Nashville, TN -- Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), the global leader in music rights management, brought legends and contemporary stars together to celebrate the careers of gospel giants Edwin Hawkins, Lady Tramaine Hawkins, and Kurt Carr at its 14th annual Trailblazers of Gospel Music Awards Luncheon today in Nashville.

 

In addition, the event, held at Rocketown, also recognized BMI’s Most-Performed Gospel Song of the Year: Kirk Franklin’s “I Smile.” The song, pulled from the gold-certified album Hello Fear, topped gospel charts and achieved historic crossover success while amassing more than 500,000 performances. To help celebrate this astounding achievement, The Walls Group surprised the audience with a memorable performance of the song Franklin co-penned.  

Kierra Sheard and Lisa Knowles paid tribute to the honorees.