by Karen Randle.
We were informed by one of our subscribers that one of our winners Muni Long beat out established artists such as SZA, Chris Brown to win a Grammy at the recent Grammy Awards. This is because we were not aware of her name change.
Muni Long, formerly known as Priscilla Renea won the Overall Grand Prize as well as the First Prize in the Pop category of the USA Songwriting Competition in 2017 with her song “Family Tree”. Muni Long is also now a two-time Grammy winner.
The Indian River County-born R&B singer took home the Grammy for Best R&B Performance during the Feb. 2 Grammy pre-show. She won for her performance of "Made for Me (Live on BET)" and performed the chart-topping hit at the award ceremony as well. She won in the same category at the 2023 Grammys for her song "Hrs & Hrs."
She was nominated against established artists SZA, Chris Brown, Jhené Aiko, and Coco Jones.
In her acceptance speech at the Grammys, she spoke about taking a chance on herself and becoming a new version of herself.
"Every new version of yourself requires the death of the previous you," Long said as she accepted her Grammy. "That said, please stop calling me Priscilla; it's Muni Long now."
This is her second Grammy win, she won Best R&B Performance for "Hrs & Hrs" in 2023, she also won Rising Star Award at 2025 Billboard Women in Music. As a solo artist Muni has two songs that hit #16 ("Hrs and Hrs" in 2022) and #20 ("Made for Me" in 2024) on the Billboard Hot 100 Charts.
As a songwriter, Muni has written or co-written multiple songs that charted on the Billboard Hot 100 Charts. She co-wrote the song “Timber” which was recorded by Pitbull, hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Charts for 3 weeks. She has also written or co-written songs cut by Rihanna ("California King Bed" #37 on the Billboard Hot 100 Charts), Fifth Harmony ("Worth It" #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 Charts), Ariana Grande (“Imagine” #21 on the Billboard Hot 100 Charts), Kelly Clarkson (“Love So Soft” #47 on the Billboard Hot 100 Charts), Mariah Carey ("Infinity" #82 on the Billboard Hot 100 Charts), Selena Gomez (“Who Says” #21 on the Billboard Hot 100 Charts and many more.
“It's so amazing to see how Muni Long went on to beat artists that have hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Charts like SZA and Chris Brown! So awe inspiring to see her evolving as a songwriter and vocalist. This shows that USA Songwriting Competition winners can run with the best in the music business today”, said Scott Ashley, VP of Artist Relations of USA Songwriting Competition and Amazon best selling author.
Another USA Songwriting Competition winner Wouter Kellerman, a talented South African flautist and composer won his third Grammy Award for Best New Age, Ambient, or Chant Album with his work "Triveni" alongside collaborators Éru Matsumoto and Chandrika Tandon. Wouter Kellerman won the first prize of 2017 USA Songwriting Competition in the Best Instrumental category.
The 67th Grammy Awards was held on February 2, 2025.
ABOUT USA SONGWRITING COMPETITION
USA Songwriting Competition has a long history of having winners getting recording and publishing contracts, have their songs placed on the charts as well as having their songs placed on film and television, and winning Grammy Awards.
Joanie Leeds, First Prize winner of the 2013 USA Songwriting Competition (Children's category) won a Grammy in the 2021 in the "Best Children's Music Album" category.
USA Songwriting Competition Honorable Mention winner (2017 Competition) and finalist (2018 Competition) Lucy Kalantari of New York, NY won a Grammy Award for Best Children's album at the 2019 Grammys.
Meghan Trainor (USA Songwriting Competition finalist) won Best New Artist in the 2016 Grammy Awards, making her the only winner in the top categories (Best New Artist, Song of the Year, Record of the Year, etc) of the Grammy Awards. Meghan Trainor hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Charts, and debuting #1 on the Billboard 200 Album Charts. She has a total of 9 songs that have hit the Billboard Hot 100 charts as an artist.
Christopher Tinn (USA Songwriting Competition First Prize winner, Instrumental category in 2014, Finalist in 2010) won two Grammy Awards for his classical crossover album Calling All Dawns in 2011.
Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer (USA Songwriting Competition 2011 First Prize winner, Children’s music category) have earned two Grammy Awards for their recordings “cELLAbration: a Tribute to Ella Jenkins” in 2004 and for “Bon Appétit!” in 2005. Their CDs “Postcards” and “Banjo Talkin’” were both Grammy Awards nominated in the Best Traditional Folk Album category. They have received a total of 12 Grammy nominations so far.
2013 winner American Authors was signed to Island Records, and hit #1 on the Billboard Charts and went 6X Platinum.
In its landmark 30th year, the USA Songwriting Competition is currently accepting entries. For information on the 30th Annual USA Songwriting Competition, go to: https://www.songwriting.net