[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 116 (Thursday, September 9, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1840-E1841]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      A SALUTE TO MARILYN BERGMAN

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 9, 1999

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, as the Board of Directors of the American 
Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) prepares to meet 
here in Washington, DC, I wish to call to the attention of all Members 
of Congress the many accomplishments of its President and Chairman of 
the Board, Marilyn Bergman.
  ASCAP, the organization Ms. Bergman now leads, is a membership 
association of over 80,000 composers, songwriters, lyricists and music 
publishers. ASCAP's function is to protect the rights of its members by 
licensing and paying royalties for the public performances of their 
copyrighted works.
  Marilyn Bergman is the first woman to be elected to ASCAP's Board of 
Directors. She brings to the leadership of ASCAP the unique experience 
of a creator, being herself an award-winning lyricist along with her 
husband, Alan Bergman. Among her many awards and honors, she has 
received three Academy Awards, three Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards and 
one Cable Ace Award.
  In collaboration with her husband, Alan, Marilyn won Oscars in 1968, 
1973 and 1984 for the songs, ``The Windmills of Your Mind,'' ``The Way 
We Were,'' and for the score for Yentl. Since their first Oscar 
nomination in 1968, they have been nominated sixteen times--for such 
songs as ``It Might Be You'' from Tootsie, ``How Do You Keep The Music 
Playing?'' from Best Friends, ``Papa, Can You Hear Me?'' and ``The Way 
He Makes Me Feel'' from Yentl and ``What Are You Doing the Rest of Your 
Life?'' from The Happy Ending. In 1996 they were nominated for both a

[[Page E1841]]

Golden Globe and an Academy Award for their song ``Moonlight,'' 
performed by Sting, from Sydney Pollack film, Sabrina.
  ``The Windmills of Your Mind'' and ``The Way We Were'' also received 
Golden Globe awards and ``The Way We Were'' earned two Grammys. The 
three Emmys are for ``Sybil,'' ``Queen of the Stardust Ballroom'' and 
``Ordinary Miracles.'' Among their principal collaborators are Michel 
Legrand, Marvin Hamlisch, Dave Grusin, Henry Mancini, Johnny Mandel, 
John Williams, Quincy Jones and James Newton Howard.
  Marilyn was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1980, and 
was a recipient of the Crystal Award from Women in Film in 1986. In 
1995 she received a National Academy of Songwriters Lifetime 
Achievement Award. In 1996 Marilyn received the first Fiorello Lifetime 
Achievement Award from New York's LaGuardia High School of Music and 
Art and Performing Arts. In 1997, the Songwriters Hall of Fame honored 
Marilyn with their Johnny Mercer Award.
  Marilyn is a member of the Executive Committee of the Music Branch of 
the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a member of the 
National Academy of Songwriters and the Nashville Songwriters 
Association. Marilyn was the only creator to serve on the Advisory 
Council to the National Information Infrastructure (NII). She is a 
founder of the Hollywood Women's Political Committee and serves on the 
Board of Directors of the Streisand Foundation.
  Ms. Bergman served two terms (1994-1998) in a leadership capacity on 
behalf of songwriters on the world stage as President of CISAC, the 
International Confederation of Performing Right Societies. In 1996 she 
received France's highest cultural honor, Commander of the Order of 
Arts and Letters medal. In June of this year, she received a cultural 
Medal of Honor from SGAE, the Spanish performing rights organization.
  Ms. Bergman was a music major at New York's High School of Music and 
Art, going on to study Psychology and English at New York University. 
She has received Honorary Doctorate Degrees from Berklee College of 
Music in Boston Trinity College in Hartford, Conn.

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