BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- The Oscar and Grammy winning 'Up Where WeaBelong' was honored as the Song of the Year Thursday night and Lionel Richie was named Songwriter of the Year at a special Pop Awards dinner.
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, which sponsored the dinner, voted 'Up Where WeaBelong,' written by Will Jennings, Jack Nitzche and Buffy Sainte-Marie, as the most performed song of 1983.
It was featured in the movie 'An Officer and a Gentleman.'
Richie, whose song 'Hello' is currently No. 1 on the Billboard music charts, also was honored for the songs 'My Love,' 'Truly' and 'You Are,' which were selected among ASCAP's most performed songs of the year.
April Music, Inc., was honored as Publisher of the Year as more than 450 songwriters, publishers, artists and music industry notables gathered in black tie for ASCAP's awards night in the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.
Attending the ceremonies were such music industry notables as Kenny Rogers, Kenny Loggis, Michael McDonald, Donna Summer, HenryaMancini, Quincy Jones, James Ingram, Burt Bacharach and Richie.
Multiple songwriter winners besides Richie and Bacharach were the Bergmans, John Bettis, Peter Cetera, Christopher Cross, Culture Club's Boy George, Michael Craig, Roy Hay and John Moss, plus Hal David, Dan Fogelberg, Colin Hay and Michael Reid.
The songs surveyed by ASCAP were from October, 1982, through September, 1983.
