David Garcia Named ASCAP Christian Music Songwriter of the Year at 41st Annual ASCAP Christian Music Awards

FRANKLIN, Tenn., Sept. 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- With a joyous opening performance of "Danzo En El Rio" by internationally known praise and worship group Miel San Marcos, ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) kicked off its 41st annual ASCAP Christian Music Awards tonight at the Franklin Theatre in downtown Franklin, TN. 

Top songwriters, artists and executives of the Christian music industry were in attendance to celebrate the most performed ASCAP Christian music songs over the last year. Top honors were presented including:

• ASCAP Christian Music Songwriter of the Year: David Garcia
• ASCAP Golden Note Award: Russ & Tori Taff
• ASCAP Christian Music Song of the Year: "Reckless Love," written by Cory Asbury & Caleb Culver; performed by Cory Asbury; published by Bethel Music Publishing, Watershed Worship Publishing
• ASCAP Christian Music Publisher of the Year: Capitol CMG Publishing

David Garcia was presented his second ASCAP Christian Songwriter of the Year award by artist Matthew West. His most-performed songs include "Everything" (TobyMac), "Grace Got You" (John Reuben) and "The Breakup Song" (Francesca Battistelli). The multiple Grammy and Dove Award-winning songwriter and producer is nominated in several categories for this year's Dove Awards on October 15.

Multi Grammy-winning songwriter and artist Russ Taff and Grammy-nominated songwriter and author Tori Taff were honored with the ASCAP Golden Note Award which celebrates songwriters, composers and artists who have achieved extraordinary career milestones. Singer, songwriter and artist Amy Grant shared poignant memories from her decades-long friendship with the couple before they were honored with surprise performances of "I Cry" (Joseph Habedank), "We Will Stand" (Chuck Cannon) and "Table in the Wilderness" (Darrell Brown with Cedric Sesley and Out for Souls).

The songwriters and publishers of "Reckless Love" received the ASCAP Christian Music Song of the Year Award. Co-writer and recording artist Cory Asbury treated the audience to a performance of the hit.

Capitol CMG Publishing claimed the ASCAP Christian Music Publisher of the Year Award for the 17th consecutive year for songs including "All My Hope," "Do It Again," "Everything," "Resurrection Power" and more. Capitol CMG Executive Vice President Casey McGinty and his team were on hand to accept the award.

In addition to "Reckless Love," the other two top Christian song performances — "Do It Again," recorded by Elevation Worship and written by Matt Redman; and "Grace Got You," recorded by Mercy Me and written by David Garcia, Ben Glover and John Reuben — were introduced by Francesca Battistelli. Redman performed "Do It Again," while Garcia and Glover performed "Grace Got You." A total of 21 most-performed song awards were presented during the show. Notable artists in attendance included Chris Cleveland (Stars Go Dim), Pat Barrett and Sanctus Real.

About ASCAP
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 720,000 members representing more than 11.5 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

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