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Awards Business News
Berry Gordy to receive Pioneer Award from Songwriters Hall Of Fame
By Andy Malt | Published on Wednesday 13 March 2013
Berry Gordy, best known, obviously, for being the father and grandfather respectively of LMFAO’s Redfoo and SkyBlu, is to be given a Pioneer Award by the Songwriters Hall Of Fame.
The award will not, however, be given in recognition for bestowing the power to write ‘Party Rock Anthem’ upon his descendants, but rather for all that work being founder of Motown Records, writing or co-writing 240 songs in the company’s catalogue, and being an all round record industry legend.
Says SHOF chairman Jimmy Webb: “Berry Gordy is an innovator and a visionary. Yes, he created a label but more than that, he created a genre. Think about it, he pioneered a marketplace for African-American artistry and then he invited the world in to enjoy it. Berry was way ahead of his time; his young and immaculately groomed and dressed artists were among the first to receive media training. Berry Gordy and the Motown sound are essential to the American music story”.
Gordy, along with the other to-be-announced winners, will receive his prize at a ceremony at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York on 13 Jun.
