(Reuters) - Frances Preston, a music industry pioneer and former president and chief executive of record company BMI, died on Wednesday at home in Nashville of heart failure, the label said. She was 83. A member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, Preston was a driving force in music spanning six decades as she fought for songwriters' rights and for her company's growth in representing a diverse roster of talent. Singer Kris Kristofferson called Preston "the songwriter's guardian angel," and Fortune magazine said she was "one of the true powerhouses of the pop music business." Born in Nashville on August 27, 1928, Preston began her career at the city's WSM radio station. She was hired to open BMI's southern regional office in 1958 as the first full-time performing rights representative in the Southern United States.