It may not have the glitz and glamour of a televised performance-oriented awards show, but the annual SOCAN Awards honour something more important than pop-tart prancing: songwriting. Last night, the Society Of Composers, Authors And Music Publishers Of Canada handed out awards to the top songwriters in the country.
Held at Toronto’s Carlu, the gala award dinner was hosted by Lawrence Gowan. Over the course of the evening, the body that pays songwriters their royalties (and keeps food on many of their tables) gave props to the most played songs of the year, as well as some golden oldies that have recently hit major milestones.
The Pop Music Awards were given to the songs with the greatest number of performances on domestic radio during 2003. The winners included a newbie. Kreviazuk was the only of the three on hand to accept her award and was joined by her husband/co-writer Raine Maida who has, incidentally, Can-Rocked himself up a bit by growing a beard.
Other winners for 2003 songs in the Country, Rock, Urban and Folk/Roots include Aaron Lines, Brad Johner, Dierks Bentley, Chad Kroeger (for his Santana duet), Shawn Desman and Great Big Sea.
As for the oldies, a number of artists were on hand to collect their SOCAN Classics Awards, which were given to songs that have met the 100,000 airplay mark on domestic radio. This year’s winners included Alannah Myles ‘ “Black Velvet” (written by David Tyson and Christopher Ward) and “Lover Of Mine” (written by Kit Johnson, Myles, Tyson and Ward), Amanda Marshall ‘s “Birmingham” (written by Dean McTaggart, Gerald O’Brien and David Tyson), Bryan Adams ‘ “Run To You” and “Somebody” (both written by Adams and Jim Vallance), Glass Tiger ‘s “My Song” (written by Alan Frew, Sam Reid and Jim Vallance) and Heart ‘s “What About Love?” (written by Brian Allen, Sheron Alton and Jim Vallance).
For a full list of winners, visit the SOCAN website.
