The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame (CSHF) has announced the induction of 11 influential songwriters, 16 timeless songs and two Legacy Award recipients for 2010. The new honourees will be celebrated March 28 at the George Weston Recital Hall in the Toronto Centre for the Arts, during a gala event to be recorded and broadcast nationally, March 29 on CBC Radio 2’s Canada Live.

After many years of planning, the CSHF has also revealed that it will create a permanent, “bricks and mortar” home for the Hall of Fame, located at the Toronto Centre for the Arts, thanks to a newly struck strategic partnership with the TCA, located on Yonge St. in north Toronto. And a series of diverse performance events and ongoing educational initiatives have already begun under the CSHF banner, including “If You Could Read My Mind,” a Feb. 4 performance at the George Weston Recital Hall that pairs two of Canada’s most iconic songwriters, Gordon Lightfoot and Gord Downie of The Tragically Hip.

The 2010 CSHF Modern Era inductees are the members of Rush (Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart, including their songs “Limelight,” “Closer to the Heart,” “The Spirit of Radio,” “Tom Sawyer” and “Subdivisions”) and Robert Charlebois (plus his songs “Fu man chu,” “Ordinaire,” “Les ailes d’un ange,” “Demain l’hiver” and “Lindberg”). As well, six classic Canadian songs from various eras are being inducted this year: “Come Josephine in My Flying Machine” (written by Alfred Bryan and Fred Fisher, featured in James Cameron’s film Titanic), “Des mitaines pas de pouces” (Ovila Légaré), “(There’s a) Bluebird on Your Windowsill” (Elizabeth Clarke, the first Canadian song to sell a million units), “Deux enfants du même âge” (Germaine Dugas), “The Hockey Theme” (Dolores Claman) and “J’entends frapper” (Michel Pagliaro).

The CSHF will bestow the Frank Davies Legacy Award, named after the founder of the CSHF, to recorded-sound archivist Edward B. Moogk. The CMPA (Canadian Music Publishers Association) Legacy award will be given to Quebec impresario, producer and agent Guy Latraverse.

SOCAN is a core-funding partner of the CSHF and sponsor of the Modern Era inductees, while the SOCAN Foundation is a silver sponsor of the organization. For more details on the CSHF’s activities, visit www.cansong.ca.