Legendary songwriter, guitarist, and producer Graham Lyle was presented with the BMI Icon Award at the 2024 BMI London Awards held at The Savoy on Monday (December 9).
The award recognizes Lyle’s contributions to music across multiple decades. His career includes writing numerous hit songs, most notably Tina Turner’s What’s Love Got to Do With It, co-written with Terry Britten, which has achieved eight million broadcast performances on US radio.
Lyle’s songwriting portfolio also spans a range of artists, including Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Etta James, Rod Stewart, and Patti LaBelle.
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’s Love Got to Do With It.
Upon receiving the award, Lyle expressed gratitude to industry supporters, including his longtime collaborator Terry Britten, fellow musicians like Paul McCartney, and his former McGuinness Flint bandmates Hughie Flint and Tom McGuinness.
Lyle also performed acoustic renditions of Heart on My Sleeve by Ringo Starr and Something Beautiful Remains by Tina Turner.
Lyle joins a group of previous BMI Icon recipients, including music legends like Sting, Carole King, Dolly Parton, The Bee Gees, Willie Nelson, David Foster, Peter Gabriel, The Jacksons, Kris Kristofferson, Barry Manilow, and Carlos Santana.
BMI President & CEO Mike O’Neill hosted the private event, which also celebrated other musical achievements. Creepin, written by 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, reached No. 1 on Billboard‘s R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart and peaked at No. 3 on the Hot 100.
BMI recognized a number of songwriters with Million-Air Awards for surpassing one million broadcast performances on US radio. Notable recipients included Sting’s Every Breath You Take (19 million performances), Queen‘s Another One Bites The Dust (10 million performances), and Whitesnake‘s Bernie Marsden for Here I Go Again (9 million).
The awards also honored top pop, film, television, and streaming music creators. Pop awards went to tracks like Doja (written by LiTek and whYJay, and performed by Central Cee), Like Crazy (written by Blush Davis and Chris James, and performed by Jimin of BTS), and Water (written by Ari PenSmith, Believve, Jack LoMastro, Olmo, rayo and Sammy SoSo, and performed by Tyla).
Composer Atli Örvarsson received six Network Television Awards for his work on Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, Chicago P.D., FBI, FBI: International and FBI: Most Wanted, while Tom Howe received three awards for his work in streaming in both film and TV series categories for The People We Hate at the Wedding and Apple’s Shrinking and Ted Lasso, respectively.
BMI, a US-based music rights organization, represents the performance rights of over 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 across all musical genres.
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