Romeo Santos and Andres Castro received the Songwriter of the Year Award at the 22nd annual ASCAP Latin Music Awards, held tonight at The Hammerstein Ballroom of the Manhattan Center in New York, NY. The living legends of Fania All-Stars were presented with ASCAP’s Latin Heritage Award, Daddy Yankee was honored with the ASCAP Voice of Music Award, “Limbo” interpreted by Daddy Yankee was named Latin Song of the Year, Sony/ATV Discos Music Publishing received the Publisher of the Year Award, and Mayimba Music won the Independent Publisher of the Year Award. The songwriters and publishers of ASCAP’s most performed songs in Latin Music in 2013 were also honored during the invite-only awards ceremony.
Telemundo network TV personality, Odalys Molina hosted the all-star gathering, which featured performances and the participation of some of Latin music’s hottest stars, including: Alex y Fido, Alma Jimenez, Brika, Descemer Bueno, Isidro Infante, Ismael Miranda, Johnny Pacheco, Julio Reyes, Jackie Cruz, Kany Garcia, Larry Harlow, Lena, Lundon Knight, Roberto Roena, Ruben Blades, Joan Sebastian, Tommy Torres, Tr3b, Victor Manuelle, Villalobos Brothers and others.
ASCAP President and Chairman Paul Williams was joined by tropical music songwriter-producer Victor Manuelle to present the ASCAP Latin Heritage Award to Fania All-Stars. Williams also presented the ASCAP Voice of Music Award to Daddy Yankee.
ASCAP President Paul Williams and EVP Membership John Titta joined the stage to present the Songwriter of the Year Award to Andres Castro and Romeo Santos. This is the first time that Castro received the Songwriter of the Year award and Romeo Santos’ fourth win in that category.
ASCAP CEO John LoFrumento presented the Publisher of the Year award to Sony/ATV Discos Music Publishing. The Independent Publisher of the Year to Mayimba Music and the Latin Song of the Year award to “Limbo” (written by Daddy Yankee, Eliezer Palacios Rivera, Giancarlos Rivera, and Jonathan C. Rivera; published by Cangris Publishing, KOB Publishing and WB Music Corp), were presented by ASCAP EVP of Membership, John Titta and VP of Latin Membership Alexandra Lioutikoff.
Awards were also presented throughout the evening in the following categories: Pop, Tropical, Regional Mexican, Urban and Television.