Colin Hay presented with the Distinguished Services Award by Sia
Sarah Aarons, Joel Little and Mallrat take home wins
The 1,000,000,000 List adds honourees
The inaugural Global APRA Music Awards Los Angeles took place Wednesday 26 February (LA local time) at Clive Davis Theater, presented by APRA AMCOS. The awards were given to Los Angeles-based Australasian songwriters, composers and music publishers achieving artistic excellence and commercial success. It was our first global awards, with events to follow in Nashville (1 March) and London (6 March).
In addition to the four awards presented, the evening saw a number of LA-based honorees of the The 1,000,000,000 List announced.
The first award of the evening for Breakthrough Songwriter of the Year was presented by songwriters / producers Leah Haywood (dreamlab) and Louis Schoorl and went to Mallrat (Grace Shaw), who in the last year released her Driving Music EP, made her U.S. late night television debut, supported Maggie Rogers in an extensive touring schedule, and landed at #3 on triple j’s prestigious Hottest 100 countdown for her song 'Charlie.'
The Overseas Recognition Award was presented by songwriter, electronic artist and producer VASSY and awarded to New Zealand’s Joel Little. Joel is one of the world’s top songwriters and producers and, in the last year, was a key collaborator on Taylor Swift’s #1 Lover album, as well as on songs by Jarryd James, Jonas Brothers and Tove Lo. Previous notable songwriting credits include Lorde’s 'Royals,' Khalid’s 'Young Dumb & Broke' and Imagine Dragons’ 'Whatever It Takes.'
A major highlight of the evening saw APRA AMCOS Ambassador and President of the Society of Composers & Lyricists Ashley Irwin introduce musician and songwriter Sia to present Colin Hay with the Distinguished Services Award. Sia grew up with the Men at Work frontman, who is her father’s former bandmate and a close family friend who she referred to as her “Uncle Collie.”
Longtime LA resident, Colin won the GRAMMY for “Best New Artist” in 1982 with Men at Work and has become a revered singer-songwriter, known for his intimate solo shows. Actor / director Zach Braff has often used Colin’s music for the screen, resulting in a mid-2000s career resurgence. He toured with Ringo Starr & His All Star Band in 2018 and will be hitting the road for an extensive three-month US headline tour the day after the awards.
"I think great music is a beautiful service," Colin said in his acceptance speech.
The final award of the night, Songwriter of the Year, was presented by previous APRA Music Award winners and Gotye-collaborators Kimbra and François Tétaz to Sarah Aarons. Sarah's previously won the APRA Songwriter of the Year at the 2019 APRA Music Awards and has continued her songwriting blitz with collaborations on tracks for John Legend, Hilltop Hoods, Khalid, Jonas Brothers and the just-released Justin Timberlake and SZA collaboration 'The Other Side' from Trolls World Tour. Two of Sarah's previous megahits include Zedd, Maren Morris and Grey’s 'The Middle' and Zedd and Alessia Cara’s 'Stay.'
The evening was hosted by musician and activist Maya Jupiter and featured an opening performance by APRA AMCOS Ambassador Wafia, who performed 'Young Dumb & Broke' by Khalid, co-written and produced by Joel Little. Kimbra closed the evening with a performance of 'I Just Don’t Think I’ll Ever Get Over You,' originally performed and written by Colin Hay.
In addition to the Global APRA Music Awards Los Angeles winners, LA-based honorees of The 1,000,000,000 List were acknowledged for achieving extraordinary success by accumulating over one billion streams globally for an original song. Receiving their awards were Georgi Kay (for 'In My Mind'), Leroy Clampitt (for Justin Bieber's 'Company'), Dann Hume (for Wiz Khalifa feat. Charlie Puth's 'See You Again'), dual-honouree Sarah Aarons (for aforementioned 'Stay' and 'The Middle') and triple-honouree Joel Little (for 'Royals,' 'Young Dumb & Broke' and 'Whatever It Takes'). Sia's nine songs were acknowledged earlier. Full list and credits below.
“Australian and New Zealand songwriters and composers are pushing musical boundaries and attaining incredible goals in a globally competitive environment, with unprecedented results and achievements to their credit,” said APRA AMCOS Chief Executive Dean Ormston.
“We want to acknowledge that in Los Angeles as well as in Nashville and London, where so many success stories are set, and where many of our members do their work and make a home.”
Mallrat - Grace Shaw (Writer) | Kobalt Music Publishing obo Dew Process (Publishers)
Presented by Leah Haywood & Louis Schoorl
Joel Little (Writer) | Sony/ATV Music Publishing (Publisher)
Presented by VASSY
Colin Hay
Presented by Sia, Introduced by Ashley Irwin
Sarah Aarons (Writer) | Sony/ATV Music Publishing (Publisher)
Presented by Kimbra & François Tétaz
In My Mind (Ivan Gough and Feenixpawl feat. Georgi Kay)
APRA AMCOS member co-writers:
Aden Forte (Universal Music Publishing obo Peppermintblue Publishing )
Georgi Kay (Sony/ATV Music Publishing)
Ivan Gough (Universal Music Publishing obo Peppermintblue Publishing)
Josh Soon (Universal Music Publishing obo Peppermintblue Publishing)
See You Again (Wiz Khalifa with Charlie Puth)
APRA AMCOS member co-writers:
Dann Hume (Warner Chappell Music and Sony/ATV Music Publishing)
Joshua Hardy (Warner Chappell Music)
Phoebe Cockburn (Warner Chappell Music)
Additional writers: Charlie Puth, Cameron Thomaz, Andrew Cedar, Justin Franks
Company (Justin Bieber)
APRA AMCOS member co-writers:
Leroy Clampitt (Native Tongue Music Publishing)
James Wong (Native Tongue Music Publishing)
Additional writers: James Abrahart, Thomas Troelsen, Jason "Poo Bear" Boyd, Andreas Schuller, Justin Bieber
Stay (Zedd, Alessia Cara)
APRA AMCOS member co-writer: Sarah Aarons (Sony/ATV Music Publishing)
Additional writers: Linus Wiklund, Anders Froen, Alessia Caracciolo, Anton Zaslavski, Jonnali Parmenius
The Middle (Zedd, Maren Morris, Grey)
APRA AMCOS member co-writer: Sarah Aarons (Sony/ATV Music Publishing)
Additional writers: Jordan Johnson, Anton Zaslavski, Kyle Trewartha, Stefan Johnson, Michael Trewartha, Marcus Lomax
Royals (Lorde)
APRA AMCOS member co-writers:
Joel Little (Sony/ATV Music Publishing)
Ella Yelich-O'Connor pka Lorde (Sony/ATV Music Publishing)
Young Dumb & Broke (Khalid)
APRA AMCOS member co-writer: Joel Little (Sony/ATV Music Publishing)
Additional writers: Khalid Robinson, Talay Riley
Whatever It Takes (Imagine Dragons)
APRA AMCOS member co-writer: Joel Little (Sony/ATV Music Publishing)
Additional writers: Dan Reynolds, Wayne Sermon, Ben McKee, Daniel Platzman
Alive (Sia)
APRA AMCOS member co-writer: Sia (Sony/ATV Music Publishing)
Additional writers: Adele Adkins, Tobias Jesso Jr
Chained To The Rhythm (Katy Perry)
APRA AMCOS member co-writer: Sia (Sony/ATV Music Publishing)
Additional writers: Ali Payami, Katy Perry, Skip Marley, Max Martin
Chandelier (Sia)
APRA AMCOS member co-writer: Sia (Sony/ATV Music Publishing)
Additional writers: Jesse Shatkin
Cheap Thrills (Sia)
APRA AMCOS member co-writer: Sia (Sony/ATV Music Publishing)
Additional writers: Greg Kurstin
Diamonds (Rihanna)
APRA AMCOS member co-writer: Sia (Sony/ATV Music Publishing)
Additional writers: Benny Blanco, Stargate (Tor Erik Hermansen and Mikkel Storleer Eriksen)
Dusk Til Dawn (ZAYN feat. Sia)
APRA AMCOS member co-writer: Sia (Sony/ATV Music Publishing)
Additional writers: Zayn Malik, Greg Kurstin, Alexander Oriet, David Phelan
“Elastic Heart” (Sia)
APRA AMCOS member co-writer: Sia (Sony/ATV Music Publishing)
Additional writers: Diplo, Andrew Swanson
The Greatest (Sia)
APRA AMCOS member co-writer: Sia (Sony/ATV Music Publishing)
Co-writers: Greg Kurstin
Titanium (David Guetta feat. Sia)
APRA AMCOS member co-writer: Sia (Sony/ATV Music Publishing)
Additional writers: Giorgio Tuinfort, David Guetta, Afrojack
Joel Little with his awards