GRAMMY winner Booker T. Jones and Seattle-based multiplatinum songwriter Sue Ennis have joined the Recording Academy’s National Advocacy Committee, a body comprising leading performers, producers, songwriters, and studio engineers that works to advance the interests of the music creators the Academy represents.
As the leader of the instrumental group Booker T. & The MG's, the house band at Stax Records, Jones stands as an R&B/soul pioneer. An Academy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, he has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Musicians Hall of Fame. The Booker T. & The MG's classic "Green Onions" was inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame in 1999.
Ennis, a current Recording Academy Trustee, is known for writing Heart classics such as "Dog & Butterfly," "Straight On" and "Even It Up," among others, with GRAMMY nominees Ann and Nancy Wilson. She will co-chair the Committee with GRAMMY-winning producer Rodney Jerkins.
Jones and Ennis join existing Committee members Jerkins, KEM, Ann Mincieli, Academy Chair John Poppo, and Nile Rodgers.
As noted by Jones and Daryl P. Friedman, Chief Industry, Government, & Member Relations Officer of the Recording Academy, in an interview with Billboard, the Committee's forthcoming agenda will include advancing support for important issues affecting music creators, including the Fair Play Fair Pay Act and the Allocation for Music Producers Act.
"We have a gargantuan task of informing and re-informing lawmakers about the inequities that exist in compensation for the creative arts, especially music," Jones told Billboard. "Authors Will and Ariel Durant wrote about the five necessities for a society to be happy and one is the cultural aspect. You can have food, water and other necessities, but if you don’t have culture, society is going to fall ill. The U.S. needs to be the leader in this area instead of falling behind."
