Sting, Elton John & Chumbawamba Honored By BMI

11/03/1998 9:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Craig Rosen

(11/3/98, 6 p.m. PST) - What could former Police man Sting, veteran singer-songwriter Elton John, and pop anarchists Chumbawamba possibly have in common? They were all honored as the writers of the most-played songs on U.S. radio and TV that are administered by performing rights societies BMI and the U.K.'s PRS.

Sting took the Robert Musel Award, named for the legendary songwriter, for Most-Performed Song Of The Year, for Puff Daddy's "I'll Be Missing You," which is a hip-hop remake of the Police hit "Every Breath You Take."

Sting also picked up a special award for 5 million plays of "Every Breath You Take," an honor that was also bestowed on Elton John for "Your Song." The big difference is that "Every Breath You Take" was released in 1983, while "Your Song" first hit in 1970. According to BMI, 5 million plays is equal to 28 1/2 years of back-to-back airplay. If you think that's impressive, the Beatles' "Yesterday," which was credited to John Lennon and Paul McCartney, has reached the 7 million mark.

Songs reaching the 4 million plays plateau include Don Black's "Born Free," Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl," and the Bee Gees' "How Deep Is Your Love."

The 3 million plays club is 10 songs strong. Members of this elite group include Lennon & McCartney, represented with "Eleanor Rigby" and "Penny Lane," and Steve Winwood and Will Jennings for "Higher Love."

Other songs honored included Chumbawamba's omnipresent "Tubthumping," which was named College Song Of The Year. Also scoring pop awards were Oasis guitarist/ songwriter Noel Gallagher for "D'You Know What I Mean," Blur for "Song 2," and Simon Tauber, who penned Gina G's "Just A Little Bit." Others scoring pop awards were Mark Morrison for "Return Of The Mack, the Bee Gees for "Alone," and the Cardigans for "Lovefool."

A Chumbawamba feature and Q&A are available now in the myLAUNCH archives. Just up on myLAUNCH is a new Cardigans feature, too, as well as a Cardigans Q&A and a 1997 Cardigans feature.