NMPA Songwriter Icons
2022
Lin-Manuel Miranda
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"You sit at the piano or you take a walk in the park and you sing to yourself. When it feels true you write it down little by little. Draft by draft. You feel your way toward the song.”
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2021
Taylor Swift
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"I'm really really honored to be receiving this award because it honors the part of my job that is so magical and mystifying. I love songwriting so much because there's an element to it that's still really mysterious. I think any songwriter will tell you when you get an idea, you're not quite sure where it floated down from, but if you can grab onto that idea and turn it into something, a piece of music, that's where craftsmanship comes in".
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2020
Garth Brooks
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“The greatest thing that anybody can call you, is a songwriter. We’re the seed, we’re the fragile, but we need to be the most protected or there is no plant.”
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2019
Ryan Tedder
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“I’m not the most political songwriter or musician out there, but I know unfairness when I see it. One of my proudest accomplishments in the last year more than any song I’ve written or any award I received – was doing my small part to help push the passage of the Music Modernization Act through Congress.”
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2018
Alicia Keys
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“It’s especially meaningful to receive this award right now as a woman in the music industry...It’s a powerful year, it’s an empowering year, and it’s the beginning of so many things. And many of us in the music world are working more diligently than ever to showcase and support the work of female songwriters, musicians, engineers, and producers."
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2017
Pharrell Williams
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"We've always been blessed with incredible songwriters that have helped guide and inform culture. They've shifted our ideas and inspired us to love, achieve, and change things for the better. I think it is on us - the songwriters in this room to continue to unlock inspiration for younger generations. And its on you - the business side - to make sure there is a career in it. I know we can and I know you can."
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2016
Sting
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"I'm enormously grateful on so many levels. I'm grateful to be considered a member of this noble craft - the craft of songwriting. To be esteemed by my peers in this fashion is very gratifying."
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2015
Billy Joel
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"...it's gratifying to know that my music is having the resonance it's having and it's nice to know that there are people like you guys who appreciate songwriters and songwriting because it's really the toughest part of the job..."
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2014
Lady A
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"It doesn't get any bigger or any better than Lady A when it comes to songwriting, singing, and caring about the future of creators. Hillary, Charles, and Dave are all songwriters in their own right, and what's more, they have not forgotten where they came from and what it took to get where they are."
- David Israelite, President & CEO
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- David Israelite, President & CEO
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2014
Jon Bon Jovi
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"Songwriting is the closet thing to immortality that we'll ever know. Long after the records are recorded; whether or not they're ever mixed, mastered, marketed, sold or even performed - those verses & choruses, those melodies & chord progressions will from the day they hit the notebook live on forever."
2014
Steven Tyler
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"Steven Tyler is a legendary performer, a prolific songwriter, and passionate advocate. He knows the challenges facing songwriters today..."
- David Israelite, President & CEO
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- David Israelite, President & CEO
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2013
Toby Keith
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"Toby Keith’s talent as a singer/songwriter is remarkable, but his dedication to fans, his work with the USO, and his commitment to music and songwriting as a craft has greatly influenced the industry."
- David Israelite, President & CEO
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- David Israelite, President & CEO
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2012
Steve Cropper
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Cropper made his musical debut on American Bandstand in 1961, and, together with Booker T & the MGs, wrote the number one hit, “Green Onions.” In the years to follow he co-wrote some of music’s biggest classics such as “Knock On Wood,” “Midnight Hour,” and in 1967 the legendary “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” with friend Otis Redding. This established Cropper as a songwriting legend.
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2011
Richard Marx
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In addition to selling more than 30 million records and releasing four consecutive multi-platinum albums as a solo artist, singer/songwriter Richard Marx has achieved an honor in the songwriting world that not many have accomplished; he has had a song reach number one in each of the past four decades and to date has written fourteen #1 songs.
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2010
Diane Warren
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Warren’s songs have been featured in more than 100 motion pictures resulting in 6 Academy Award nominations. Some of her big movie hits include “How Do I Live” performed by Trisha Yearwood for Con Air and also a chart-topper sung by LeAnn Rimes, and “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” performed by Aerosmith for Armageddon. Other beloved hits include "If I Could Turn Back Time" performed by Cher and "Un-Break My Heart" performed by Toni Braxton.
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2009
Kara DioGuardi
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Kara DioGuardi is a Grammy nominated songwriter, former American Idol judge, producer and music publisher. As one of the most successful contemporary songwriters in the world. Her credits include successes and collaborations with artists such as P!nk, Katy Perry, Celine Dion, Kelly Clarkson, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, Carrie Underwood, Enrique Iglesias, Darius Rucker, Faith Hill, Santana and many more.
2008
Amy Lee
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"The NMPA is in many ways a bridge between policymakers and the music publishers and songwriters we serve, so it's a privilege to recognize an outstanding representative...This year we are honored that the multi-talented Amy Lee will join us in New York City..."
- David Israelite, President & CEO
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- David Israelite, President & CEO
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2007
Neil Sedaka
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For over four decades, Sedaka has created timeless standards and numerous hit singles. A prolific writer, Sedaka has authored more than 1,000 songs, including such memorable tunes as “Stairway to Heaven,” “Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen” and “Calendar Girl,” Sedaka’s “Breaking Up is Hard to Do” was listed by BMI as one of the 50 most performed songs of the 20th century.
2006
Jimmy Webb
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Ranked on Rolling Stone‘s 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time, his catalog consists of contemporary classics such as “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” “MacArthur Park,” “Wichita Lineman,” “Up, Up and Away,” “Still Within the Sound of My Voice,” “Galveston,” “Highwayman,” “The Worst That Could Happen,” “Didn’t We” and more.
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