A Legendary Recognition
Legendary songwriter, guitarist, and producer Graham Lyle was awarded the BMI Icon Award at the BMI London Awards 2024 held at The Savoy on Monday (December 9).
This award recognizes Lyle’s contributions to music over several decades. His career includes writing numerous hits, most notably Tina Turner's What Does Love Have to Do with It?, co-written with Terry Britten, which achieved eight million US radio appearances.
Lyle’s songwriting portfolio also includes a range of artists, including Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Etta James, Rod Stewart, and Patti LaBelle.
A Memorable Ceremony
During the ceremony, Rich Soul Ensemble performed a medley of Lyle’s most popular songs, including Just Good Friends, We Don’t Need Another Hero and What Does Love Have to Do with It?
Upon receiving the award, Lyle expressed his gratitude to industry supporters, including his longtime collaborator, Terry Britten, fellow musicians Paul McCartney, and his ex McGuinness Flint bandmates Hughie Flint and Tom McGuinness.
Lyle also performed acoustic versions of Heart on My Sleeve for Ringo Starr and Something Beautiful Remains for Tina Turner.
Lyle joins the previous group of BMI Icon recipients, including music legends such as Sting, Carole King, Dolly Parton, The Bee Gees, Willie Nelson, David Foster, Peter Gabriel, The Jacksons, Kris Kristofferson, Barry Manilow, and Carlos Santana.
Additional Awards and Accomplishments
President and CEO of BMI Mike O’Neill held a private event where other musical achievements were also celebrated. Kripin wrote Enya, Nick Ryan, Roma Ryan, Carlos “Lo” Jones, and Mario Winans was named London Song of the Year. The track performed by Metro Boomin, The Weeknd, and 21 Savage peaked at number one on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and number three on the Hot 100.
BMI has recognized a number of songwriters with Million-Air Awards for more than one million U.S. radio appearances. Notable recipients included Sting's Every Breath You Take (19 million views), Queen's Another One Bites the Dust (10 million views), and Whitesnake's Here I Go Again (9 million views).
Awards were also presented to leading creators in pop, film, television, and streaming music. Pop awards went to tracks like Dodge (written by LiTek and whyJay and performed by Central Si), Like Crazy (written by Blush Davis and Chris James and performed by Jimin from BTS), and Water (written by Ari PenSmith, Belivv, Jack LoMastro, Olmo, Rayo, and Sammy SoSo and performed by Tayla).
Composer Atli Orvarsson won six Network Television Awards for his work on Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, Chicago PD, FBI, FBI: International and FBI: Most Wanted. Tom Howe won three awards for his work in streaming in the film and series categories, including People We Hate at Weddings and Ted Lasso.
BMI is an American music rights organization that represents the performance rights of more than 22.4 million musical works created by a community of over 1.4 million songwriters, composers, and music publishers. BMI launched its “open door policy” in 1939, welcoming creators of all musical genres.
