The 29th annual SOCAN’s Montréal Awards Gala on Oct. 2, 2018, at the TOHU Theatre, promises to be the biggest and best ever, with more than 50 awards presented to Quebec’s most successful music creators and publishers.
Host Pierre-Yves Lord will share his passion for music at a star-studded show, with an orchestra – conducted by the talented and colourful Antoine Gratton – underscoring the importance of those awards presented to the year’s most successful film and television composers
Québec country music legend Renée Martel will accept the SOCAN Lifetime Achievement Award, while Patrice Michaud, who has had another exceptional year, will receive the SOCAN Songwriter of the Year Award.
Among the Francophone SOCAN Classics that will be recognized at the Gala are songs popularized by several of SOCAN’s greatest female members, including Marjo, Francine Raymond, Laurence Jalbert, Marie Carmen, Lara Fabian and Hart Rouge. Francophone SOCAN Classics are songs that have achieved more than 25,000 radio plays since being released at least 20 years ago.
The SOCAN Cultural Impact Award will be presented to Michel Rivard for his iconic song “La complainte du phoque en Alaska,” which was first recorded by 2017 Canadian Songwriter Hall of Fame inductees Beau Dommage. The song has made a profound and lasting impact both at home and around the world.
Jim Corcoran will be presented with the SOCAN Special Achievement Award for his work as a proud ambassador for Francophone music to Anglophone audiences for the past 30 years. The presentation comes only a short time after the end of his tenure as host of CBC Radio One’s À propos.
The versatile composer Jean-Olivier Bégin will receive the SOCAN Screen Composer of the Year Award, particularly for his work on such productions as Contes du Centre-Sud, ICI Urbania, and Sexplora.
Montréal-based SOCAN members Arcade Fire and AC – a rising star of the global Latino music scene, who’s co-written songs for Justin Bieber, Ricky Martin, Britney Spears, Selena Gomez and Niki Minaj – will both receive the SOCAN International Achievement Award for their spectacular success worldwide.
The SOCAN Pop Music Awards will be presented to the most-performed songs of 2017, and Loud, Québec’s young rap prodigy, will receive both the Urban Music and the Breakout awards, sharing the latter with the phenomenal Hubert Lenoir. Other winners will include Bobby Bazini, who’ll take home the SOCAN Pop Music Award (Anglophone) for “C’est la vie”; Patrick Norman, who’ll accept the SOCAN Country Music Award; and Snails, an emerging presence on the global EDM scene, who’ll receive the SOCAN Electronic Music Award.
“From the beginning, the SOCAN Awards have embodied the diversity of music genres and the excellence of SOCAN’s music creators and publishers,” said SOCAN CEO Eric Baptiste. “Especially this year, SOCAN’s female members are achieving new heights, and the number of SOCAN Classic Awards that will be presented to women songwriters, composers, and music publishers reflect the fact that SOCAN’s female members have accomplished at least as much as their male colleagues.”
The outstanding contributions of music publishers will be celebrated when the SOCAN Publisher of the Year prize is announced at the Gala.
All SOCAN Special Achievement Award winners will receive “The SOCAN” – the world’s first and only major music industry trophy that’s also a musical instrument, incorporating five custom bronze crotales (made in New Brunswick by SABIAN), tuned this year to the initial notes of Michel Rivard’s immortal song, “La complainte du phoque en Alaska.”
The full list of the 2018 SOCAN Award winners will be released on the evening of October 2, 2018.
The SOCAN Montréal Awards Gala is the French music complement to the annual SOCAN Awards held in Toronto for songwriters, composers and music publishers who work mainly in English.