ASCAP President Paul Williams Receives Special Honor at 60th Ivor Novello Awards

London - ASCAP announced that President Paul Williams received the PRS for Music Special International Award today at the 60th Annual Ivor Novello Awards presented by BASCA (the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors) in London.

Williams, an Oscar, Grammy and Golden Globe-winning Hall of Fame songwriter, was presented the award for his songwriting career achievements, which include songs like "The Rainbow Connection" (from 1979's The Muppet Movie), "Evergreen" (from the 1976 film A Star is Born), "We've Only Just Begun" and "Rainy Days and Mondays."

He recently earned a 2014 Album of the Year Grammy for co-writing two songs which he also performs, "Touch" and "Beyond," with Daft Punk on their critically-acclaimed album Random Access Memories. Williams also scored the 1976 film Bugsy Malone, which is currently on stage as a musical at the iconic Hammersmith Lyric Theatre in London.

The Ivor Novello Awards are presented by BASCA and sponsored by PRS for Music. Inaugurated in 1956, they celebrate, honor and reward excellence in British and Irish songwriting and composing. BASCA is a not-for-profit membership organization that represents British songwriters and composers.

"I'm incredibly honored to receive this award," said Williams. "Over the course of my career I've been fortunate to build relationships and work with so many gifted songwriters and artists in the UK. I'm especially gratified to be recognized by my peers in this country."

ASCAP members took 10 of the 15 Ivor Novello Awards presented. They included Natalie Ann Holt and Martin Phipps for The Honourable Woman for Best Television Soundtrack; Albert Hammond for Outstanding Song Collection; Judith Weir for the Ivors Best Classical Music Award; So Long See you Tomorrow by Jack Steadman (Bombay Bicycle Club) for Best Album; Boy George for the PRS for Music Outstanding Contribution to British Music; James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire, Sean Moore (Manic Street Preachers) for The Ivors Inspiration Award; Bob Geldof and Midge Ure for the Ivors Special Anniversary Award; Black Sabbath for the Lifetime Achievement Award; and Annie Lennox for the BASCA Fellowship Award.

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) is a professional membership organization of songwriters, composers and music publishers of every kind of music. ASCAP's mission is to license and promote the music of its members and foreign affiliates, obtain fair compensation for the public performance of their works and to distribute the royalties that it collects based upon those performances. ASCAP members write the world's best-loved music and ASCAP has pioneered the efficient licensing of that music to hundreds of thousands of enterprises who use it to add value to their business - from bars, restaurants and retail, to radio, TV and cable, to Internet, mobile services and more. The ASCAP license offers an efficient solution for businesses to legally perform ASCAP music while respecting the right of songwriters and composers to be paid fairly. With more than 530,000 members representing more than 10 million copyrighted works, ASCAP is the worldwide leader in performance royalties, service and advocacy for songwriters and composers, and the only American performing rights organization (PRO) owned and governed by its writer and publisher members. www.ascap.com

To post a comment, you must register and login.