Grammy Award winning
songwriter and producer Jermaine Dupri will be receiving top honors this year
at the 21st Annual Soul Train Music Awards and the American Society of Composers,
Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Awards. Dupri
will be recognized with the Quincy Jones Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2007
Soul Train Awards, which will be held Mar. 10 in Pasadena, CA. ASCAP
will honor JD by awarding him with his sixth achievement as Songwriter of the
Year during the 24th Annual ASCAP Pop Music Awards, which takes place April 18
at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. Dupri
will share his Pop Songwriter of the Year honors with his protégé
singer/songwriter, Johnta Austin.Dupri,
who was recently named head of Island Def Jam’s new Urban department, won Songwriter
of the Year at the ASCAP Rhythm and Soul Music Awards in 2005 and 2006. In
related news, ASCAP’s Rhythm & Soul Team will present an executive roundtable
titled "State of the Industry – Uncut, taking place Mar. 20 from 7-9 pm at
Clark-Atlanta University’s Robert Woodruff Library Exhibition Hall.The
event will be moderated by Tremayne "Tre" Anchrum (Director, Creative
Affairs, ASCAP) and will feature such music industry executives like Shakir Stewart
(Sr. VP A&R, Island Def Jam Music Group) Chaka Zulu (Co-CEO of Disturbing
Tha Peace Records), Chris Hicks (Sr. VP A&R Urban, Atlantic Records and Sr.
VPA&R/Head of Urban Music, Warner Chappell) and others discussing the
state of the music industry. The
event is free to the public.