BRITISH SONGWRITER DAVID FORD WINS FRENCH GRAMMY FRANCE’S ‘SONG OF THE YEAR’

17 February 2014 - Press release

Last Friday night, 14 February, British singer-songwriter David Ford was awarded the ‘French Grammy’ for ‘Song of the Year’ at France’s premier music awards ceremony, the highly prestigious ‘Les Victoires de la Musique.

The song, ’20 Ans’, was a hit in France for the legendary Johnny Hallyday in January 2013 and helped move Hallyday’s album, “L’Attente”, to 600k sales; his biggest album success for many years.

The original English version of the song was released by David Ford under the title ‘I’m Alright Now’, but after being passed over by UK radio it was pitched to Johnny Hallyday in 2012, who loved it on first listen. The French lyrics were subsequently written by Christoph Miossec.

After Friday’s awards ceremony Johnny Halliday tweeted his thanks to David Ford ‘thank you so much David Ford for this tremendous song’.

David Ford, who is managed by former Chrysalis and V2 A&R Manager Dave Wibberley, has released four solo albums through Wibberley’s own ‘Magnolia Label’; his most recent album, 2013’s ‘Charge’, received great critical acclaim both in the UK and the USA and was described by Neil McCormick in The Daily Telegraph as ‘stirring and extraordinary..a crime a songwriter this great is still operating in the margins’ though Ford has now clearly moved beyond the margins, at least in France.