Songwriter of the Year

Jermaine "JD" Dupri

"I love ASCAP, being a producer and being a songwriter. This award means more to me than any award I've won. And like I told you last year, I'm going to keep winning this award every year!" – Jermaine Dupri

Jermaine "JD" Dupri's writing and producing gifts keep on giving the world great music and chart-topping hits for the artists with whom he collaborates. ASCAP is proud to honor Jermaine with the ASCAP Rhythm and Soul Songwriter of the Year Award for penning the most winning songs: "Don't Forget About Us," "Grillz" and "Pullin' Me Back." It is the third year in a row, and the sixth time overall, that Jermaine has received this honor and it comes on the heels of him also being named as ASCAP's Pop Songwriter of the Year.

The Atlanta-based phenomenon has had a hand in helping create some of the best-selling albums of the 21st Century, including Usher's blockbuster Confessions (2004), which sold more than 9 million copies and won the Grammy for Best Contemporary R&B album, and Mariah Carey's The Emancipation of Mimi (2005), which sold more than 5 million copies and earned nominations for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Album of the Year and Best R&B Song at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards last year. The album took home three Grammys and Dupri walked away with Best R&B Song, winning the first Grammy of his professional career.

For much of the past few years, Jermaine has owned the top of the charts. He is one of the few producers in music history to garner four positions in the Top 10 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart simultaneously; at the same time, Dupri held the top three spots on the R&B/Hip-Hop charts with "We Belong Together" and "Shake It Off" by Mariah Carey and "Like You" (Bow Wow & Ciara) and "Let Me Hold You" (Bow Wow featuring Omarion), songs he produced and co-penned. With "We Belong Together" and "Shake It Off," he and Carey became the first artists since The Beatles to hold the top two spots at the same time, while "We Belong Together" gave Dupri his 19th No. 1 R&B hit.

Jermaine's success as a writer and producer is incredible by any standard, but his business accomplishments put him in a league of his own. In 1992, when he was just 19, Jermaine founded So So Def. He struck multi-platinum with Kriss Kross and soon established himself as a premier R&B, rap and pop hitmaker. Artists and labels alike knew they could call on him when they needed a hit record or album and Jermaine set his sights on establishing So So Def as a universally recognized brand. Under Jermaine's direction, So So Def has launched the careers of Da Brat, Bow Wow, Jagged Edge, Anthony Hamilton, Xscape, J-Kwon and many more. His entrepreneurial endeavors also include a restaurant, Café Dupri, and a club opening soon in the suburbs of Atlanta.

This tremendous track record set the stage for Jermaine's most substantial business accomplishment. In February of this year, Jermaine was appointed president of Island Records Urban Music, a new division of the Island Def Jam Music Group. As part of the arrangement, Dupri will oversee Island's entire urban music operation. In addition, he will produce artists on the IDJ roster, as well as provide his production services to the entire Universal Music Group family of labels.

Jermaine is currently busy developing the artists he has signed to Island, including Jagged Edge, a new rap act from Mississippi named Hot Dolla and fellow Rhythm & Soul Songwriter of the Year Johntá Austin. He's also in the studio working on new albums from Bow Wow, Omarion, Mariah Carey and Usher. He just signed a new commercial deal with Dunkin Donuts, and will release his autobiography, Young, Rich & Dangerous, on October 16.

In 2005, with tens of millions of albums sold to his credit and scores of awards under his belt, Jermaine was the recipient of the prestigious ASCAP Golden Note Award, given to composers and songwriters who have achieved extraordinary milestones. This year's Songwriter of the Year Award is yet another one of those milestones, and ASCAP congratulates Jermaine Dupri as he continues to build a legendary career and make lasting contributions to Rhythm and Soul music.


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