- Title: MUSIC-BRITAIN/BMI AWARDS Sir Tim Rice and Daft Punk get lucky at BMI Awards
- Date: 14th October 2014
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (OCTOBER 13, 2014) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) LYRICIST, SIR TIM RICE, SAYING: "I'm just very grateful that The Lion King has done very well because it began twenty odd years ago with just - I was in a room with two other guys. A bloke from Disney and one drawing and a vague plot and it was called King Of The Jungle, and I never dreamt i
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- Reuters ID: LVAEV387FHNZPOI4ASNZD2HIL7J4
- Story Text: Legendary lyricist Sir Tim Rice was honoured by the American organisation Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI) with the special Icon Award at a ceremony in London's Dorchester Hotel on Monday (October 13).
The songwriter, known for writing the lyrics to musicals such as 'Jesus Christ Superstar', 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat', and 'The Lion King', received the award which recognises songwriters who have had a 'unique and indelible influence on generations of music makers.'
"Well it's just very nice, I'm very grateful to BMI and all these people for thinking of me. I mean I'm only one in a long line of icons, but it's still quite a privilege, a great privilege, but one shouldn't think you're the only one, the only kid on the block," Rice said.
Last month, The Lion King stage musical was cited as generating the highest total box office of any production in any entertainment medium with worldwide takings of more than 6.2 billion dollars (according to a spokesman for Walt Disney Co.)
"I'm just very grateful that The Lion King has done very well because it began twenty odd years ago with just - I was in a room with two other guys. A bloke from Disney and one drawing and a vague plot and it was called King Of The Jungle, and I never dreamt it would become as big as it did. I never thought it would even happen as a movie but it all moved slowly upwards," Rice said to Reuters.
American music producer Nile Rodgers was presented the Song of the Year ward for 'Get Lucky' co-written with Daft Punk and Pharrell Williams. It was a night of celebration for Rodgers who also found out that day that he was free of cancer.
Sticking to the theme of musicals, he also revealed that he too is working on a musical:
"Yes, I'm actually writing one right now. It's actually not Chic necessarily. It's my, an adaptation of my autobiography. So I started writing it about, I wrote my book about 4 years ago, and I've been working on the play for the last 6 months seriously. I've got to finish my Chic album, then I'm going to dig deeper into the stage play. I'm really excited about it, I don't wan't to talk about it, I don't want to jinx it but it's really feeling great."
Per Gessle, of Roxette, chose 'Get Lucky' as his Song of the Year, and revealed that Roxette would be embarking on a two year tour.
BMI is an American performing rights organisation that represents more than 475,000 songwriters, composer and music publishers in all genres of music.
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