Photos by Sheri Determan
Rain, Hollywood protests, and ongoing freeway closures did nothing to stop a passionate room of musical aficionados from heading out to support some of 2023’s most incredible musical creatives. About the 14th annual celebration, organizer Brent Harvey shared, “It’s great to have so many music pros in one place at the same time. Ultimately, how the attendees feel while they are there – and when they leave - that’s what it’s all about.”
Kicking off with a beautifully edited opening video montage, the evening’s highlights included a fun musical opener from OK GO, Diane Warren’s performance of “The Fire Inside” (from Flamin’ Hot), and a masterful rendition of “Summertime” by Ashley Tamar Davis that shifted between funk and straight-ahead jazz. Tony, Grammy, Emmy, and 5x Oscar winner Marc Shaiman delivered an incredible rendition of ‘Which of the Pickwick Triplets Did it?” (from Only Murders In The Building) alongside Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, with the song receiving the HMMA for Song-Onscreen Performance-TV Show/Limited Series (for Steve Martin’s performance). Shaiman was also awarded the HMMA for Outstanding Career Achievement.
Winners included the Barbie movie, with an HMMA for its soundtrack, and another for Billie Eilish & Finneas’ song “What Was I Made For?”. Other top awards went to Olivia Rodrigo (for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes’ “Can’t Catch Me Now,” written with Dan Nigro), and Trolls Band Together (NSYNC’s “Better Place”). Eve Hewson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Oren Kinlan and Jack Reynor received the HMMA Onscreen Performance Award for “High Life” from Flora and Son and Nicholas Britell won best Score-TV Show/Limited Series for Succession, with Sam Ryder’s “Fought and Lost” from Ted Lasso winning best Song-TV Show/Limited Series. John Powell accepted an HMMA for documentary score composition for Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie and the award for Song – Independent Film went to Jake Miller’s “I Got You” from Holiday Twist (written by Michael Jay and Alan Demoss). Legendary Canadian songwriter Robbie Robertson received a posthumous award for Score-Feature Film for his work on Killers of the Flower Moon and the HMMA Music Documentary – Special Program award went to Immediate Family. Full winners list at: https://bit.ly/3G7ewAz
Concluded Brent Harvey, “The success of the show sits squarely on the shoulders on my team. I let them do their job and I have never been told to go away by so many people in one day. They know their gig and pulled off an immaculate show. I am just the coach and my team are the stars.”
