Summer Walker Among ASCAP’s 2023 Women Behind the Music Honorees – Billboard

Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Summer Walker, Love Renaissance Records (LVRN) exec. vp/GM Amber Grimes and Atlantic Records senior director of A&R Sammye Scott are ASCAP’s 2023 Women Behind the Music honorees. Presented by the ASCAP Rhythm & Soul department, the 15^th annual celebration will take place on Nov. 16 at The Atrium in Atlanta.

In a release announcing the 2023 honorees, ASCAP senior vp of membership and ASCAP Foundation executive director Nicole George-Middleton said, “ASCAP Women Behind the Music is such a special event for us because we get to recognize incredibly talented women who have made an impact through their art, contributions and leadership while connecting in person with our community. We are proud that we can continue this effort to inspire women to pursue careers in music, whether they are creatives or executives.”

Walker, whose 2018 breakthrough single “Girls Need Love” has reached six-times platinum, released her debut studio album Over It in 2019. The R&B project also featured the multiplatinum singles “Come Thru” and “Playing Games. She landed her first No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 2021 sophomore set Still Over It and has since released two EPs: Clear 2: Soft Life and Girls Need Love (Girls Mix). 

Grimes, who is also a partner in LVRN MGMT, oversees the daily operations of LVRN’s various divisions as well as the marketing strategies for its artist roster. Prior to joining LVRN, she was senior vp of global creative at Capitol Music Group and before that senior manager of artists & label marketing at Spotify, developing and executing campaigns for various labels and artists such as Migos, Lil Baby and Paul McCartney. Grimes is also CEO of her own full-service marketing firm, The Cardi Brand Agency.

Before segueing to Atlantic, Scott was president of A&R at BuVision. During her Atlantic tenure, she has signed emerging rap star Kaliii (breakthrough single “Area Codes”) and served as co-A&R on A Boogie wit da Hoodie’s 2018 double-platinum album Hoodie SZN.

Walker, Grimes and Scott will join previous ASCAP Women Behind the Music honorees such as Grammy-winning singer-songwriters Kandi Burruss and Kelly Rowland, Roc Nation label co-president Shari Bryant, Interscope Geffen A&M president of A&R Nicole Wyskoarko and hip-hop icons Salt-N-Pepa.