The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (or ASCAP to their mates) held their annual award for British writers and publishers in London last night. Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens of course) was named Songwriter Of The Year, and took the Song Of The Year gong for his 1967 song 'First Cut Is The Deepest'. Keane took the ASCAP College Award for their debut album 'Hope And Fears', while the Publisher Of The Year gong went to BMG Music Publishing.
The UK bash followed ASCAP's main awards event in the US earlier this week. There Kenny Chesney took the Voice of Music Award, Craig Wiseman of group Rascal Flatts was named ASCAP's Songwriter Of The Year while the song 'Live Like You Were Dying', a Tim McGraw hit on which Wiseman shares writing credit, was named Song Of The Year.