The Ivors provides PRS with a unique way of recognising its members. There is no greater award for a songwriter or composer to receive.

The close partnership between PRS and organisers The British Academy of Composers & Songwriters makes the Ivors a very special event. Widely recognised as the Oscars of the music world, this year, PRS member after PRS member took to the stage to receive their awards.

PRS gave its Outstanding Contribution to British Music Award to Norman Cook (profile page 30) and joined with the Academy in recognising Quincy Jones for the Special International Award.

Best Contemporary Song

Amy Winehouse – Rehab
UK Publisher: EMI Music Publishing
Amy Winehouse won an Ivor in the same category in 2003 for Stronger Than Me. Rehab is on her second album, Back to Black, which went to the top of the UK charts in January this year. She has won several awards, including the Musical Achievement award at the recent 2007 Greatest Britons event.

Album Award

Alex Turner – Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not (Arctic Monkeys)
UK Publisher: EMI Music Publishing
Arguably the ‘album of 2006’, the impact of Arctic Monkeys – and the band’s songwriter Alex Turner – can’t be overestimated. It became the fastest selling debut album in history, ending the year with triple platinum sales in the UK of 1.1 million and includes the Number one singles When the Sun Goes Down and I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor.

Best Television Soundtrack

Martin Phipps – The Virgin Queen
UK Publisher: BDi Music Limited
Martin Phipps is Benjamin Britten’s godson and after studying drama at university, he forged a career as a composer. For television he has written the music for North and South, Persuasion, Dirty Filthy Love and Kay Mellor’s A Good Thief, while his film scores include Pierrepoint and The Flying Scotsman.

International Hit of the Year

Madonna/Stuart Price – Sorry
UK Publisher: Warner Chappell Music
Madonna picked up her second Ivor after winning PRS Most Performed Work in 1999 for Beautiful Stranger, which she wrote with William Orbit. Stuart Price is a Paris born songwriter and producer who grew up in Reading. His aliases include Jacques Lu Cont and Thin White Duke. Sorry is Madonna’s 12th Number one single in the UK.

Best UK Selling Single

John Reid/Jorgen Elofsson – A Moment Like This
UK Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing/BMG Music Publishing
Sweden’s Jorgen Elofsson picks up his second Ivor in as many years for the song recorded by X Factor winner Leona Lewis. In 2005 he co-wrote That’s My Goal for the reality TV show’s previous winner Shayne Ward. John Reid was a member of the dance act Nightcrawlers. Their Ivor-winning song was previously a hit for American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson.

Outstanding Song Collection

Yusuf Islam
As Cat Stevens, he enjoyed a phenomenal run of success in the 60s and 70s, with hits including Matthew and Son, I’m Gonna Get Me a Gun and Lady D’Arbanville. He converted to Islam in 1977 and left the music business. However, his songs continued to be covered by artists from Rod Stewart to The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Marianne Faithful to Dolly Parton. In 2006 he released the critically acclaimed album An Other Cup.

PRS Outstanding Contribution to British Music

Norman Cook
Songwriter, producer, video maker and superstar DJ, Norman Cook is one of the most innovative artists to have emerged on the British music scene in the last 25 years. Former bass player with The Housemartins, since the band split up in 1988 Cook has had hits with Beats International, Pizzaman, Freakpower and his most successful alter ego, Fatboy Slim (see profile He’s Come a Long Way.)

 
Ivors Classical Music Award

John Rutter
John Rutter is one of Britain’s most successful composers, both at home and internationally. In America, NBC’s Today show described him as ‘the world’s greatest living composer and conductor of choral music.’ For many he is best known as a composer of carols, but he has also written large-scale works such as Gloria and Magnificat, while he has composed extensively for children.

Best Original Film Score

John Powell – Ice Age The Meltdown
UK Publisher: EMI Music Publishing
John Powell has been based in Hollywood for almost 10 years and is one of the busiest film composers in the world. His credits include Antz, The Bourne Identity, United 93, Shrek (for which he won an Ivor in 2001), Mr and Mrs Smith, The Italian Job, Two Weeks Notice, X-Men: The Last Stand, Robots, Alfie and Happy Feet.

 
PRS Most Performed Work

Sir Elton John/Scott Hoffman/Jason Sellards – I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’
UK Publisher: HST Management Ltd/Universal Music Publishing/EMI Music Publishing
Elton John collects his 12th Ivor for co-writing this song for the Scissor Sisters – the band’s biggest hit. Elton also played piano on the record, which went to Number one in 11 countries and was top 10 in a further nine. In the band, Hoffman and Sellards are known as Babydaddy and Jake Shears respectively.

Best Song Musically and Lyrically

Scott Matthews – Elusive
UK Publisher: Universal Music Publishing
Elusive comes from the enchanting debut album by singer-songwriter Scott Matthews. The song was championed by Zane Lowe on Radio 1 and Dermot O’Leary on Radio 2. Acquiring his first guitar at the age of seven, Matthews admires iconic figures including Joni Mitchell, The Beatles, Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix.

Songwriters of the Year

Dan Sells, Kevin Jeremiah, Cieran Jeremiah, Paul Stewart and Richard Jones – The Feeling
UK Publisher: EMI Music Publishing
It is almost impossible to have lived through 2006 and not been aware of The Feeling. Twelve Stops and Home is an album bursting with catchy songs, with many – like Sewn and Fill My Little World – well on their way to becoming classics. The band, often likened to 70s giants Supertramp, 10CC and ELO, had four hit singles during the year, while the album reached Number two.

Lifetime Achievement

Peter Gabriel
One of the world’s great creative artists, Peter Gabriel tends to be on the cutting edge of every venture to which he devotes his considerable talents. Former Genesis frontman, his solo career has produced many great songs such as Sledgehammer and Biko, while his highly acclaimed film scores include Birdy and The Last Temptation of Christ. He founded WOMAD, the online music platform OD2 and the human rights campaign WITNESS.

(Peter Gabriel assesses the future for music, Comment)

Special International Award

Quincy Jones
No one has more Grammy nominations than Quincy Jones – a total of 77, winning on 26 occasions. To one generation he is best known as the producer of Thriller, to another as the composer of film scores such as In the Heat of the Night and TV themes like Ironside. An older generation still, remembers his work with jazz legends Lionel Hampton, Count Basie and Duke Ellington, while the younger generation recognise his Soul Bossa Nova, the theme for the first Austin Powers movie.

Academy Fellowship

George Fenton
George Fenton’s first ambition was to be an actor, but he soon left the stage to become one of the world’s most successful television and film composers. He is also one of the most versatile, composing for large-scale dramas including Jewel in the Crown and The Monocled Mutineer, signature tunes for Newsnight, Shoestring and Bergerac, film scores from Gandhi to Groundhog Day, and epic natural history scores including The Blue Planet, Life in the Freezer and Planet Earth.