British CMA holds 4th Awards Dinner
LONDON: Slim Whitman was revealed as Entertainer of The Year when the Country Music Association (Great Britain) Ltd. held Its Fourth Annual Awards Dinner at London’s Inn on the Park. Charley Pride and Dottie West were announced as winners of the US Male and Female Vocalist categories respectively while, in the British sections, the Awards were received by Bryan Chalker and Olivia Newton-John.
The Dinner was attended by over 300 guests, many of them from the US and UK music industry, and the Awards were presented by visiting American entertainers Chet Atkins and Tompall Glaser. Among the other Guests of Honor who attended the dinner were Mary Reeves Davis, widow of the late Jim Reeves, Danny Davis, Hank Snow, Bobby Bare, Dot-tie West and Jim Ed Brown.
In his chairman’s speech, Jim Bailey laid emphasis upon the continuing growth of country music during recent years and announced that the CMA (GB) would shortly be launching a massive recruitment campaign in which to draw more companies, and individuals, into the Association.
In addition, Bailey challenged the Music Papers, Record Companies, Publishing Organisations and the Radio and TV companies to take full advantage of the wealth of material that existed in the country music catalogues. He added that many of these outlets had not yet realized the music’s full potential and, in many cases, the surface had only been lightly touched.
A complete listing of Award Winners are: Entertainer of the Year, Slim Whitman, (American Section) Male Vocalist of The Year: Charley Pride, Female Vocalist of the Year: Dottie West, Most Promising Artist: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Album of the Year: “Collection”-Slim Whitman (UA), Song of the Year: “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” (British Section), Male Vocalist Of The Year: Bryan Chalker. Female Vocalist Of The Year: Olivia Newton-John, Best Group Of The Year: The Hillsiders, Most Promising Artist/Group of the Year: Brian Maxine, Record Company of the Year: RCA Records.