongoing Stateside success for his songs such as Break Your Heart, Without You and Dynamite. The event at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel took place to recognise songwriters, composers and publisher members of UK society PRS for Music.
Mac’s Song of The Year honour was given for You Make Me Feel, penned with P& P Songs’ Ina Wroldsen (a member of ASCAP rival BMI), and recorded by Cobra Starship. A Top 20 hit in the UK, it was an even bigger smash in the States, peaking at 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 last year and selling 2 million downloads there. Mac, previously with Peermusic, signed a new publishing deal this year with BMG Chrysalis.
Universal Music Publishing won Publisher of the Year at the event for a run that included Coldplay’s Paradise, Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall and Viva La Vida, T-Pain’s Five O’Clock, which samples Take That’s Shine, and Florence + The Machine’s Dog Days Are Over.
Universal Publishing UK & Europe president Paul Connolly said: “I’m thrilled that our songwriters continue to write hit songs that people want to hear all over the world. As their honoured music publisher, this ASCAP Publisher of the Year Award is testament to their creativity, professionalism and hard work – and to that of my colleagues at Universal. This award is for all of them.”
Among the night’s other winners were Frank Turner and Justin Parker who were both recognised as emerging talent. BMG Chrysalis’s Turner, who was not at the ceremony because of touring commitments, was honoured with the the ASCAP Vanguard Award, while Sony/ATV-signed, Lana Del Rey collaborator Parker was the first ever recipient of the Foundation Stone award. This has been introduced this year to celebrate what ASCAP calls new creators and architects of the songwriting industry.
During the evening former Manfred Mann lead singer Mike d’Abo performed two of his most famous compositions: Handbags And Gladrags, which has been recorded by artists including Stereophonics, Rod Stewart and Chris Farlowe, and Build Me Up Buttercup, a hit for The Foundations.
Those attending the event included ASCAP president and chairman Paul Williams, Annie Lennox, Steve Mac and Cathy Dennis.
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