New York, NY, December 13, 2007: The ASCAP Foundation honored superstar singer-songwriter-recording artist John Mellencamp with its Champion Award during the twelfth annual Awards Reception, held Wednesday, December 12, 2007 at The Allen Room, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. The prestigious award was presented to Mr. Mellencamp in recognition of his outstanding use of music in the service of humanity. The invitation-only event also honored a wide variety of Scholarship and Award recipients, all of whom benefit from The ASCAP Foundation's programs.
John Mellencamp has a long and distinguished record as a social activist and humanitarian. Together with Willie Nelson and Neil Young, he organized the first Farm Aid concert in 1985 to raise awareness about the loss of family farms and to raise funds to keep farm families on their land. Farm Aid stages America's longest running annual concert event that unites farmers, artists, consumers, and concerned citizens to build a powerful movement for good food from family farms. Farm Aid has raised more than $30 million to promote a strong and resilient family farm system of agriculture.
In addition, Mellencamp has long worked for peace and social justice through his songs and personal appearances, including his participation in the 2004 multi-artist "Vote for Change" Tour. Social awareness has been a hallmark of Mellencamp song lyrics since the 1985 album,
Scarecrow, which featured the hits "Small Town" and "Rain on the Scarecrow." More recently, Mellencamp's 2007 release,
Freedom's Road, included the songs, "Jim Crow," "Ghost Towns Along the Highway" and "Our Country." This past April, Mellencamp poignantly demonstrated his support for the men and women in uniform (in spite of his opposition to the war) by performing a concert for 200 wounded veterans and their families at Washington's Walter Reed Hospital. In October 2007, Mellencamp released the topical song, "Jena," in response to the racially charged situation in that Louisiana town. Mellencamp was recognized with the Woody Guthrie Award in 2003 by the Huntington's Disease Society of America. Most recently, Mellencamp was nominated for a 2008 Grammy for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance for "Our Country."
Commenting on the award, ASCAP Foundation President Marilyn Bergman said: "John Mellencamp has always been known as a "people's artist," a performer who touches a common chord across class, age and regional lines. In helping to establish Farm Aid, he was instrumental in bringing awareness of the plight of small farmers to wide attention. His fearless advocacy on issues ranging from peace to racial prejudice is to be applauded. For these reasons and more, we are proud to present John with the ASCAP Foundation Champion Award for music in the service of humanity."
Ms. Bergman and Nora Guthrie, daughter of the late singer-songwriter and social activist, Woody Guthrie, presented the award to Mellencamp. Singer-songwriter, Phoebe Snow, paid tribute with a stellar performance of his song "Lonely Ol' Night."
Following the presentation, Mellencamp performed a new song from his forthcoming album, as well as "Minutes To Memories" and "Small Town" from 1985's
Scarecrow.
Another of the evening's major awards is the Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award, which recognizes emerging musical theatre talent. This year the award was presented to Lin-Manuel Miranda, composer/lyricist of Off Broadway's
In The Heights – a new musical about three days in the life of Washington Heights, a vibrant and tight knit community at the top of the island of Manhattan. The show is set to open at the Richard Rodgers Theatre on Broadway in 2008. Olga Merediz and the show's cast members were on hand to honor Lin-Manuel with a performance from the musical.
Other performance highlights featured some of the evening's Scholarship and Award honorees including Grace Kelly, Mi Kyung Kim and Tamara Kim, MacKenzie Melemed, Hadar Noiberg, and Paul Sikes.
Below is a complete list of the 2007 ASCAP Foundation Scholarship and Award honorees:
The ASCAP Foundation Harold Adamson Lyric Award
Ryan Scott Oliver
The ASCAP Foundation Robert Allen Award
Joshua Meltzer
The ASCAP Foundation Harold Arlen Film & TV Award
George Whitty
The ASCAP Foundation Harold Arlen Musical Theater Award
Sean Hartley
The ASCAP Foundation Louis Armstrong Scholarship
Brian Hogans
The ASCAP Foundation Louis Armstrong Jazz Scholarship Honoring Duke Ellington
Peter Hargreaves, Eli Sundelson
The ASCAP Foundation Louis Armstrong Scholarship Honoring W.C. Handy
Jahmal Brown, Jody Ann Green
The ASCAP Foundation Louis Armstrong Scholarship at the University of New Orleans
Aaron Lind
The ASCAP Foundation Charlotte V. Bergen Scholarship
Kit Armstrong
The ASCAP Foundation Irving Berlin Summer Camp Scholarship
Mackenzie Melemed
The ASCAP Foundation Leonard Bernstein Composer Fellowship
Kati Agócs
The ASCAP Foundation Boosey & Hawkes
Young Composer Award Honoring Aaron Copland
Aaron Muesing
The ASCAP Foundation Leon Brettler Award
Paul Sikes
The ASCAP Foundation Irving Burgie Scholarship
Grace Taylor
The ASCAP Foundation Irving Caesar Scholarship Program
Third Street Music School Settlement
The ASCAP Foundation Sammy Cahn Award
Kendall Payne
The ASCAP Foundation Cherry Lane Foundation/Music Alive!
Scholarship in honor of Quincy Jones
Phillip Ferrell II
The ASCAP Foundation Fran Morgenstern Davis Scholarship
Brady Hearn, Jacob Lewis Smith
The ASCAP Foundation John Denver Music Scholarships
supported by Music Alive! and the Cherry Lane Foundation
Juriel Gomez, Frank Manda, Rob Steinhauser
The ASCAP Foundation Jamie deRoy & Friends Award
Barry Kleinbort
The ASCAP Foundation Louis Dreyfus Warner/Chappell City College Scholarship
Honoring George & Ira Gershwin
Hadar Noiberg
The ASCAP Foundation Max Dreyfus Scholarship
Zachary Redler
The ASCAP Foundation Fellowship for Composition & Film Scoring
Joshua Feltman
The ASCAP Foundation Ira Gershwin Scholarship
Mi Kyung Kim, Tamara Kim
The ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Leo Kaplan Award
Eli Marshall
The ASCAP Foundation Steve Kaplan TV & Film Studies Scholarship
Matthew Margeson
The ASCAP Foundation Leiber & Stoller Music Scholarship
Jeremiah Campbell, Charlie Tichenor
The ASCAP Foundation Life in Music Award
Jesse Winchester
The ASCAP Foundation Livingston & Evans Music Scholarship
Erika Binsley
The ASCAP Foundation Frederick Loewe Scholarship
Brandon Anderson
The ASCAP Foundation Henry Mancini Music Scholar
Erin Poovey
The ASCAP Foundation Michael Masser Scholarship
Nico Bergman, Ali King, Simon Wiskowski
The ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Awards
Kit Armstrong, Anderson F. Alden, Mason Bates, Tim Collobre, William David Cooper, Anthony Cheung, Jacob Cooper, Christopher Dietz, Anthony Duarte, Michael Early, Reena Esmail, Sean Friar, Ryan Gallagher, Max Grafe, Breille Haigh, Cory Hibbs, Takuma Itoh, Sunbin Kim, Jeremiah Klarman, Angel Lam, Xinyan Li, Eric Lindsay, Eli Marshall, Missy Mazzoli, Clint Needham, Elizabeth Ogonek, Edward Poll, Armand Ranjbaran, Thomas Reeves, Adam Schoenberg, Conrad Tao, Zhou Tian, Zachary Wadsworth, Derrick Wang, Jie Wang, Xi Wang
The ASCAP Foundation Rudolf Nissim Prize
Raymond J. Lustig
The ASCAP Foundation Rudy Perez Songwriting Scholarship
Lorely Rodriguez
The ASCAP Foundation Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award
Lin-Manuel Miranda
The ASCAP Foundation David Rose Scholarship
Scott Routenberg
The ASCAP Foundation Vanguard Award
Wycliffe Gordon
The ASCAP Foundation Young Jazz Composer Awards Sponsored by the Gibson Foundation
Fabian Almazan, Patrick Cornelius, George Dulin, Lee Forest Dynes, Morgan Jones, Grace Kelly, Ross LaFleur, Pascal Le Boeuf, Remy Le Boeuf, Jimmy Macbride, Chase Morrin, Bob Reynolds, Joshua Richman, Robert Rodriguez, Sherisse Rogers, Matt Savage, Jon Snell, Mark Steinert, Nikos Syropoulos, Ted Taforo, Manuel Valera, Joshua Vande Hey, Ezra Weiss
Founded in 1975, The ASCAP Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to supporting American music creators and encouraging their development through music education and talent development programs. Included in these are songwriting workshops, grants, scholarships, awards, recognition and community outreach programs, and public service projects for senior composers and lyricists. The ASCAP Foundation is supported by contributions from ASCAP members and from music lovers throughout the United States.
www.ascapfoundation.org
