Ana Barbara to Receive Icon Award at the 2023 BMI Latin Awards

BMI announced on Wednesday (Feb. 15) that Mexican singer-songwriter Ana Bárbara will be honored with the Icon Award at the 30th Annual BMI Latin Awards.

Set to take place March 21 in Los Angeles, the grupero artist will become the the first regional Mexican women songwriter to receive this award, “recognizing her exceptional talent and outstanding contributions to the Latin music community since the beginning of her career nearly 30 years ago,” according to a press release. The private event will be hosted by BMI president & CEO Mike O’Neill and BMI Vice president, creative, Latin, Jesus Gonzalez. 

“As an iconic female Regional Mexican artist, whose body of work continues to be an indomitable inspiration for the creative community, we’re thrilled to name Ana Bárbara a BMI Icon,” Gonzalez said in a statement. “Dubbed as La Reina Grupera, she has forged a career that spans decades. Her artistic achievements have paved the way for the next generation of female songwriters in the genre and earned the respect of the industry at large as one of the most groundbreaking songwriters of all time. For that, we salute Ana as a true icon and look forward to celebrating all our top music creators behind some of today’s most-performed Latin songs.”

The “Bandido” singer joins an elite group of artists who have received BMI’s highest honor including Carlos Santana, Gloria Estefan, Juan Luis Guerra, Los Tigres Del Norte and Los Lobos, among others. Throughout her 30-year career — which she kicked off in the early ’90s with her self-titled debut album in 1994 — Ana Bárbara has a total of 16 entries on Billboard‘s Hot Latin Songs, four of those are top 10 hits including “La Trampa” and “Me Asusta Pero Me Gusta.” On the Regional Mexican Airplay tally, she’s entered 21 songs, five of which hit the top 10.

During the event, BMI will also recognize the songwriters and publishers of the past year’s most-performed Latin songs in the U.S. The BMI regional Mexican song, songwriter, BMI contemporary Latin song, songwriter and BMI contemporary Latin and regional Mexican publisher of the year will also be named during the ceremony.