AWARD-WINNING MULTIPLATINUM SINGER-SONGWRITER LEANN RIMES TO RECEIVE ASCAP GOLDEN NOTE AWARD

Award Presentation and Exclusive Conversation with Variety's Chris Willman Set for October 12 ASCAP Experience Session on YouTube Premiere

NEW YORK, Oct. 6, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, will present Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, actress and author LeAnn Rimes with the ASCAP Golden Note Award in a special ASCAP Experience session broadcast @ASCAP on YouTube on October 12 at 3PM ET/ 12PM PT. With congratulatory video tributes from Reba McEntire, Diane Warren, Rob Thomas, Mickey Guyton, San Francisco Gay Men's Choir, David Gray and Aloe Blacc, the award presentation by ASCAP Chairman of the Board and President Paul Williams will segue into an exclusive conversation with Variety's Chris Willman.

In "The Story So Far: Celebrating 25+ Years of LeAnn Rimes," Rimes, marking the 25th anniversary of her debut album Blue, will talk with Willman about her remarkable life in music so far and how her artistry and her humanitarian work intertwine, including her recently released album, god's work.

"From the moment we first heard her immortal recording of "Blue" – back when she was just 13 years old – we knew that LeAnn was a voice for the ages," said ASCAP President and Chairman Paul Williams. "In the 25 years since, we have watched her navigate her evolving career with grace, artistry and humanity. Her passion, clarity and emotion have won her fans around the world and truly set her apart as a songwriter."

The ASCAP Golden Note Award is presented to genre-spanning songwriters, composers and artists who have achieved extraordinary career milestones. Previous recipients include Tom Petty, Blondie, Garth Brooks, Lee Ann Womack, Alicia Keys, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Duran Duran, Jeff Lynne, Lionel Richie, Alan Jackson, Greg Kurstin and JD Souther, among others.

This award joins Rimes' extraordinary collection of accolades, spanning back to her early teenage years. She has won 2 Grammy Awards; 12 Billboard Music Awards; 2 World Music Awards; 3 Academy of Country Music Awards; 2 Country Music Association Awards and one Dove Award. In 1997, at age 14 she became the youngest solo artist ever to win a Grammy, and in the same year became the first country artist to win Artist of the Year at the Billboard Music Awards. In the time since, Rimes has developed into a multifaceted artist venturing into pop, dance, Christian, "world Americana" and even chant music, while selling over 48 million albums worldwide. Her highly anticipated 19th album, god's work, which is her most genre-bending project to date, was released September 16 on EverLe Records.

Passionate about using her voice to help heal the world, LeAnn was honored with the Ally of Equality Award by the Human Rights Campaign for her over 20 years of support of equal rights, the 2019 HOPE Award for Depression Advocacy, and the 2009 ACM Humanitarian Award, among other recognitions. She continues to channel her voice in new ways, releasing CHANT: The Human & The Holy (EverLe Records / Thirty Tigers) in 2020, which spent 5 weeks at #1 on the iTunes New Age Chart, as well as her iHeartRadio mental health and wholeness podcast, Wholly Human, that brings her lifestyle blog, Soul of EverLe, to life.

The October 12 session with Rimes is the latest in a banner year for ASCAP Experience. So far in 2022, this year's ASCAP Experience sessions have been viewed more than 40,000 times. Sessions have included music creators from Ashanti to Latin superstar Camilo to Oscar-nominated Encanto composer Germaine Franco; from K-Pop stars Amber Liu and Justin Park to Ariana Grande hitmaker Tommy Brown and Justin Bieber collaborator Poo Bear, for discussions on a wide variety of music-related topics. Last year, ASCAP Experience saw a 39% increase in attendance and a 53% increase in RSVPs compared to the previous year, and 2022 is on track to break attendance records once again.

For more information and to see the full schedule and watch sessions on demand, go to www.ascapexperience.com/schedule

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) is a professional membership organization of songwriters, composers and music publishers of every kind of music. ASCAP's mission is to license and promote the music of its members and foreign affiliates, obtain fair compensation for the public performance of their works and to distribute the royalties that it collects based upon those performances. ASCAP members write the world's best-loved music and ASCAP has pioneered the efficient licensing of that music to hundreds of thousands of enterprises who use it to add value to their business - from bars, restaurants and retail, to radio, TV and cable, to Internet, mobile services and more. The ASCAP license offers an efficient solution for businesses to legally perform ASCAP music while respecting the right of songwriters and composers to be paid fairly. With more than 875,000 members representing more than 16 million copyrighted works, ASCAP is the worldwide leader in performance royalties, service and advocacy for songwriters and composers, and the only American performing rights organization (PRO) owned and governed by its writer and publisher members. Learn more and stay in touch at www.ascap.com, on Twitter and Instagram @ASCAP and on Facebook.

SOURCE ASCAP