Peter Gabriel To Be Honoured As Icon

Peter Gabriel will be honored as a BMI Icon at the U.S. Performing Right Organization’s annual London Awards, set for October 16 in London’s Dorchester Hotel, Park Lane. The black-tie, invitation-only gala will recognize the U.K. and European songwriters and publishers of the past year’s most-played BMI songs on American radio and television.

BMI is a United States-based performing right organization that collects and distributes monies for public performance of music in the U.S., including on radio, TV and Internet.

The Icon designation is given to BMI songwriters who have had “a unique and indelible influence on generations of music makers.” Gabriel joins an elite list of past honorees that includes multi-genre nobility like Ray Davies, Van Morrison, the Bee Gees, Isaac Hayes, Dolly Parton, James Brown, Paul Simon, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Steve Winwood and more.

Gabriel’s achievements, whether musical, visual or humanitarian, are the work of a true visionary. The co-founder of rock band Genesis, Gabriel left the group in 1975 to begin a critically acclaimed, Grammy Award-winning solo career. Thus far, he has released 11 albums featuring self-penned gems and BMI million-performance songs including “Big Time,” “Solsbury Hill,” “Sledgehammer” and “In Your Eyes,” and composed soundtracks for numerous films, including Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ.

Amongst other bold endeavors, Gabriel founded Real World companies in 1987, housing his recording, publishing, film and multi-media ventures under one progressive roof. An early participant in Human Rights Now! and recipient of the Nobel Peace Laureates’ “Man of Peace” Award, Peter Gabriel founded world human rights advocacy supergroup TheElders.org in July 2007, with Richard Branson and Nelson Mandela.

Hosted by BMI President & CEO Del Bryant and Senior Executive, BMI Europe Brandon Bakshi, the BMI London Awards will also present the Robert S. Musel Award to the writer and publisher of the most performed song of the year. BMI will bestow “Million-Air” certificates on writers and publishers whose songs have achieved over three million U.S. radio and television performances — the equivalent of more than 17 years of continuous airplay.

Broadcast Music, Inc (BMI) is an American performing right organization that represents more than 300,000 songwriters, composers and publishers in all genres of music. For more than 65 years, BMI has represented the most popular and beloved music from around the world, a vast repertoire that includes more than 6.5 million works.

The non-profit-making corporation collects license fees from businesses that use music, which it then distributes as royalties to the musical creators and copyright owners it represents.