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The Ivors Academy

The Ivors Academy (formerly the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors – BASCA) is one of the largest professional associations for music writers in Europe. The academy works to support, protect, and campaign for the interests of songwriters, lyricists, and composers. It represents music writers of all genres and has approximately 2000 members.

History

The Composers Guild of Great Britain was founded in 1944 to represent classical music composers, with Ralph Vaughan Williams elected as its first president. The Songwriters' Guild of Great Britain, later known as The British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors was founded in 1947 by Ivor Novello, Sir Alan Herbert, Eric Coates, Haydn Wood, Richard Addinsell, among others, with Eric Maschwitz acting as the first Vice Chair, and Chairman in 1948, and again between 1954 and 1958. The Association of Professional Composers was founded in 1976 by George Fenton to represent composers of film and TV music. In 1958 the Composers' Guild of Great Britain began publishing the journal Composer, and also published a number of catalogues of available works. In 1967 the organisation, under the direction of Ruth Gipps, established the British Music Information Centre.

In 1999, The Association of Professional Composers (APC) and the Composers' Guild of Great Britain (CGGB) merged into the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors to provide a single, more powerful amalgamated organisation to represent its membership. The organization's current name was adopted in March 2009. Sir Tim Rice was elected first president, and Guy Fletcher and David Stoll served as joint chairs of a nine-member Board of Directors. Three executive committees were established to administer Pop and Theatrical Music, Concert Music, and Media. BASCA then had four genre committees representing Songwriters, Classical, Jazz, and Media composers. BASCA became known as The Ivors Academy on 25 March 2019. The organization then moved in 2021 to a structure with a "senate" consisting of 40 songwriters and composers with committees relating to multiple genres and geographic regions.

Members of The Ivors Academy include emerging songwriters and the United Kingdom's "most experienced and successful writers". A partial list of the past and present members includes David Arnold (fellow), Harrison Birtwistle, Peter Maxwell Davies (fellow), George Fenton, Guy Garvey, Howard Goodall, Diedrich Hartmann, Annie Lennox (fellow), Elton John (fellow), and Paul McCartney (fellow). Rolling Stones members Mick Jagger, and Keith Richards are members, as are Sting, Pete Townshend, Imogen Heap, David Gilmour, George Michael, Alex Turner, Chris Martin, Lynsey de Paul, Cathy Dennis, Kate Bush, Mika, Evelyn Glennie, Gary Barlow, Chrissie Hynde, Sharleen Spiteri, and Thom Yorke.

The Ivors Academy is a member of UK Music, an umbrella organisation that represents the collective interests of the production side of the UK's commercial music industry: artists, musicians, songwriters, composers, record labels, artist managers, music publishers, studio producers, and music collecting societies.

In July 2016, songwriter Crispin Hunt became the chairman of the academy. Hunt was replaced by songwriter and composer Tom Gray (British musician) as the chair of The Ivors Academy in February 2022. In the autumn of 2022, The Ivors Academy sponsored the 2021 Songwriters' Review in collaboration with music rights organisation Blokur. Singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo was announced as that year's leading songwriter.

Awards

In 1955, The Songwriters' Guild of Great Britain established the Ivor Novello Awards to honour excellence in British music writing. In 1974, the Academy established the Gold Badge Awards (now Ivors Academy Honours) for individuals who make outstanding contributions to Britain's music and entertainment industry, sponsored annually by PRS for Music. The organization also presents the British Composer Awards for excellence in classical and jazz music, also sponsored by the PRS for Music and in association with BBC Radio 3.

The Beatles have won 15 Ivor Novello Awards from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors. See also the List of awards and nominations received by The Beatles.

Fellowship

BASCA established the fellowship in 1999, and it was first awarded in 2000. Fellows are:

2000 – Paul McCartney
2001 – Malcolm Arnold, John Barry
2005 – John Adams, David Arnold, Pierre Boulez, John Dankworth, Peter Maxwell Davies, Elton John
2006 – Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb, Robin Gibb (the three are all part of the Bee Gees)
2007 – George Fenton
2008 – David Ferguson
2009 – Don Black
2012 – Andrew Lloyd Webber
2013 – Tim Rice
2015 – Annie Lennox
2020 – Kate Bush
2022 - Peter Gabriel
2023 - Sting
2024 - James MacMillan, Bruce Springsteen (the first non-British performer inducted, Springsteen is from the United States)