Northern Irish singer-songwriter Morrison took the
prestigious "Johnny Mercer Award" reserved for Hall inductees -
just a week after he was knighted for services to music in the
Birthday Honours list of Britain's Queen Elizabeth.
Lady Gaga was handed the first "Contemporary Icon Award" to
honor "a songwriter-artist who has attained iconic status in pop
culture".
Both received their gongs at the organization's 46th annual gala
in New York on Thursday night, when new inductees included
country music writer Bobby Braddock, singer-songwriter Linda
Perry and "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" singer Cyndi Lauper.
Grateful Dead guitarist and songwriter Jerry Garcia was honored
posthumously alongside the band's lyricist Robert Hunter. "Hoochie
Coochie Man" songwriter Willie Dixon, who died in 1992, was also
on the roster.
"I have some really wonderful fans in the industry who really
believe in me," Lauper, 61, said on arrival at the ceremony.
"I'm blown away."
(Reporting By Reuters Television in New York; Writing by
Marie-Louise Gumuchian in London; editing by John Stonestreet)
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