June 19, 1995

Contact:
Bobbi Marcus/Gail Smerigan
Bobbi Marcus Public Relations, Inc.
(310) 829-9800

Esther SanSaurus
ASCAP
(212) 621-6323

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Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis And Devante Swing Receive Songwriter of the Year Honors
EMI Music Publishing Awarded Publisher of the Year

New York, NY -- 500 leading R&B songwriters, publishers, recording artists and industry notables including -- Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Jodeci's Devante Swing, Crystal Waters, Patti LaBelle, John Fogerty, Da Brat, Zhane, Heavy D., CeCe Peniston, Coolio, Outcast, Queen Latifah, Taylor Dayne, Jermaine Dupri, D'Angelo, Shep Pettibone, DJ Battlecat, Sounds of Blackness' Ann Nesby, QDIII, MC Lyte, Craig Mack, Nona Hendrix and Melvin Van Peebles -- gathered tonight for the eighth annual ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Celebration Awards at The Supper Club in New York City. Writer/Director/Producer Melvin Van Peebles hosted the gala, which honored the songwriters and publishers of the most performed R&B, Rap, Dance and Reggae songs in the ASCAP repertory during the 1994 survey year. The event also featured live performances by Mercury recording artist Crystal Waters, A&M/Perspective recording artist CeCe Peniston and So So Def/Chaos recording artist Da Brat.

Sharing Songwriter of the Year honors were the songwriting/production team of Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis and Devante Swing from the Uptown/MCA recording group Jodeci. Jam and Lewis secured this honor for the songs "Any Time, Any Place" and "Because of Love," recorded by Janet Jackson; "I Believe," recorded by Sounds of Blackness; and "The Right Kinda Lover," recorded by Patti LaBelle. Presenting the award to Jam and Lewis was CBS This Morning's Mark McEwen.

Devante Swing's award-winning songs included "Can U Get Wit It," recorded by Usher; "Cry For You" and "Feenin'," recorded by Jodeci; and "Part Time Lover/I'm Still In Love With You," recorded by Al B. Sure and H Town. Uptown Entertainment's Founder and President Andre' Harrell presented the award to Devante.

EMI Music Publishing received ASCAP's Rhythm & Soul Music Publisher of the Year honors for publishing the greatest number of songs that reached the Top 10 on the R&B charts in 1994. EMI had a total of 25 award-winning songs (see attached list). EMI Music Publishing's Martin Bandier, John Platt, Evan Lamberg, Jodi Berson, Brian Jackson and Bob Flax were on hand to accept the award from Van Peebles and ASCAP's President and Chairman Marilyn Bergman.

ASCAP is a membership association of over 70,000 composers, lyricists and music publishers whose function is to license the public performance right of its members' copyrighted works. It is the world's foremost performing right organization with revenues for 1994 totaling over $423 million.