BMI Celebrates Gospel Music Trailblazers

Pictured (L-R): BMI’s Wardell Malloy, BMI President & CEO Mike O’Neill, Dr. Bobby Jones, BMI’s Catherine Brewton, BeBe Winans. Photo: Erika Goldring/Getty Images for BMI

Gospel legend Dr. Bobby Jones and stars Tamela and David Mann were celebrated recently at the 2023 BMI Trailblazers of Gospel Music Awards at Flourish in Atlanta.

The awards show paid tribute to the best in the Gospel music community and honored BMI’s Gospel Song of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, Publisher of the Year and the top 25 Gospel songs of the previous year. BMI’s President & CEO, Mike O’Neill and Vice President, Creative, Atlanta, Catherine Brewton hosted the event.

The luncheon kicked off with a celebration of music and joyful worship with Jonathan McReynolds, Chandler Moore and Kirk Franklin performing a medley of three of BMI’s award-winning songs, “Grace,” “Jireh” and “Kingdom,” before moving to the event’s main honorees and award winners.

As a Trailblazer of Gospel Music honoree, Nashville’s Dr. Bobby Jones was saluted for his legendary career, mentorship of the next generation and his tireless contributions to the genre. The tribute performances honoring Jones’ legacy kicked off with The Company singing “What a Friend,” followed by a rendition of “Bring it to Jesus” featuring Beverly Crawford.

Pictured (L-R): BMI’s Wardell Malloy, BMI’s Catherine Brewton, Tamela Mann, David Mann, BMI President & CEO Mike O’Neill. Photo: Paras Griffin/Getty Images for BMI

Tamela and David Mann were celebrated as BMI Trailblazers of Gospel Music for their exceptional success in the genre and beyond, both as songwriters, artists and actors. The musical tributes to The Manns kicked off with Zacardi Cortez and Anaysha Figueroa-Cooper‘smoving performance of “Now Behold the Lamb,” followed by Lisa Knowles-Smith singing “Take Me to the King.” After accepting the honor and thanking those who have helped them along the way, Tamela Mann surprised the audience with an explosive performance of her mega-hit, “Change Me,” which spent 23 weeks at number one on Billboard’s Hot Gospel Chart.

Throughout the event, BMI saluted the Top 25 most-performed Gospel songs of the previous year, leading up to the coveted BMI Gospel Song of the Year, which went to “Believe For It” written by CeCe Winans and Mitch Wong. The song spent 12 weeks at the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Hot Gospel Chart and garnered accolades including two GMA Dove Awards and a Grammy for Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song.

BMI’s Gospel Songwriter of the Year was a tie between Dante Bowe and Jonathan McReynolds for each writing two of the most performed Gospel songs of the previous year. Bowe was honored for “Joyful” and “Promises” and McReynolds for “Brighter” and “Grace.” BMI’s Gospel Publisher of the Year went to Be Essential Songs for having award-winning songs “Brighter,” “Jireh,” “Promises” and “Something Has to Break,” among its repertoire.

During the ceremony, the late legendary soul singer-songwriter Otis Redding was posthumously honored with four BMI Million-Air Awards, a distinction that recognizes songwriters whose works have achieved the rare feat of surpassing one million broadcast performances on radio. Originally written and recorded by Redding in the 1960’s, the songs were “Sweet Soul Music” (4 million performances), “Hard to Handle” (7 million performances), “Respect” (7 million performances) and BMI’s Song of the Year in 1968, the incomparable “(Sittin’ on) the Dock of the Bay” (12 million performances).  Attending the ceremony were members of Redding’s family, including his wife Zelma and their daughter Karla Redding-Andrews, who accepted the honors on behalf of her father and the Otis Redding Foundation.