Yusuf Islam, who rose to fame in the 1970s as Cat Stevens, has won a second consecutive award for songwriter of the year in Britain.
The award was handed out during performing rights group ASCAP's annual U.K. awards ceremony Wednesday. The event honors the top British writers and publishers represented by the group. ASCAP collects royalties on behalf of its members from public performances of their compositions, such as on TV and the radio. Rival firm BMI held its awards ceremony last week, but does not have an award for its top songwriter. Islam's oft-covered "First Cut is the Deepest" was one of ASCAP's top songs last year.
ASCAP song of the year honors went to Coldplay's "Speed of Sound." The band's "Clocks" was also one of ASCAP's top songs. At the BMI event, the song of the year was "Listen to Your Heart," written by Roxette frontman Per Gessle and Mats Persson, which was recently covered by Belgium-based duo D.H.T.
Other multiple ASCAP winners included AC/DC for "Back in Black" and "You Shook Me All Night Long," Dido for "Thank You" and "White Flag," U2 for "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and "Vertigo," and Robert John "Mutt" Lange, the co-writer of wife Shania Twain's "Forever and For Always" and "You're Still the One." Twain, a BMI member, was honored last week for "You're Still the One."
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