Alan Menken to receive Songwriters Hal of Fame's Johnny Mercer Award
Alan Menken (Songwriters Hall of Fame)
Composer Alan Menken will receive the prestigious Songwriters Hall of Fame [SHOF] Johnny Mercer Award at the 48th Annual Induction and Awards Dinner, to be held June 15 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York.
"We at the Songwriters Hall of Fame are so proud that our 2017 Johnny Mercer Award recognizes the exceptional talent of Alan Menken," said SHOF president/CEO Linda Moran. "With a Tony Award, eleven Grammys and eight Academy Awards already to Alan's credit, the Johnny Mercer Award is a fitting acknowledgement from the Songwriters Hall of Fame."
Stated SHOF co-chairs Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff: "Alan Menken is a prolific composer whose music has conquered both Hollywood and Broadway. His success in scoring animated musicals like Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid and Aladdin, filling them with unforgettable songs and then adapting them for the Broadway stage, has delighted countless children and adults."
They added: "Since Alan's big break-through when he teamed up with the late Howard Ashman, he has continued to create enduring melodies for lyrics by iconic lyricists such as Sir Tim Rice, Stephen Schwartz, David Zippel and Lynn Ahrens."
The Johnny Mercer Award is the SongHall's highest honor, and is reserved exclusively for a previously inducted songwriter or songwriting team whose body of work is of such high quality and impact that it upholds the gold standard set by SHOF co-founder Johnny Mercer. Alan Menken was inducted into the hall in 2008.
Past Johnny Mercer Award recipients have included Gamble and Huff, Elton John and Bernie Taupin, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, Dolly Parton, Kris Kristofferson, Jimmy Webb, Hal David and Burt Bacharach, Stephen Sondheim, Cy Coleman, Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne.
The 2017 Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees are Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, Berry Gordy, the songwriting teams of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and the band Chicago's Robert Lamm and James Pankow, Max Martin, and Shawn "Jay Z" Carter. Ed Sheeran will receive the Hal David Starlight Award, and Pitbull will be the first-ever recipient of the Global Ambassador Award. Caroline Bienstock will be presented with the Abe Oleman Publishing Award
Additional special award honorees will be announced soon.
The Songwriters Hall of Fame celebrates and educates the public about songwriters, and produces professional programs devoted to the development of new songwriting talent.