BMI HONORS HALL AND OATES AS POP ICONS

Daryl Hall and John Oates recieved BMI’s prestigious Icon Award as Babyface, Patrick Stump and Jason Wade performed at the Gala Event in Beverly Hills.

BMI held its 56th Annual Pop Awards Tuesday, May 20th in Beverly Hills, California and 2008’s version paid homage to songwriters Daryl Hall and John Oates, who recieved the prestigious BMI Icon Award. Daryl Hall and John Oates were named BMI Icons in recognition of their unique and indelible influence on generations of music makers and with the award, they join an elite list of previous BMI Icons that includes the Bee Gees, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Paul Simon, James Brown, Brian Wilson, Isaac Hayes, Dolly Parton and Carlos Santana. Hall and Oates have recorded eight #1 singles, three double-platinum and two platinum albums which easily catapulted the pair into the best-selling rock duo of all time. Skilled songwriters, they are both members of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, together boasting 24 BMI Pop Awards and a catalog studded with 14 BMI Million-Air award songs, including “She’s Gone,” “Everytime You Go Away,” “Kiss On My List,” “Maneater” and “Sara Smile.” Babyface, Jason Wade of Lifehouse and Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy each performed a classic Hall and Oates hit and then the duo performed a short set thrilling the crowd in attendace.

We caught up with Hall and Oates just before recieving their Icon Award to get their thoughts on being honored by BMI and to find out if they ever envisioned this amount of success together when they started out.

“(Oates) It’s a fantastic honor. It’s an honor of a career in songwriting. It’s what we care about very much and we’ve been passionate about it from the very beginning. It’s what got us strarted in the music business, so it’s great to be honored this way.” (Hall) “We never really had plans but we had aspirations. We knew what we were. We didn’t know how to get it out there but you know I think we always had a certain confidence but you can have as much confidence as you want, it doesn’t mean anything is going to happen.”

We also caught up with Jason Wade of Lifehouse, who was honored by BMI for his songwriting abilities and who performed a version of “Everytime You Go” by Hall and Oates, to find out why being recognized by BMI is so special to him.

“This definitely is you know because it’s a song writing award and for me it’s a huge honor to be here amongst such wonderful talented songwriters and I even to perform tonight a Hall and Oates song, which is going to be fantastic. I’m performing a song that Daryl wrote for Paul Young called ‘Every Time You Go Away.’ It’s a beautiful song and I’m just honored to be here. It’s going to be cool.”

We also talked with Ace Young, season 5 American Idol contestant to get his thoughts on being recognized for his song “It’s Not Over,” which he wrote with Chris Daughtry.

“I’m blown away. When I got the award in the mail, I actually had a little envelope that I opened and it said ‘You Won an Award!’ This is the first award we won. So, I’m actually going to dedicate it to Chris as well, Daughtry because we wrote ‘It’s Not Over’ together and that’s what got me here. We were at The Grammys and didn’t get it, Bruce Springsteen beat us for Best Rock Song but BMI showed some love. My new family, so I’m very happy to be here.”

Songwriter and producer Polow Da Don earned the coveted Songwriter of the Year crown, Hinder’s “Lips of an Angel” garnered Song of the Year honors and Publisher of the Year went to EMI-Blackwood Music, Inc. Polow Da Don’s resounding claim to the BMI Songwriter of the Year title stems from penning four songs among the year’s top 50: the Pussycat Dolls’ “Buttons,” featuring Snoop Dogg; Fergie’s “London Bridge” and “Glamorous,” featuring Ludacris; and “Runaway Love,” recorded by Ludacris and featuring Mary J. Blige. BMI is an American performing right organization that represents more than 350,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers in all genres of music and more than 6.5 million works. BMI’s latest financial results, $839 million in performing right collections for its 2007 fiscal year, are the highest for any copyright organization in the world. BMI has represented the most popular and beloved music from around the world for over 65 years. The non-profit-making U.S. corporation collects license fees from businesses that use music, which it then distributes as royalties to the musical creators and copyright owners it represents.