Posted by Jessica Brandon on Tue, Aug 24, 2010 @ 08:59 AM
Kate Voegele won first prize in the Pop category of the USA Songwriting Competition in 2005 and became the youngest winner at that time at just 18 years old as a teen phenom.
She went on to perform at USA Songwriting Competition showcase at SXSW (see picture below) and was signed to Interscope Records shortly after. Her winning song "Only Fooling Myself" went on to hit top 40 on the Billboard charts that year. Her 2nd album hit the Billboard 200 Album charts at #10. She has appeared on major TV shows such as "The Tonight Show", acted in "One Tree Hill" and toured with American Idol winner Jordin Sparks.
Posted by Jessica Brandon on Mon, Jan 25, 2010 @ 06:52 PM
These are the top 10 USA Songwriting Competition winners of the decade:
1. Kate Voegele (2005 USA Songwriting Competition, 1st Prize Winner, Pop) appeared on "The Tonight Show" with Conan O'Brien performing her hit song "99 Times", a Billboard Adult Top 40 Hit, peaking at #24. She hit Top 10 On Billboard 200 Albums Chart on June 15, 20. Her album "A Fine Mess" was released on Interscope/MySpace records. Her winning song"Only Fooling Yourself" hit the Billboard charts at #37.
2. Ari Gold. Winner of the 12th Annual USA Songwriting Competition (2007). After his win in the USA Songwriting Competition, Ari's winning song went on to hit #10 on the Billboard Charts, #1 on Sirius OutQ, #1 on Logo TV, etc.
3. Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer. They won the first prize in the Children's music category of the 2005 competition for their song "Scat Like That". The album of the same name won a Grammy award in the "Best Musical Album For Children" category.
4. (3 way tie) Kyler England, Gabriel Mann and Adrianne Gonzalez. Kyler England (2009 USA Songwriting Competition 1st Prize Winner), Gabriel Mann (2003 USA Songwriting Competition Overall Grand Prize Winner) & Adrianne Gonzalez (1999 Overall Grand Prize Winner) formed a Pop group "The Rescues", were just signed to Universal Republic Records in 2009.
7. Sarah Lonsert. Only 17 years old, not only broke the first prize record of being the youngest winner but also the overall grand prize winner of being the youngest winner ever. The previous youngest first prize winner was Kate Voegele, who won in 2005 at 18 years old. Adrianne Gonzalez was the youngest overall grand prize winner at 22 years old when she won in 1999. Sarah also won first prize in the Dance/Electronica category, making her the first from that category to ever win the overall grand prize. Sarah Lonsert will be releasing a full length CD earlier next year. Although Sarah suffers from autism (first autistic winner ever), she is a budding singer-songwriter and has also won the L.A. Music Awards a month before her win.
8. Darrell Scott. His song "Good Ol USA" (first prize winner of the country category in 2005) was released by Faith Hill's album in 2006.
9. Vikki Simpson. Vikki became the first non-USA based musician to ever will the overall grand prize at the USA Songwriting Competition. She achieved that in 2006. She is part of the award winning group "The Waifs".
10. Steve Tannen. Steve won the overall grand prize in 2001. He went on to get signed by Nettwerk records with his duo "The Weepies" .
Posted by Jessica Brandon on Wed, Jun 24, 2009 @ 08:46 PM
Thanks to those that have e-mailed us and asked for our other winning songs that have hit the charts. Many that have won were cut by other major artists, placed on film & TV. Here are some of the winning songs that have hit the charts:
Kate Voegele (2005 USA Songwriting Competition 1st Prize winner, Pop category) had her winning song "Only Fooling Myself" peak at #37 on the Billboard AC Charts
Ari Gold (2007 USA Songwriting Competition Overall Grand Prize Winner) has his winning song "Where The Music Takes You" currently peak at #10 (Billboard HOT DANCE/CLUB PLAY Charts). The song hit #1 on Sirius OutQ and #1 video on Logo TV channel.
Aruna Sutra's song "Break You Open" which won first prize in the Pop category in 2004, hit the US Pop charts with a peak at #45 on the R&R® (Radio & Records) CHR/Pop Top 50 chart. R&R, like Billboard, is a national publication which tracks and monitors the most prominent airplay nationwide (CHR stands for Contemporary Hit Radio).
Darryl Zerro (1999, 2000 & 2001 first Prize winner - Dance category, 1999- 1st Prize - Pop, 2000 1st Prize - Latin Category, 2000 Honorable mention award) has his winning song "Let The Joy Rise" cut by Dance diva - Abigail. It hit #1 on the Dance charts and went #9 in the Billboard Dance charts. His winning song in 2000 (First Prize - Latin category) "Chiquita Mi Senorita" was recorded by Top 10 artist - Paulina Rubio. Darryl has won a record 6 awards - five 1st prizes and one honorable mention award in a period of 3 years (1999 to 2001)