Desmond Child, Albert Hammond, John Rzeznik
Among Honorees at Annual SongHall Ceremony

ASCAP songwriters and publishers were among those honored by the Songwriters Hall of Fame at the organization's 39th annual induction and awards ceremony. The event was held on June 19 at New York's Marriott Marquis Hotel.

ASCAP writer members Desmond Child and Albert Hammond were among this year's list of inductees. In addition, the Hal David Starlight Award was presented to John Rzeznik; Milt Okun, founder of Cherry Lane Music, received the Abe Oleman Publisher Award, and "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," written by Jack Northworth and Albert Von Tilzer, was named Towering Song.

Desmond Child has been one of the most successful, versatile songwriters in the music business for more than three decades. After starring in the 1970's group Desmond Child & Rouge, he focused on songwriting, his breakthrough coming in 1978 with Kiss's hit "I Was Made For Loving You." His list of songwriting credits reads like a "Who's Who" of pop and rock royalty, and Child has demonstrated a remarkable knack for writing in all pop genres. This has included a very diverse mix over the years, with hits for Aerosmith, Ricky Martin, Bon Jovi, Joan Jett, Michael Bolton, Hanson, Hilary Duff, LeAnn Rimes, Kelly Clarkson, Clay Aiken, Jesse McCartney, Daryl Hall & John Oates, Cher, Kiss, Alice Cooper, Robbie Williams, Iggy Pop and Ronnie Spector, among many others. His own solo album, Discipline, featured the Top 40 hit, "Love on a Rooftop." True to his Cuban-American heritage, Child has enjoyed success in the Latin music field, co-producing and/or co-writing such mega smashes as Ricky Martin's #1 worldwide hits "Livin' La Vida Loca" and the 1998 World Cup Theme, "The Cup Of Life," which was #1 in 20 countries. He continued to collaborate with Martin on "She Bangs" and "Nobody Wants to be Lonely" from Martin's Sound Loaded album, also released featuring Christina Aguilera dueting with Ricky Martin, in both Spanish and English versions. In addition, Child co-wrote and co-produced "Livin' La Vida Loca" as the finale in the film Shrek 2. Among his many collaborations, he co-wrote the Grammy award-winning "Crazy" and "Dude Looks Like A Lady" for Aerosmith, "Livin' On A Prayer" and "You Give Love A Bad Name" for Bon Jovi, and Hanson's "Weird" from their multi-platinum CD, Middle of Nowhere.

England's Albert Hammond has achieved tremendous success on both sides of the Atlantic. With chief collaborator Mike Hazelwood, he wrote "Gimme Dat Ding," a novelty hit for The Pipkins in 1970, and "It Never Rains In Southern California," which established Hammond himself as a recording star two years later. By the end of the 1970s, Hammond was one of the busiest men in music, maintaining two full-fledged recording careers; not only his string of English-language hit singles and albums, but also a late-'70s series of releases aimed at Spanish-speaking audiences, which gave him a new round of hits, and a songwriting career that included Starship's "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now," and Chicago's "I Don't Wanna Live Without Your Love," in collaboration with Diane Warren, and a monster hit for Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias in "To All the Girls I've Loved Before," in collaboration with Hal David. Hammond's songs have been recorded by many critically acclaimed artists such as José Carreras, Johnny Cash, Joe Cocker, Chris de Burgh, Neil Diamond, Céline Dion, Art Garfunkel, The Hollies, Whitney Houston, Julio Iglesias, Tom Jones, Johnny Mathis, Roy Orbison, José Luis Rodriguez, Diana Ross, Leo Sayer, Starship and Tina Turner. Their hits with Hammond's songs include "One Moment In Time," "Don't Turn Around," "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now," "When I Need You," "The Air That I Breathe" and "99 Miles From L.A," to mention just a few. He has also co-produced Julio Iglesias, Lani Hall (on her Grammy winning LP, Es Facil Amar which contains several Hammond tunes), and José Luis Rodriguez, among others. In the Latin world, his hits have included "Echame A Mi La Culpa," "Eres Toda Una Mujer," and "Espinita."

Singer-songwriter John Rzeznik received the Hal David Starlight Award, established to recognize artists whose original songs have made a noteworthy contribution to the music industry early in their careers. Previous Starlight Award recipients include ASCAP members John Mayer, Rob Thomas and Alicia Keys.

Milt Okun, founder of Cherry Lane Music, received the Abe Olman Publisher Award. The Award, named after one of the Songwriters Hall of Fame's esteemed founders, goes to music publishers who have had a substantial number of songs that have become world-renowned and have furthered the careers and successes of many songwriters. Recent Abe Olman Publisher Awardees have included Martin Bandier, Allen Kline, Les Bider, Nicholas Firth and Beebe Bourne, among others.

"Take Me Out to the Ball Game," written by Jack Northworth and Albert Von Tilzer, was named this year's Towering Song. The Award is presented each year to the creators of an individual song that has influenced our culture in a unique way over many years. Previous Towering Songs have included "Unchained Melody," "Let Me Call You Sweetheart," "What The World Needs Now Is Love" and "Fly Me to the Moon."

For more information, visit the Songwriters Hall of Fame website at: www.songwritershalloffame.org