Sting and Imagine Dragons were honoured at BMI’s 67th Annual Pop Awards on Tuesday night (14.05.19).
The 67-year-old music legend’s band The Police’s 1983 hit ‘Every Breath You Take’ was named Most Performed Song out of over 14 million musical works at the prestigious songwriters ceremony at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills.
Sting – who was joined by his wife Trudie Styler at the bash – said: "I am so deeply proud to be a member of this community of songwriters.
"There’s a rare nobility in this profession that is more than just mere entertainment, and I believe it has something to do with the form of a song."
The ‘Shape of My Heart’ hitmaker – who was the principal songwriter, lead singer, and bassist for the new wave rock band The Police from 1977 to 1984, before he launched a successful solo career in 1985 – also gave an acoustic performance of the classic track which was sampled by P. Diddy, Faith Evans and 112 in 1995 on ‘I’ll Be Missing You’, and topped the charts across the globe.
Dan Reynolds’ band followed in the footsteps of the likes of Luis Fonsi, Pink, Adam Levine, Taylor Swift, Kenny Chesney and Ludacris in receiving this year’s BMI President’s Award.
Plus their songs ‘Thunder’ – which has had over a billion streams – and ‘Whatever It Takes’ from their third LP ‘Evolve’ were named among the top-performed songs of the past year.
The band were recognised for their impressive career achievements, which include selling 12 million albums and 35 million singles worldwide and for their philanthropic efforts, having recently raised $8 million to help fight childhood cancer for The Tyler Robinson Foundation.
They also took to the stage to perform ‘It’s Time’, ‘Believer’ and ‘Radioactive’.
Bebe Rexha, Joshua Miller and Florida Georgia Line’s ‘Meant to Be’ was also named BMI Pop Song of the Year.
A full list of the winners can be found at www.bmi.com
Sting and Imagine Dragons honoured at BMI’s 67th Annual Pop Awards
