Peter Gabriel is to be honored as a BMI Icon at the performing rights organization’s London awards gala on Oct. 16.
BMI’s annual London awards, held at the Dorchester Hotel, recognizes the U.K. and European songwriters and publishers of the most-played BMI songs on American radio and television in the past year.
The Icon award is given to BMI songwriters who have had a “unique and indelible influence on generations of music makers.” Previous winners include Ray Davies, Van Morrison, the Bee Gees, Isaac Hayes, Dolly Parton, James Brown and Paul Simon.
Gabriel, who was the co-founder of Genesis, has released 11 solo albums since leaving the British prog-rock band in 1975. In 1987, he founded Real World, which comprises recording, publishing, film and multi-media ventures.
Earlier this year, Gabriel collected the lifetime achievement honor at the prestigious Ivor Novello Awards in London. In 2004, he was made Britain’s unofficial “man of the year,” when he collected the annual Music Industry Trusts’ Award.
The BMI event will be hosted by the organization’s president and CEO Del Bryant and senior executive Europe Brandon Bakshi.
The non-profit organization represents more than 300,000 songwriters, composers and publishers with a repertoire of more than 6.5 million works.
