Managers, Producers Lauded At MMF Gala  

Hot record producer Mark Ronson and former Pink Floyd managers Peter and Sumi Jenner were among the executives feted last night during the Music Managers Forum Roll of Honour gala, held at London's Hilton Hotel.A New York City-based Brit, Ronson was named producer of the year. His production skills can be heard on a flurry of recent chart successes, including Amy Winehouse's "Back To Black" (Island) album and Lily Allen's "Alright, Still" (Regal) and works by Christina Aguilera and Robbie Williams.Ronson has stepped out with his own album, "Version" (Columbia), from which three tracks are currently sitting in the top 75 of the Official U.K. Singles Chart. His soul-tinged cover of the Smiths' track "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" is currently No. 2 in Britain, and moves 21-11 on the Eurochart Hot 100 Singles.Melbourne, Australia-born singer Daniel Merriweather, who performs vocals on the single, was on hand to give present Ronson with his award, telling the audience: "he is the future for music."Twenty-First Artists' Todd Interland, the U.S. manager who has guided the careers of Elton John and James Blunt, was named manager of the year. Interland earned one of the biggest cheers of the night when he concluded his speech by saying, "the U.K. record business is the best in the world."Dave Matthews Band manager Coran Capshaw took out the international manager award, while the Who's manager Bill Curbishley received the prestigious "Peter Grant" award. The title, named for the late Led Zeppelin manager, is given in recognition of outstanding achievement.The warmest applause was saved for Peter and Sumi Jenner -- the management team behind Pink Floyd and Billy Bragg -- who were inducted into the Roll of Honour inductees. "A manager can do a lot for an artist," Bragg told the audience. "I was lucky because mine was a radical."BBC TV producer Mark Cooper ("Later With Jools Holland") was also inducted. This year's ceremony introduced a new association with sponsor TixDaq, a company established last year to provide analysis of the secondary ticketing market, including a weekly chart of the top grossing tickets in the secondary market.