2008 SOCAN AWARDS
TORONTO SHOW
Dozens of Canadian songwriters, composers and music publishers were among the guests at the 19th annual SOCAN Awards gala, November 17 at The Carlu in Toronto. The show was hosted by award-winning film and TV composer Rob Carli, Toronto-based hip-hop artist Abdominal and country singer-songwriter George Canyon, and kicked off with a knockout performance by The Weakerthans, including their winning 2009 SOCAN ECHO Songwriting Prize number, “Night Windows.”
Legendary country music composer, producer and recording artist Ray Griff captured SOCAN’s top honour, taking home the Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his 48 Top-100 singles and more than 700 songs, many recorded by the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis, Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton. Nickelback, who were unable to attend, won the International Achievement Award for the second consecutive year, while East Coaster Ron Hynes (who also performed during the show in a solo outing and in a duet with George Canyon of Hynes’ “Sonny’s Dream”) was feted with the National Achievement Award. The late, highly influential jazz pioneer Oscar Peterson was the recipient of this year’s Special Achievement Award, in recognition of his more than 65-year career as one of the true legends in his field.
The Pop Music Awards category was dominated by powerful women: Nelly Furtado (who won two awards), Avril Lavigne (who won three), and Chantal Kreviazuk, with Michael Bublé, Daniel Powter and David Usher taking the remaining honours in that slate. Other multiple-award winners during the evening were Jeff Danna (International Film Music Award and, with his brother Mychael Danna, Domestic Feature Film Music Award), the inimitable Leonard Cohen (who won three SOCAN Classics awards), Dan Hill (also winner of three SOCAN Classics), Arnold Lanni and Fred Turner (each a double Classics winner), Amanda Marshall (who wrote or co-wrote four Classics), Steven Page (who wrote or co-wrote five Classics) and the latter’s Barenaked Ladies partner, Ed Robertson (who wrote or co-wrote four Classics).
MONTRÉAL SHOW
France D’Amour, who expertly hosted the 19th Montreal SOCAN Awards show held on November 25, 2008, at the Omni Mont-Royal Hotel, also presented a brilliant performance of a song written by the evening’s Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, François Dompierre, with François Cousineau at the piano. René Dupéré received the Hagood Hardy Award for instrumental music, while Ana Sokolovic was presented with the Jan V. Matejcek Award for concert music, and Raymond Fabi collected his 10th television music award. K.Maro, who shared the International Award with his co-writer Louis Côté, pointed out that he had been approached by other PROs, but that he was quite happy with SOCAN and proud to be a member. Prizes were presented to composers, authors and music publishers in categories ranging from pop or film music to SOCAN Classics awards.
