Stevie Wonder honored Quincy Jones at the virtual event, where founding president Maureen Crowe was additionally perceived.
Soul, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Promising Young Woman and The Cuban were among the film winners at the 2021 Guild of Music Supervisors Awards.
The Trial of the Chicago 7’s “Hear My Voice” won best song written and/or recorded for a film at the virtual event on Sunday night celebrating achievement in music supervision in film, TV, games, advertising and trailers.
Soul is the just one of the films nominated for best music management up for best original score at the 2021 Oscars, while “Hear My Voice” is the only song written and/or recorded for a film that is named for the Oscar for best original song.
Celeste, who performs and co-wrote the song with Daniel Pemberton, performed twice during the ceremony.
The United States vs. Billie Holiday’s Andra Day opened the show with a performance of her original song “Tigress & Tweed.” While the film wasn’t named for an honor by the Music Supervisors Guild, Day is up for the best actress Oscar for her part as Holiday.
Angelica Garcia and Darius de Haas also performed during the ceremony.
Judas and the Black Messiah won best music supervision in a trailer.
On the TV side, Watchmen won two awards: best music supervision, TV drama and best song written and/or recorded for TV for “The Way It Used to Be.” Songwriters Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are nominated for two best score Oscars for their work on Soul and Mank.
In the TV comedy or musical category there was a three-way tie with High Fidelity, Insecure and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel all triumphant.
Documentary victors were Crip Camp and The Last Dance.
The Last Dance’s Rudy Chung took advantage his time at the microphone to speak out behalf of his female Asian American and AAPI colleagues in the industry in the midst of later, troubling incidents of anti-Asian violence.
“What we saw in the awful shootings in Atlanta last month are in some ways the culmination of the racist misogyny that Asian-American women have been experiencing for generations,” Chung said. “The Asian American women I know are not submissive objects to be fetishized and are certainly not the scapegoat for any white man’s hate crime. They are some of the strongest, talented and successful colleagues in our industry and more importantly they are each their own individual and need to be respected as such. Let’s raise them up and support them and not remain silent.”
Stevie Wonder respected Quincy Jones with the Icon Award, and Kenny Ortega perceived founding president Maureen Crowe with the Legacy Award.
Wonder recalled meeting Jones when he was 14 years of age at The Apollo, saying they’ve been friends from that point forward. “I respect you. I cherish our friendship, your heart, your commitment to doing great music, not just producing it but writing it,” Wonder said before singing “I love you, Quincy / We’re friends for life.”
Jones said he was so honored by the award, “I can’t even tell you,” he said. “One of the things I’m most grateful for in life, after my children, is I was blessed to find my life’s passion: music. That journey has taken me around the world.”
Presenters included Debbie Allen, Angela Bassett, Mary J. Blige, Connie Britton, Michael Chiklis, Jacob Collier, Kevin Costner, Bryan Cranston, Clive Davis, Billie Eilish, Gloria & Emilio Estefan, Tony Hawk, Marin Hinkle, Regina King, Savan Kotecha, Jay Landers, John Legend, Michael Levine, Michael McDonald, Neil Meron, Rickey Minor, Eva Noblezada, Finneas O’Connell, Folake Olowofoyeku, Kenny Ortega, Dean Pitchford, Lionel Richie, Tony Shalhoub, Robin Thicke, Diane Warren and Paul Williams.