News

We strongly encourage MMF members managing songwriters to encourage them to vote in the upcoming PRS elections. There are 13 candidates standing, with 3 spots to fill. The MMF are supporting 4 candidates who we believe represent what we think should be represented in the PRS board. These candidates are:

Fiona Bevan
Maegan Cottone
Trevor Romeo pka Jazzie B
Daniel Poku

Information below:

Fiona Bevan

Fiona Bevan is a multi-platinum selling British/Canadian songwriter. She wrote One Direction’s hit single Little Things with Ed Sheeran which reached number 1 in 13 countries and earned them a BMI Award. Fiona has been writing hit songs for other artists including Kylie, with her number 1 album, the Steps comeback single Scared Of The Dark (iTunes number 1), and singles for Backstreet Boys with Shawn Mendes and Ryan Tedder, Lewis Capaldi, Tom Walker, Stefflon Don, Aurora, Joy Crookes, 5 Seconds Of Summer, Mika, Billie Marten, James Morrison, Natalie Prass and Matthew E. White. She has also recently been writing with Natalie Imbruglia, Lennon Stella, Lukas Nelson, Amos Lee and Luke Sital-Singh. Fiona Bevan is also a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist creating ‘startling odysseys that suggest Erykah Badu, Joanna Newsom and Kate Bush spine-tinglingly joined’ (The Guardian). Her latest EP was produced by Grammy winner Robin Baynton (Mumford And Sons, Laura Marling, Isaac Gracie), released independently, and went straight to number 2 in France, and number 7 in both the UK and Canada iTunes singer-songwriter charts. The EP was an eagerly awaited follow up to Fiona’s debut studio album, Talk To Strangers, which was included in iTunes ‘Best Of 2014’ and released in the UK, Europe, Australia, Japan, and USA and Canada in conjunction with Universal Canada. Fiona has toured with Ruston Kelly and The Wandering Hearts, after they met onstage playing at The Bluebird in Nashville. Fiona has also toured with Ed Sheeran, Nick Mulvey, Ingrid Michaelson, Adam Ant, and in Canada with Hawksley Workman, and has played onstage accompanying Anoushka Shankar and Nitin Sawhney. In 2018 she was a judge for the Ivor Novello Awards. Fiona spent lockdown creating Red Velvet Sessions, a world-class HD live stream theatre in her living room, and is now writing a new album.

Maegan Cottone

Brit Award Nominee Maegan Cottone is one of the UK’s most in demand top liners, songwriters and vocal producers having sprinkled her magic on artists as diverse as Iggy Azalea, Demi Lovato, Britney Spears, Olly Murs, Little Mix, and Kesha, to name a few. Maegan has received Double Platinum Awards for her singles Move by Little Mix, Up by Olly Murs & Demi Lovato, a Platinum Award for her UK Top 10 single Wish You Well by Sigala ft. Becky Hill and Gold Awards for her singles Salute by Little Mix and the UK Top 10 single This Is Real by Jax Jones ft. Ella Henderson. Her released works have a combined total of over half a billion streams. She is published by Phrased Differently, an independent boutique publishing label in Shoreditch, run by Hiten Bharadia, where she has remained since first signing in 2011. She lives in Surrey and is married with two young children. She comes from a single parent family, and as a working mother, can offer a unique perspective for a number of women facing daily challenges. As well as the writing credits, Maegan is also a sought-after vocal producer having notched up some mega-hits such as Sigma, Glitterball (UK #4), Black Magic (UK #1), Touch (UK #4), Reggaeton Lento (UK #5), Shout Out To My Ex (UK #1). In 2020, Maegan worked with Kylie and producer Sky Adams to write 7 songs on her latest album, Disco. In order to help and develop young writers, Maegan has recently become a mentor on a new programme run by Ultimate Seminar, and Kwame Kwaten. She is passionate about being an advocate for Young Writers in the industry.

Trevor Romeo pka Jazzie B

Before Soul II Soul were an internationally chart-topping act, they were a sound system, born out of the hard work and vision of Jazzie B, a music-obsessed kid who had grown up with older brothers all involved in the north London sound system scene. ‘It was,’ he maintains, ‘always going to be music or sport – if it hadn’t been for the sound system I wanted to be a PE teacher.’ Keen to reflect the multi-cultural street scene around him as a teenager, Soul II Soul took the technique and presentational aspects of the best reggae sound systems and applied them to a broad range of music and attracted a diverse urban crowd. A range of Funki Dred head clothing, on sale at the Soul II Soul shops consolidated their cultural icon status before the series of record releases in the 1990s turned them into a best-selling act. World domination followed as the unique SIIS sound was successful all over the world and nowhere more so than the USA, where they became the first black British band to succeed there. Jazzie’s self-determination allowed him to create a singularly black London sound, massively popular in America by virtue of the fact it was something they’d never heard before, rather than an attempt to be them. This international success meant a string of superstars including James Brown, Isaac Hayes, Public Enemy and Destiny’s Child found their way to SIIS’s Camden Town studios with production or remixing requests. Up until lockdown, SIIS’s touring schedule was busier than it had been since the Club Classics days. Re-issues of the Soul II Soul classics in vinyl and digital formats have sparked interest from a range of contemporary artists, who are now collaborating with Jazzie to bring a modern take to his legendary back catalogue.

Daniel Poku

Danny D is a music industry professional with over three decades of experience. It’s a career that has seen him span all areas of the business – starting as a DJ, then club promotions, A&R, artist, remixer, producer and currently one half of a publishing company that has transformed the music business Stellar Songs. A keen DJ and working in one of the West End’s premier venues, he got his first break at a major record company starting at Chrysalis Records working alongside Peter Edge and Simon Fuller, starting in club promotions. He quickly made the move into A&R enjoying considerable success. DSM was his first artist name which then became D-Mob and Danny scored a hit with We Call It Acieee’. The single reached No.3 in the UK and was a No.1 Billboard Dance record. D-Mob then transformed to include songwriter Cathy Dennis, with Put Your Hands Together, Come On and Get My Love and That’s the Way of the World all hit singles. His next move as label owner of Delirious Records was where he reconnected with Tim Blacksmith for the next chapter of his career. The two joined forces managing Stargate, the writer-producer team from Norway. What followed next has been over two decades of success starting first in the UK before leaving for the US. Under their guidance Stargate became world class songwriters and producers, major award winners and it is a relationship that survives and thrives to this day. Their biggest accomplishment is Stellar Songs. Founded on the collective talents of Danny and Tim the publishing company continues to enjoy enormous success with their stable of songwriters and is the model for all aspiring publishing companies everywhere.

You can read their manifestos and read about all 13 candidates here. You can read more about the PRS AGM and how to vote here.