The Songwriters Hall of Fame has postponed its 51st annual Induction & Awards gala, originally set for June 11, 2020 (and then rescheduled for June 10, 2021) to June 16, 2022. The event will be held at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York, the event's home since 2005. Linda Moran, SHOF president and CEO, called the second delay "absolutely heartbreaking".
The Songwriters Hall of Fame first postponed the event on March 31, 2020, as the scope of the pandemic was becoming evident. At a time that many awards show organizers were merely postponing their shows by a few months, the SHOF pushed it back a full year - a decisive move intended to ensure that things would be in the clear. Sadly, even that wasn't enough, forcing another postponement.
"When I saw organizations postponing by just a few months, I was thinking 'There's no way it can happen'," Moran says. "It's much better to take the bull by the horns and just make the decision and just move it. Right now, it's next year and we still have to pray."
As a result of this double postponement, the honorees and inductees that were first announced on January 16, 2020, will have to wait nearly two and a half years to take their bows. The honorees include Paul Williams, who will receive the organization's top award, the Johnny Mercer Award, and Jody Gerson, chairman/CEO, Universal Music Publishing Group, who will receive the Abe Olman Publisher Award.
The inductees are Mariah Carey, Steve Miller, Rick Nowels and William "Mickey" Stevenson and former members of three celebrated ensembles: Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart of Eurythmics; Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo of The Neptunes; and Ernie Isley, Marvin Isley, O'Kelly Isley, Ronald Isley, Rudolph Isley and Chris Jasper of The Isley Brothers.
(Billboard)
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