The Towering Song Award is presented each year to the creators of an individual
song that has influenced the culture in a unique way over many years.
The husband and wife songwriting team of composer Barry Mann and lyricist
Cynthia Weil is one of the most illustrious in American popular music,
crafting countless hits and some of the most influential and beloved pop songs
in a career that has spanned more than four decades. Their biggest hit
—the Righteous Brothers’ “You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feelin’,” which Mann & Weil
co-wrote with Phil Spector in 1964, may be among the biggest hits anyone has
ever written. According to BMI, the performing rights organization, it remains the most played song in their repertoire with more than 10 million airplays on radio and television.
Phil Spector, known as a legendary producer, songwriter and label owner has had an indelible influence on the course of rock & roll. The “Wall of Sound” that he perfected in the early ‘60s opened unlimited possibilities for arrangements and sound construction in rock and pop, and his brilliant talents imprinted the
discs that he produced with an artistic vision that was clearly his own. In 1964
he co-wrote, with Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, and produced “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” which, as previously mentioned, became the most played song in BMI history. Spector was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.