Winners of Ascap awards revealed
Songwriter Lewis Capaldi secures four gongs
LEWIS Capaldi was the big winner at the Ascap London Music Awards where he secured a total of four gongs.
For a second year, the event was held across the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers’ social media accounts due to ongoing Covid-19 restrictions.
Scottish singersongwriter Capaldi, 25, found international success with the release of Someone You Loved in 2018 and his platinum-selling 2019 debut album Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent.
He was named songwriter of the year during the online announcements and secured song of the year for piano ballad Someone You Loved.
The track was also named top streaming song, while Before You Go was a winning hot 100 song.
Elsewhere, RITMO by Black Eyed Peas and Colombian singer J Balvin, co-written by Pete Glenister, received two awards for top hot dance/electronic song and winning hot 100 song.
Singer Becky Hill, MNEK, Jasmine Thompson, producer Steve Mac and Dan Smith of Bastille were also among those who won awards.
Ascap also recognises composers from the worlds of film and TV with 11 prizes.
Top box office film of the year went to Daniel Pemberton’s work on DC Comics’ Birds Of Prey, while other top box office film gongs went to Christopher Benstead for Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen, Isobel WallerBridge and David Schweitzer for Emma and Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber for the film version of Cats, which was widely panned by critics.
In a video greeting to this year’s winners, Ascap chairman of the board and president Paul Williams, himself an established songwriter, said: “We’ve learned that however wide the space is between us, we are connected at a soul level. Your music reminds us of that.
“When your music connects with millions of people, that’s power. That can change the world . . . Congratulations to all of this year’s winners for your achievements.”
“Ascap is an organisation of songwriters, composers and music publishers from across all genres and works to license and promote the music of its members and foreign affiliates.”