SZA TO BE HONORED WITH THE BMI CHAMPION
AWARD
Evening Also Celebrates the Top
R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, Songwriters, Producers and Publishers
on Thursday, September
5th in Los Angeles, CA
NEW
YORK, July 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ --
BMI announced today that GRAMMY Award-winning singer,
songwriter and producer Babyface will receive the BMI
Icon Award at the 2024 BMI R&B/Hip-Hop
Awards, on Thursday,
September 5th. This honor recognizes his impressive
career, marked by a formidable catalog of hit songs that have
transcended generations and connected with audiences around the
globe. In addition, GRAMMY Award-winning singer/songwriter
SZA will be presented with the BMI Champion
Award in honor of her dedication and efforts in fostering the
next generation of music creators. Hosted by BMI
President & CEO Mike
O'Neill and Vice President, Creative,
Atlanta, Catherine Brewton, the private event will
return to Los Angeles, CA for the
first time in nearly ten years to be held at Fairmont Century
Plaza.
"We're excited to honor the legendary Babyface with the BMI Icon
Award in celebration of his incredible talent and gift of
prolific songwriting which has influenced decades of hits
amongst all genres," said Brewton. "We'll also recognize the
exceptional industry-shifting career of SZA, who challenges
conventions and has a unique vibe that continues to transform and
inspire a new feel of R&B that we have grown to love. It will
be a phenomenal night of music celebrating BMI's award-winning
songwriters, producers, and music publishers that we're so
fortunate to represent."
Throughout the evening, BMI will also salute the songwriters,
producers and music publishers of the past year's 35
most-performed R&B/Hip-Hop songs from BMI's repertoire of
more than 22.4 million musical works. The
BMI R&B/Hip-Hop Songwriter, Top Producers, Producer and
Publisher of the Year will also be named during the
ceremony.
As one of the most sought-after songwriters and producers of our
time, Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds has contributed to
over 800 million records sold and over 800 billion streams and has
worked with the biggest names in music like Aretha Franklin, Janet
Jackson, Kenny G, Lil Wayne,
Beyonce, Ariana Grande, Michael Jackson, Justin
Bieber, and Barbra Streisand to name a few. As the
co-founder of the legendary LaFace Records, he's helped launch the
careers of Toni Braxton, P!nk, TLC,
Outkast, Usher and more. He has also released three consecutive
multi-platinum albums as a solo artist, including Tender
Lover, For the Cool in You, and The Day, and in
2023, his most recent single, "As a matter of fact" reached #1 on
the Billboard Adult R&B Airplay chart, marking his first
chart-topping single in 26 years.
Throughout his illustrious career spanning nearly five
decades, Babyface has received many accolades including
multiple American Music, Soul Train, and NAACP Image awards, and
secured his 13th GRAMMY win in 2024 for Best R&B Song for
"Snooze" by SZA. He received 63 BMI Awards and Song of the Year
three times, BMI Pop Songwriter of the Year seven times and,
together with his LaFace Records co-founder L.A. Reid, was named a
BMI Icon in 2006. In addition, Babyface has a star on the Hollywood
Walk of Fame and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and
The Apollo Walk of Fame, where he received the inaugural Legacy
Award.
As the 2024 BMI Icon honoree, Babyface joins an elite group of
music creators who have received BMI's highest honor including
James Brown, Al Green, Isaac
Hayes, Janet Jackson, Patti
LaBelle, LA Reid, Nile Rodgers, Snoop Dogg, The Jacksons,
Busta Rhymes, Lil Wayne and more.
SZA is a GRAMMY Award-winning singer/songwriter who
continues to set a new standard on creativity and songwriting by
defying genres and shattering records with over 10 billion streams
worldwide. In 2017, she released her major label debut album,
Ctrl, to critical acclaim, launching SZA into stardom by
landing at No. 1 on Billboard's R&B Albums chart, No. 2 on the
R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart, and No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart,
where it remained for 371 weeks, the longest run for any Black
female artist's debut album. The RIAA-certified 3x Platinum album
received five GRAMMY nominations, including Best New Artist. In
2022, she released her long-awaited sophomore effort SOS,
which debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart and spent ten
non-consecutive weeks on top. With the release of SOS, SZA
peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart as the most
popular artist across all musical genres, and No. 1 on the Hot 100
Songwriters chart. She also secured the most RIAA certifications of
2023 with 15 titles, including Top Album with 3x Platinum going to
SOS and Top Single with 5x Platinum "Kill Bill." SZA closed
out 2023 as the most GRAMMY nominated artist of the year,
subsequently winning Best Progressive R&B Album, Best
Pop/Duo/Group Performance for "Ghost in the Machine," and Best
R&B Song for "Snooze."
Over her impressive career, SZA has received four GRAMMY Awards,
a Golden Globe nomination, and an Academy Award nomination. She has
earned 10 BMI Awards, one American Music Award, six Billboard Music
Awards, three MTV Video Music Awards, six BET Awards, including
Best New Artist in 2018 and Album of the Year in 2023 and received
Billboard's Women in Music Rule Breaker Award in 2019. In
2023, SZA was crowned the Woman of the Year at the Billboard's
Women in Music Awards, named Variety's Hitmaker of the Year, WSJ.
Magazine's Music Innovator of the Year and received R&B Artist
of the Year and R&B Song of the Year for "I Hate U" at the
iHeartRadio Music Awards. In 2024, she received the Hal David
Starlight Award at the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
In receiving this honor, SZA joins previous BMI Champion Award
recipients including Inflo, Khalid, Mark
Ronson, Residente, Sebastian
Krys, Keith Urban and
Lee Thomas Miller, who were honored
for their commitment and efforts supporting the next generation of
songwriters and music makers.
For more information on the BMI R&B/Hip-Hop Awards, visit
https://www.bmi.com/genres/rb_hiphop and use hashtag
#BMIRnBHHAwards on social.
ABOUT BMI:
Celebrating over 80 years of service to songwriters, composers,
music publishers and businesses, BMI® is a global leader in music
rights management, serving as an advocate for the value of music.
BMI represents the public performance rights in over 22.4 million
musical works created and owned by more than 1.4 million
songwriters, composers, and music publishers. The Company
negotiates music license agreements and distributes the fees it
generates as royalties to its affiliated writers and publishers
when their songs are performed in public. In 1939, BMI created a
groundbreaking open-door policy becoming the only performing rights
organization to welcome and represent the creators of blues, jazz,
country, and American roots music. Today, the musical compositions
in BMI's repertoire, from chart toppers to perennial favorites,
span all genres of music and are consistently among the
most-performed hits of the year. For additional information and the
latest BMI news, visit bmi.com, follow us on Twitter
and Instagram @BMI or stay connected through BMI's
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SOURCE Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI)