By Gemma Brosnan
TOMORROW evening music industry’s greats will gather for an internationally respected celebration of songwriting and composing.
Fifty-four years ago, when the first Ivor Novellos took place to honour and give recognition to the writers behind the songs, it was hoped that they would not only celebrate British writing talent, but boost the Songwriters Guild’s campaign for British music.
At the time of the Awards’ inception, only around 20% of music broadcast by the BBC was British and the music world was a very different place, where the A&R men did the dividing and ruling, pairing singers to songs.
Nowadays, it is increasingly crucial for an artist’s credibility to suggest they have a personal stake in the words and is far more important for securing a lifelong, devoted fanbase.
Ivor Novello himself, whose memory is honoured by the awards, was a true A-list celebrity.
Born in 1893, he was regarded as extremely good-looking and immensely popular. A songwriter and composer of musicals, he was also a stage a film actor, a playwright and a Hollywood screen writer - and author of the immortal line “Me Tarzan, you Jane” for the film “Tarzan the Apeman.”
He lived through an era of great change in popular arts, enjoying success as a silent movie star and remaining a box office draw after the advent of talkies. Ivor wrote the most popular song of the First World War, Keep the Home Fires Burning.
This year, the much-coveted annual Ivor Novello award for "Best Song Musically and Lyrically" is the most talked about this year because it's voted on by songwriters and there are only three nominations: Elbow, The Last Shadow Puppets (side project of Arctic Monkey's Alex Turner) and The Leisure Society. The latter are up for their debut single, The Last of the Melting Snow, which is the work of Leisure Society mainman Nick Hemming.
What makes The Leisure Society's appearance such a big deal, is that it marks the first time in the awards' 54-year history that a songwriter without a publishing deal has been nominated for a Best Song award.
This particular category was won last year by Amy Winehouse; previous winners include George Harrison (Something), Lennon/ McCartney, Pulp and Sting.
Hemming, 36, used to be in indie band She Talks to Angels (alongside film-maker Shane Meadows) but his main job is in a fabric warehouse.
The Last of the Melting Snow was first picked up, ironically, by Elbow's Guy Garvey on his Sunday night music show. Garvey proclaimed the song to be the best tune of 2008 and would frequently read out the entire lyrics and it wasn’t long before the song was picked up by other like-minded DJ's and spread by word-of-mouth.
Heavyweights Coldplay and Duffy will be the big contenders after receiving three nominations each with Duffy's Rockferry is up for best album against Coldplay's Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends and they will also go head to head for the most performed song and best-selling British song with ‘Mercy’ up against Viva La Vida.
Ivor Novello Awards Facts
The Ivors statuette is 29cm tall, weighs 7lb 2oz and is made of solid bronze. It depicts Euterpe, the Muse of Music and Lyric Poetry, one of the nine Muses of Apollo in Ancient Greek mythology
Since 1956, well over 1,000 Ivors have been presented
There are three types of categories:
1. Nominated categories. These are judged by a jury made up of songwriters and composers of writers and acknowledge achievement in the previous calendar year. They include Best Song Musically and Lyrically, the Album Award and Best Original Film Score
2. Statistical categories. These include Best Selling British Song and PRS for Music Most Performed Work. The recipients are decided by sales/download figures and statistics for ‘performance’ according to PRS for Music data. This is a combination of radio play, live and general usage.
3. Gift of the Academy categories. These are decided by the Ivors Committee and recognise achievement over a longer period. Categories include Lifetime Achievement, Outstanding Song Collection, The Ivors Classical Music Award and The Ivors Inspiration Award.
The eligibility criteria relate to the publishing, or exploiting of the work in the previous calendar year and all entries must have a British or Irish writing contribution of at least one third according to the works registration at the relevant royalty collection society.
The creation of new categories is an important way of recognising achievement outside the conventional boundaries. In 1970 a Special Award for Originality was presented to David Bowie for Space Oddity.
There was also a series of Ivors for the Best Novelty Song, with winners including Neil Innes for I’m the Urban Spaceman, and Allan Smethurst, the Singing Postman, for Hev Yew Gotta Loight Boy.
Most Ivors won
Sir Paul McCartney: 19 plus 1 with The Beatles
Other multi Ivor winners
John Lennon: 14 plus 1 with The Beatles
Lord Lloyd Webber: 14
Sir Elton John: 12
Sir Tim Rice: 12
Barry Gibb: 10 plus 2 with The Bee Gees
Robin Gibb: 10 plus 2 with The Bee Gees
Maurice Gibb: 9 plus 2 with The Bee Gees
Sting: 8
Bernie Taupin: 8
Mike Stock: 8
Matt Aitken: 8
Pete Waterman: 8
Most Ivors won by a woman
Cathy Dennis: 5
Annie Lennox: 4
Amy Winehouse: 3
photo credit: Taylor Herring
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