Broadcast Music, Inc.®, (BMI®), a global leader in music rights management, will celebrate the extraordinary songwriting career of Mac Davis by naming him a BMI Icon at the company’s 63rd annual BMI Country Awards. The invitation-only event, which will be held on Tuesday, November 3 at BMI’s Music Row offices in Nashville, will honor Davis and the songwriters and publishers of the most-performed country songs of the previous year.
The BMI Icon award is given to songwriters who have had a unique and indelible influence on generations of music makers. An all-star musical tribute will pay homage to Davis, who joins a list of past honorees that includes Vince Gill, Dean Dillon, Tom T. Hall, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Hank Williams, Jr., Merle Haggard, Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn and others.
“We’re honored to celebrate the incredible career of Mac Davis,” said Jody Williams, BMI Vice President, Writer/Publisher Relations, Nashville. “Artists ranging from Elvis to Avicii have recorded his songs. As an artist himself, Mac’s hits were embraced and loved internationally by both pop and country audiences. He hosted his own network TV variety show, appeared in many feature films, and even starred on Broadway, but Mac’s unique songwriting ability is what really sets him apart. In every way, Mac Davis is a BMI Icon.”
Davis has established himself as an all-around entertainer: songwriter, singer, actor, T.V. and radio personality, performer and legend. He has enjoyed success in almost every facet of show business, from the late sixties to the present, beginning with his time in a college band, playing parties and local clubs around Atlanta. As a songwriter, he wrote several hits for Elvis Presley, including “In the Ghetto,” “Memories,” “Don’t Cry Daddy” and “A Little Less Conversation,” the global hit re-released in 2002. “Baby Don’t Get Hooked On Me,” “Stop and Smell the Roses,” “One Hell of a Woman” and “Hooked on Music” are among the hits Davis wrote and recorded himself. A three-time GRAMMY nominee, he has also written hits for Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton and Rascal Flatts. Mac has headlined some of the biggest showrooms around the country, from Las Vegas to Atlantic City to Carnegie Hall in New York,performed on Broadway as Will Rogers in “The Will Rogers Follies” and hosted a live radio show out of Los Angeles, titled “Labor of Love,” highlighting class country music and the men and women behind the songs. He has aStar on Hollywood Boulevard’s “Walk of Fame” and was inducted into both the Nashville Songwriter’s Hall of Fame and the National Songwriter’s Hall of Fame. Most recently, Davis has been dividing his time between songwriting and recording an album of new material.
Also during the BMI Country Awards, BMI will crown the Country Songwriter, Song and Publisher of the Year and salute the writers and publishers of the past year’s 50 most-performed songs from BMI’s country catalog. BMI President & CEO Mike O’Neill will host the ceremony with Jody Williams, BMI Vice President, Writer/Publisher Relations, Nashville.
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About BMI:
Celebrating 75 years of service to songwriters, composers, music publishers and businesses, Broadcast Music, Inc.® (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 more than 10.5 million musical works created and owned by more than 700,000 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 http://www.bmi.com, follow us on Twitter @BMI or stay connected through Broadcast Music, Inc.’s Facebook page.
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