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Legendary country songwriter Cindy Walker, whose most famous song is the cross-genre classic “You Don’t Know Me,” was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF) in a special event on April 19 at historic Columbia Studio A in Nashville.
The ceremony took place during a SHOF Master Session with Liz Rose, a 2023 SHOF inductee. Rose spoke fondly of her close relationship with the late songwriter and presented the award to Walker’s niece Molly Walker. Rose’s daughter Caitlin Rose performed “You Don’t Know Me,” which Walker co-wrote with Eddy Arnold, who had the initial hit with the song in 1956.
“This would’ve made her so proud,” Molly Walker said at the event. “And the thing that gets me is, when we hear Cindy’s songs, she’s still with us. I can’t tell you how much this would have meant to her and her family.”
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The event was hosted by Belmont University’s Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business. It was co-hosted by SHOF board member Fletcher Foster, who chairs the SHOF Nashville Committee.
The annual SHOF gala in June does not normally include posthumous inductions – though this year’s inductees include Steely Dan, whose Walter Becker died in 2017. The SHOF prefers the June event to have a celebratory mood. But it intends to continue hosting posthumous inductions at unique venues and special events such as this one.
“The ceremony at Columbia Studio A was warm, intimate, and respectful,” Foster said in a statement. “SHOF president and CEO Linda Moran says this now sets the stage for future posthumous inductions.”
Walker, who died in 2006 at age 87, was in the first class of inductees into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. In 1997, she became the first female songwriter to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. In 2009, Walker received the Poet’s Award from the Academy of Country Music.
In 2006, Willie Nelson’s album You Don’t Know Me: The Songs of Cindy Walker, received a Grammy nomination for best country album. Fred Foster produced the album, which was released nine days before Walker’s death. The album included “Bubbles in My Beer,” “You Don’t Know Me,” “Sugar Moon,” “I Don’t Care and “Cherokee Maiden.”
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Walker’s first recorded song was “Lone Star Trail,” recorded by Bing Crosby, the top star of the era. She wrote 50 songs that were recorded by Bob Wills, dubbed “the King of Western Swing.”
Walker even had a hit record as an artist in 1944. “When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again” reached No. 5 on Billboard’s Most Played Juke Box Folk Records, a forerunner to today’s Hot Country Songs.
Walker had numerous No. 1 hits on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart across the decades, including “Sugar Moon” (Bob Wills, 1947), “Take Me in Your Arms and Hold Me” (Eddy Arnold, 1950), “Cherokee Maiden” (Merle Haggard, 1976) and “You Don’t Know Me” (Mickey Gilley, 1981).
Ray Charles recorded “You Don’t Know Me” on his landmark 1962 album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, which topped the Billboard 200 for 14 weeks. Charles’ version of the song reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.
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Walker’s many other hits include “Don’t Be Ashamed of Your Age” (Ernest Tubb & Red Foley, 1950), “Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream)” (Roy Orbison, 1962) and “Bubbles in My Beer” and “Distant Drums” (Jim Reeves).
Walker unquestionably paved the way for such top contemporary country songwriters as Liz Rose and Hillary Lindsey. The latter is another of this year’s SHOF inductees, along with the aforementioned Steely Dan plus Timothy “Timbaland” Mosley, Dean Pitchford and R.E.M.
In addition to these inductees, Diane Warren is set to receive the Johnny Mercer Award, the organization’s top honor, and SZA is set to receive the Hal David Starlight Award, which recognizes up-and-coming talent.
Walker was a solitary writer. She once explained her approach by saying, “Picasso doesn’t have a co-painter.” But if an artist gave her the idea or title for a song, she would include them in the credits, such as Eddy Arnold, who gave her the idea for “You Don’t Know Me.”
Walker shares that tendency to write solo with Warren, this year’s Mercer Award recipient. Warren collaborates on occasion, but more often than not, she works alone.
Given the threads that link Walker with some of this year’s other inductees and honorees, it’s a shame that her induction was handled separately. The idea should be to demonstrate the common threads that unite songwriters across genres and generations.
A BMI writer, Walker wrote every day, rising at 5 a.m. with a cup of black coffee to start the day in her writing studio. She once said she knew a song was finished “…once I was ready to fight a room full of tigers not to change a single word.”
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R.E.M. will be the ninth collective of three or more songwriters to be inducted. Seven of them are performing groups. The other two teams worked behind-the-scenes.
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SZA will receive the Hal David Starlight Award at the 2024 Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction and Awards dinner on Thursday, June 13, at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City.
The award, named after the late lyricist and SHOF chairman emeritus, is presented to “gifted young songwriters who are making a significant impact in the music industry with their original songs,” according to the announcement.
It is meant as a balance to the Johnny Mercer Award, the organization’s top award, which is a career-capping honor. This year’s Mercer Award will be presented to Diane Warren. This marks only the second time that both the Mercer Award and the Hal David Starlight Award will be presented to female artists. In 2019, Carole Bayer Sager took the Mercer prize, while Halsey won the Starlight Award.
SZA will become the second Black woman to receive the honor, following Alicia Keys in 2005.
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SZA and Warren competed for an Academy Award for best original song in 2019. SZA was nominated for co-writing “All the Stars” from Black Panther; Warren for writing “I’ll Fight” from RBG, a documentary about Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Neither song won. The award went to “Shallow” from A Star Is Born.
The “Snooze” singer was the most nominated artist at the 66th annual Grammy Awards, with nine nods. She won three Grammys in February for her sophomore album SOS, though she lost the top prize, album of the year, to Taylor Swift (the 2010 recipient of the Hal David Starlight Award).
“This is such an exciting time for songwriters and music,” SHOF chairman Nile Rodgers said in a statement. “Phenomenal artists like Beyoncé and Taylor Swift are pushing the envelope of what success looks like, but who could argue that the last two years belong to SZA. Incredible songwriting, incredible performances, incredible artistry. She so deserves to be the 2024 recipient of the Hal David Starlight Award!”
SOS topped the all-genre Billboard 200 for 10 weeks and headed Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart for 24 weeks. “Kill Bill” and “Snooze” reached No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts.
Previously announced 2024 inductees are Hillary Lindsey; Timothy Mosley (aka Timbaland); Dean Pitchford; R.E.M. (Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe) and Steely Dan (Donald Fagen and the late Walter Becker).
Here’s the complete list of recipients of the Hal David Starlight Award.
2004: Rob Thomas (Matchbox Twenty)
2005: Alicia Keys
2006: John Mayer
2007: John Legend
2008: John Rzeznik (Goo Goo Dolls)
2009: Jason Mraz
2010: Taylor Swift
2011: Drake
2012: Ne-Yo
2013: Benny Blanco
2014: Dan Reynolds (Imagine Dragons)
2015: Nate Ruess (fun.)
2016: Nick Jonas (Jonas Brothers)
2017: Ed Sheeran
2018: Sara Bareilles
2019: Halsey
2022: Lil Nas X
2023: Post Malone
2024: SZA
Diane Warren is set to receive the 2024 Johnny Mercer Award at the Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Gala on Thursday, June 13 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City.
The Mercer Award, the highest honor bestowed by the SHOF, is reserved for a songwriter or songwriting team who has already been inducted into the SHOF and whose body of work upholds the high standards set by Mercer, wrote dozens of hits from the 1930s through the 1960s. Learn more about Mercer here.
Warren will bethe fourth woman to receive the award on her own, following Carole King (2002), Dolly Parton (2007) and Carole Bayer Sager (2019). In addition, three songwriting teams with a female partner have won the honor – Betty Comden & Adolph Green (1991), Alan & Marilyn Bergman (1997), and Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil (2011).
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The recipient of a second honorary award, the Hal David Starlight Award, will be announced at a later date.
Warren, 67, has won a Grammy, a Primetime Emmy and two Golden Globes. In November 2022, she became the first songwriter to receive a Governors Award from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences.
Most notably, Warren is one of just six individuals in Oscar history to receive 15 or more nominations for best original song. The other members of this elite club are Sammy Cahn (26 nominations), Mercer (18), Paul Francis Webster (16) and Marilyn and Alan Bergman (15).
Warren has been in the running for best original song the last seven years in a row. That’s the longest continuous streak of nominations in this category since Cahn was nominated eight years running – from 1954-61. Warren’s current nomination is for “The Fire Inside,” performed by Becky G for the film Flamin’ Hot. While it seems to stand little chance of beating the favorite, “What Was I Made For?” from Barbie, it’s practically a foregone conclusion that Warren will be back in the running again.
“The songwriting community is filled with many special people who have delivered incomparable songs that have made the world go round,” SHOF chairman Nile Rodgers said in a statement. “Within that special group of people, Diane Warren is unique; she is a force of nature that, despite her enormous success … she shows up to write songs every morning at 8 a.m.!”
Rodgers’ statement hints at what may be the secret of Warren’s success – a work ethic that is second-to-none.
In a statement, Warren said, “I’m beyond honored to receive the Johnny Mercer Award, especially looking at the names of the other songwriters who have gotten this great honor. When I was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, my mom was there and finally understood that I could make a living and life being what I was born to be and wake up every day loving to be… a songwriter. Now, both she and my dad will be looking down on me with big smiles on their faces. Thank you, Songwriters Hall of Fame.”
A personal note: Back in the 1980s, when I wrote the Chart Beat column in Billboard, Warren’s father called me out of the blue to tout his daughter’s chart successes, an extraordinary show of parental pride and support.
Warren has written or co-written 33 top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, spanning more than 40 years. Her first top 10 hit was Laura Branigan‘s “Solitaire” in May 1983. Her most recent was Taylor Swift’s “Say Don’t Go (Taylor’s Version) [From the Vault]” in November 2023. Swift and Warren co-wrote the song in 2013 for 1989 but it was shelved until the release of 1989 (Taylor’s Version).
Among Warren’s 33 top 10 hits, she has penned nine No. 1s, from Starship’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” in 1987 (also her first Oscar nominee for best original song) through Brandy’s “Have You Ever?” in 1999.
Warren is the sole owner of Realsongs, her publishing company, which is the most successful female-owned and operated business in the music industry.
Warren was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001, along with two other songwriters who went on to receive the Mercer Award – Parton and Paul Williams. (The other members of that especially strong class were Willie Nelson and Eric Clapton.)
Three “non-performing” songwriters – Hillary Lindsey, Timothy Mosley (Timbaland) and Dean Pitchford – and members of two groups – Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe (R.E.M.) and Donald Fagen and Walter Becker (Steely Dan) – are this year’s inductees into the SHOF.
A songwriter with a notable catalog of songs qualifies for induction 20 years after the first commercial release of a song.
Tickets for the Songwriters Hall of Fame event begin at $2,000 each, and are available through Buckley Hall Events, 914-579-1000 and SHOF@buckleyhallevents.com. Net proceeds from the event will go toward Songwriters Hall of Fame programs.
The Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF) will celebrate this year’s Oscar nominees for best original song with a virtual roundtable. The annual discussion, which is in its eighth year, is viewable for free at songhall.org from Thursday Feb. 8 at 9 a.m. PT through March 10. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest […]
Less than two weeks after she won a CMA Award for song of the year for her classic “Fast Car,” Tracy Chapman was nominated to join the 2024 class of inductees into the Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF). Twelve performing songwriters and 10 non-performing songwriters are nominated. Three songwriters from each of those categories will be inducted at the 2024 SHOF Induction & Awards Gala in New York City in June 2024.
Hillary Lindsey, who was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2022, is nominated here, as is Dean Dillon, a 2002 inductee into the Nashville SHOF.
Seven of this year’s SHOF nominees are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – George Clinton (Parliament/Funkadelic went into the Rock Hall in 1997); Donald Fagen & Walter Becker (Steely Dan was honored by the Rock Hall in 2001); Debbie Harry, Chris Stein & Clem Burke (Blondie got the Rock Hall nod in 2006); Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills & Michael Stipe (R.E.M. was honored by the Rock Hall in 2007); Ann Wilson and Nancy Wilson (Heart was saluted by the Rock Hall in 2013); Chuck D and Flavor Flav (Public Enemy went into the Rock Hall in 2013); and Tom Johnston, Patrick Simmons & Michael McDonald (The Doobie Brothers got the Rock Hall nod in 2020).
Becker, who died in 2017, is this year’s only posthumous nominee.
Kenny Loggins and Dean Pitchford, who collaborated on Loggins’ 1984 smash “Footloose,” a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, are separately nominated.
Fourteen songwriters are nominated as individuals. Five two-member teams are nominated, as are two three-member teams and one four-member team (the former members of R.E.M.)
A songwriter with a notable catalog of songs qualifies for induction 20 years after the first significant commercial release of a song. Eligible voting members have until midnight ET on Dec. 27 to turn in ballots, with their choices of three nominees from each category.
Here’s the complete list of SHOF’s 2024 nominees. The SHOF supplied the five song titles that are listed after each songwriter’s name. The organization stresses “Please note that the five songs listed after each nominee are merely a representative sample of their extensive catalogs.” In many cases here, that’s an understatement.
Performing Songwriters
Bryan Adams – “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You,” “Heaven,” “All For Love,” “Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman?,” “Summer of ’69”
Randy Bachman & Burton Cummings – “These Eyes,” “American Woman,” “Laughing,” “No Time,” “No Sugar Tonight”
Debbie Harry, Chris Stein & Clem Burke p/k/a Blondie – “Call Me,” “Heart of Glass,” “Rapture,” “One Way or Another,” “Sunday Girl”
Tracy Chapman – “Fast Car,” “Talkin’ ‘Bout a Revolution,” “Give Me One Reason,” “Baby Can I Hold You,” “Sing for You”
George Clinton – “Atomic Dog,” “Flashlight,” “(Not Just) Knee Deep,” “P-Funk,” “Give Up the Funk”
Tom Johnston, Patrick Simmons & Michael McDonald p/k/a Doobie Brothers – “Listen to the Music,” “Long Train Runnin,’” “What a Fool Believes,” “China Grove,” “Black Water”
David Gates – “Everything I Own,” “Make It With You,” “Baby I’m-a Want You,” “The Guitar Man,” “If”
Ann Wilson & Nancy Wilson p/k/a Heart – “Barracuda,” “Crazy on You,” “Dog and Butterfly,” “Straight On,” “Even It Up”
Kenny Loggins – “Danny’s Song,” “Footloose,” “Celebrate Me Home,” “Return to Pooh Corner,” “What a Fool Believes”
Carlton Douglas Ridenhour p/k/a Chuck D, William Jonathan Drayton p/k/a Flavor Flav, p/k/a Public Enemy – “Fight the Power,” “Bring the Noise,” “Don’t Believe the Hype,” “Can’t Truss It,” Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos”
Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills & Michael Stipe, p/k/a R.E.M. – “Losing My Religion,” “Everybody Hurts,” “It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine),” “Radio Free Europe,” “The One I Love”
Donald Fagan & Walter Becker p/k/a Steely Dan – “Reelin’ in the Years,” “My Old School,” “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number,” “Black Friday,” “Kid Charlemagne”
Non-Performing Songwriters
L. Russell Brown – “Sock It to Me – Baby!,” “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree,” “C’mon Marianne,” “Knock Three Times,” “Use It Up and Wear It Out”
Dean Dillon – “Tennessee Whiskey,” “Ocean Front Property,” “Here For a Good Time,” “The Chair,” “I’m Alive”
Dennis Lambert & Brian Potter – “Ain’t No Woman (Like the One I’ve Got),” “Don’t Pull Your Love,” “Nightshift,” “One Tin Soldier (Theme from Billy Jack),” “We Built This City”
Hillary Lindsey – “Jesus Take the Wheel,” “Blue Ain’t Your Color,” “Girl Crush,” “Always Remember Us This Way,” “Million Reasons”
Tony Macaulay – “Baby Now That I’ve Found You,” “Build Me Up Buttercup,” “Don’t Give Up On Us,” “Last Night I Didn’t Get To Sleep At All,” “Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)”
Timothy Mosley p/k/a Timbaland – “Sexy Back,” “Get Yer Freak On,” “Pony,” “Big Pimpin,’” “The Way I Are”
Roger Nichols – “We’ve Only Just Begun,” “Rainy Days and Mondays,” “I Won’t Last a Day Without You,” “Out in the Country,” “Times of Your Life”
Dean Pitchford – “Footloose,” “Fame,” “Holding Out for a Hero,” “All the Man That I Need,” “Let’s Hear It for the Boy”
Maurice Starr – “Candy Girl,” “I’ll Be Loving You (Forever),” “Is This the End,” “Step by Step,” “Popcorn Love”
Narada Michael Walden – “How Will I Know,” “Freeway of Love,” “Who’s Zoomin’ Who,” “I Don’t Wanna Cry,” “I Shoulda Loved Ya”
Co-written with: Michael Jackson and Bernard Belle
Recorded by: Michael Jackson
Chart peak: No. 3, Hot 100, March 7, 1992
This record that was all about the hook: “Do you remember the time when we fell in love?” I put myself in that position with my fiancé at that moment, because we were falling out of love, and I always go back to that line. I was with Michael and he listened to four [of my] demos before that song, and we got to that fifth track — and after hearing it for like 16 bars, Michael said, “Stop.” I actually thought I was getting fired. And the next thing I know he said, ‘Can I talk to you in my office?’
And I go into the office, and I’m nervous as hell. This is my first time playing demos for him. And I see is this beautiful collage he was working on. I made him use that as the cover for the album, but that’s a different story. He said, “What is that first chord?” I said to him, “I don’t know. I can’t name the chord for you.” He gave a little laugh and said, “I’m not trying to put you on the spot, I just want you to know that you have blown me away with that chord. I’ve never heard it in my whole entire career.” It’s actually a C 7 augment. So you’re playing C, E, G, B flat, E flat. It’s a church chord.
When we finally get to the studio to start recording vocals after we got the lyrics from my friend Bernard Belle — who I have to mention, because he just took new jack swing to the next level — Michael comes in and sings the first verse. And we all get excited. And then he takes a break, and we think he’s going to work out with his vocal coach Seth Riggs, and [he] keeps us waiting. So I go in the back and I say, “Seth, where is Michael?” He had slipped out the back. And then Michael calls me. He’s on a plane going to Switzerland. He didn’t mention it. This just gives the people an idea that creativity has no time. It’s whenever, whatever, however. I was just floored.
Just two days before the 2023 Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Dinner, the organization announced that “for personal reasons,” Snoop Dogg has deferred his induction. However, the artist born Calvin Broadus Jr. intends to be inducted with the class of 2024 on June 13, 2024.
Snoop is the second of the seven songwriters who were originally announced as inductees on Jan. 13 to back out. Sade Adu also withdrew, with the SHOF saying only that she will be inducted with a future class.
The five other inductees who were announced five months ago – Glen Ballard, Gloria Estefan, Jeff Lynne, Teddy Riley and Liz Rose – are still onboard. In addition, Tim Rice will be honored with the Johnny Mercer Award, the organization’s highest honor. Post Malone will receive the Hal David Starlight Award, which “was established to honor gifted songwriters who are at an apex in their careers and are making a significant impact in the music industry via their original songs,” according to the SHOF.
The 52nd annual Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Dinner is slated for Thursday at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City.
The SHOF also announced that Louis Bell, Jacob Dickey, Emilio Estefan, Sasha Estefan, Doug E. Fresh, Myles Frost, Heather Headley, Alan Menken, Valerie Simpson, Keith Sweat and Joe Walsh, among others, will either present and/or perform at the event.
Menken and Rice shared an Oscar for best original song and a Grammy for song of the year for their ballad “A Whole New World” from Aladdin. Emilio Estefan is Gloria Estefan’s husband. Sasha is their 10-year-old grandson. Frost won a Tony last year for his performance as Michael Jackson in MJ. Riley worked with the superstar on such tracks as “Remember the Time.” Riley also worked with Keith Sweat on his 1992 hit “Why Me Baby?” (featuring LL Cool J).
Many of the other presenters and performers also have ties to the inductees and honorees.
There are approximately 400 inductees in the Hall of Fame. A songwriter with a notable catalog of songs qualifies for induction 20 years after the first commercial release of a song.
When Gloria Estefan becomes part of the Songwriters Hall of Fame this Thursday (June 15) in New York, it will be a historic moment for the Hispanic community in the United States.
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“Gloria is the first female Latina to be inducted into the SHOF,” confirms Linda Moran, the organization’s president/CEO, to Billboard. She will be honored alongside one of her favorite musicians, Glen Ballard, as well as Sade Adu, Snoop Dogg, Liz Rose, Jeff Lynn and Teddy Riley.
Since rising to stardom in the 1980s as the lead vocalist for the Miami Sound Machine — alongside her husband, visionary producer Emilio Estefan — Gloria Estefan has helped infuse Latino flavor into English-language pop music, breaking barriers with hits like “Conga” and “Rhythm is Gonna Get You,” and singing at the same time en Español.
On the charts, she has placed 29 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, including three No. 1 hits (“Anything For You” in 1988, “Don’t Wanna Lose You” in 1989 and “Coming Out of the Dark ” in 1991) — as well as 30 hits on Hot Latin Songs, 15 of which reached the top spot (from “No Me Vuelvo A Enamorar” in 1986 to “Hotel Nacional” in 2012).
With credits that also include “Words Get In The Way” and “Let’s Get Loud,” the Cuban-born Grammy- and Latin Grammy-winning superstar has sold over 100 million records worldwide and continues to write and record music. Last year, she released the Estefan Family Christmas album with her family, and most recently she co-wrote “Gonna Be You” with Dolly Parton, Belinda Carlisle, Cyndi Lauper and Debbie Harry for the comedy film 80 For Brady. (Oh, and she also returned to the screen as an actress in a 2022 remake of Father of the Bride, opposite Andy Garcia.)
“It still makes me very happy to write songs, and it’s always a surprise when something comes along,” Estefan tells Billboard Español. “It is nice that it has happened so many times and that it is receiving such a great honor. As long as I have something to say, you’ll be hearing from me.”
Among this year’s Songwriters Hall of Fame honorees, Estefan is one of four who first rose to fame as part of a group (the others are Sade’s Sade Adu; ELO’s Jeff Lynne and Guy’s Teddy Riley.) She’s also one of three who were born outside the United States (Adu was born in Nigeria, Lynne in England.)
This is the latest in a series of important recognitions for the artist, who in 2017 was awarded at the Kennedy Center Honors and in 2019 received the Gershwin Award for Popular Song along her husband.
Below, Gloria Estefan answers 20 questions ahead of her induction in Songwriters Hall of Fame.
1. Congratulations on this new recognition. How did you find out?
Emilio. Everyone calls Emilio when they are going to give him good news. First, he is my manager — but he likes to be the one who tells me. He came into the kitchen and I already know [something is going on from] his face. I said, “What is it?” “They’re going to give you the prize.” We have been nominated for several years and you never know. There are many songwriters who deserve this. I’m very happy.
2. As a Cuban immigrant, how do you receive this distinction?
Look, as an immigrant — not so much for me, because I think we came here to do what we love. What this means is that there is the freedom in this country to be able to achieve whatever dream you have. For me, lyrics and music have been something that had me sit with the records and read who wrote everything. I read the lyrics, I absorbed them! It helped me through very difficult times.
So as a young female musician back then, the music of others was my lifeline in difficult times, with my father’s illness [Ed. note: Estefan’s father has suffered from multiple sclerosis since she was a child.] Music has always been the most beautiful thing in my life, so the fact that my songs are that for other people is something really special — it’s a privilege that I don’t take lightly.
3. What was the first song you wrote and what do you remember from that moment?
I did a parody about our lives at my high school alma mater. [Laughs.] I actually did poetry as a kid, but that has to be the first song I ever wrote: a parody of Our Lady of Lourdes Academy. Do you know whose music it was? There was a comedian named Tom Lehrer, and he had all these songs that were funny — but serious, intellectual, they were smart and he had something to say. So I put lyrics about my school in one of his songs. That was my first song. I was 14 or 15.
4. What was the last one that you wrote, even if you haven’t published it?
Just before Thanksgiving. I felt inspired by certain things, I went out and I was with my guitar sitting there in the patio and I did it in about an hour. I really want a country star to sing it for me. It is in English. I still can’t [say what it’s called], but I like it a lot.
5. Which of your songs is your favorite or has a special place in your heart?
What kind of question is that? Do you have any children?
Three, and they are all my favorites.
Ahhh, there you have it. There are some special ones for different reasons. “Con Los Años Que Me Quedan,” I had written that song in English for the album I was working on and it didn’t fit into it. When we were writing Mi Tierra, I told Emilio, “I have a melody that I love that I think would be a tremendous song” — I reminded him of it, because I always play everything for him. And he said, “Oh, and I have the idea of a hook for that in Spanish.” We sat down and rewrote it. That one is special, because it’s the first one we wrote together.
[Also] “Anything For You,” our first No. 1 [on the Hot 100]. It kind of went through me — it wasn’t really thought out, it was like an inspiration of a feeling and it just came out.
6. How is your songwriting process? Do you have any ritual that works for you or do songs just come to you?
When I was in all the hustle and bustle of writing original records, at that time, yes: You’d finish the shows and you’d go into the studio, you’d have to write, you got ready for that. My life was a lot less complicated back the; I just was touring or doing a record, one thing or the other. Now there are endless things that pull you — but look, that song [that I mentioned before] was born naturally.
Every time I write I think, “I will never be able to do it again.” It’s like being pregnant [Laughs.] When you have a baby, you say never again, and then you think, “Wow, this didn’t exist before, how nice to be the vehicle for that.” Inspiration absolutely requires an idea, the hook or an emotion that you are expressing. With each one it is different. There is a craft — which is knowing that I can do this verse better, I can find another way to express this or a better rhyme for it — and there is inspiration, which is 15 minutes.
7. Who have been your biggest influences as a songwriter?
Carole King, as a child. Stevie Wonder. Elton John. The Beatles; I was the biggest Beatles fan. All of them. I admired the novelty of it, like Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, I would listen to it and listen to it and listen to it, and I would read the lyrics and say, “What is this about?” because I was a girl. And it kind of opened my mind. That and Stevie Wonder. Songs in the Key of Life, Innervisions. It’s not that I said “I want to be like them”, it’s that their music touched my soul.
8. How do you enjoy writing more today? Alone or accompanied?
Look, when you are looking for something new, obviously the fusion is spectacular. Me and Diane Warren — she doesn’t write with anyone, she’s lonely, and so am I. I prefer to write alone, because a lot goes on in my head. I always write by hand, because I like to have a big notebook to put all the ideas I’m having — but with her, something else came out, we would bounce things off each other and sometimes we’d end up with a really dirty skit before the song. ¡Ay Dios mío! We laughed a lot, so that was enjoyable. Emilio likes to write down all the ideas, and then I develop them. But I definitely like it better alone.
9. From the Latin music market, who have you enjoyed working with?
[Peruvian singer-songwriter] Gian Marco is spectacular, he’s a poet. I would listen to his songs and say, “Gian Marco, this can sound amazing in English,” and Emilio would give him some ideas. For example, “Tu Fotografía” arose from a photo of Emilio’s parents getting married in Cuba that we had in the living room — and Emilio said that every day, when he saw that photograph and saw his parents, you know, he could see his whole life ahead, and what would happen when he was not there.
Then Gian Marco was inspired. I think we were in the Dominican Republic when we wrote that song, and when he gave it to me, I thought of my [own] father and said, “Your picture.” I have lived my father more in photos in reality, so it is a spectacular collaboration. I admire him very much.
10. As a songwriter, are you more of a morning person or a night person?
Oh, most of my songs have been born between midnight and 6:00 a.m., when my husband is asleep, my children are asleep, no one bothers me. And I think that 3 in the morning is very spiritual cosmically. Most people are sleeping in our hemisphere and it kind of opens the channel of inspiration a bit. But the other day I wrote at 5:00 in the afternoon out there. It was beautiful. There was sunset, it was very windy, but I had the inspiration, so.
11. What song by another artist, in English or Spanish, would you have liked to write?
So many. I always say “Man in the Mirror,” that Glenn Ballard worked on with Michael [Jackson] — and he’s also being inducted to the Songwriters Hall of Fame. I really admire his music: Jagged Little Pill [by Alanis Morrissette], I still hear it and go “wow, this is groundbreaking” — and it’s because it’s real, a lot came out from Alanis’ emotion at the time. But the songwriters, they nailed it. It was spectacular.
12. Any contemporary singer-songwriter that has impressed you lately?
There are many. I love Rosalía; I think she sings and has chops and does interesting things. When I’m at home getting ready, I put on pop music, and I love to see that there are so many women [having success right now]. And I love country. It’s hard to point out a singer-songwriter right now, besides Gian Marco who I love. I just did a song for Diane Warren with Debbie Harry, Dolly Parton, Belinda Carlisle and Cyndi Lauper (“Gonna Be You” for the movie 80 For Brady). That was fun.
13. What did you enjoy the most about that experience?
I actually liked the song — I thought it captured the ’80s, that era a little bit, and it’s 80-year-olds in the movie and we were able to collaborate with women who in the ’80s were doing our thing. So, it was interesting. It was good. And to be with Dolly — I love Dolly Parton, I admire her a lot.
14. Is there a perfect song for you?
The only perfect song is the one that moves your soul, makes you cry, or gives you goosebumps. The one that touches someone’s heart or mind. That’s the beauty of music, that there is an incredible variety. I get moved by many genres, many artists.
15. Can you name one song that moves you in particular?
“Chances Are” by Johnny Mathis. It takes me back to a time in my life when I was a little girl, my mother would put the record on and I would sit down and listen to it. Later I bought the record and played it. Johnny Mathis has a voice that means a lot to me in my life, it’s a time.
16. Last year we saw you again as an actress in Father of the Bride, and this year Emilio plays the father of Jeff Bezos in Bezos: The Beginning. Did you give him any advice or guidance for his acting debut?
Emilio shouldn’t be given advice… Jeff Bezos’ father wanted Emilio, and Emilio told him: “I don’t memorize anything, I’m going to say what I want.” [Laughs.] Only Emilio Estefan can do that. He invented his own script, and he did a spectacular job, because it really came from his heart. I tell him jokingly that he’s on the English pill, because all of a sudden he’s speaking perfect English — and I’m like, “What happened?”
17. As part of a family of musicians, what is a typical day like at home? Do you constantly listen to music or do you prefer some silence?
There’s always some news show playing in the kitchen. Emilio watches the news early in Spanish. I listen to music when I’m getting ready, when I’m putting on makeup to go out. Now more than before, because before I had it so much in my life that I wanted silence at home.
18. And what do you listen to?
I use playlists. In Apple Music I play pop, which I really like. I play country, which has songs with very emotional stories. I heard dance the other day; I really like Tiësto, what he’s doing. I like to explore. Muisc for me it’s more of a mood than a specific artist. I love Pink, I listen to her entire album.
19. Are you going to sing at the Songwriters Hall of Fame ceremony? If so, what?
Yes, they told me two songs: One that someone else will sing, and one sang by me. What do you think I should sing?
Well, it’d be nice if you sang something in Spanish, maybe one of the songs you have in both languages, do a verse in Spanish and another in English.
Good idea!
20. If you could sing only one single song for the rest of your life, yours or from another artist, what would it be?
“Mi Tierra.” I didn’t write it, but it touches my heart.
The Songwriters Hall of Fame announced on Thursday (May 4) that Post Malone will receive the Hal David Starlight Award at its 2023 Induction and Awards Dinner, which is slated for Thursday, June 15, at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York.
According to the SHOF, Hal David Starlight Award recipients are “gifted young songwriters who are making a significant impact in the music industry with their original songs.” The award, named after the lyricist who is best known for the many classic hits he co-wrote with Burt Bacharach, was introduced in 2004. Rob Thomas was the first recipient.
None of the Starlight honorees have yet been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, but many are expected to be as they become eligible. Songwriters become eligible 20 years after their first song gained wide exposure. Five early recipients of the Starlight Award – Thomas, Alicia Keys, John Mayer, John Rzeznik and Jason Mraz – are already eligible. (Mraz’s breakthrough hit first made the Billboard Hot 100 20 years ago this week.)
Most of the Starlight Award honorees are best known for their solo work, but a handful are also known for their work with groups – Thomas (Matchbox Twenty), Rzeznik (Goo Goo Dolls), Dan Reynolds (Imagine Dragons), Nate Ruess (Fun.) and Nick Jonas (Jonas Brothers).
One Starlight recipient, Benny Blanco, is best-known for songs he has written for other artists. Blanco didn’t hit the Hot 100 as an artist until 2018, when he scored with “Eastside,” a collab with Halsey (another Starlight recipient) and Khalid.
Three of the Starlight Award recipients — Keys, John Legend and Ruess (as a member of Fun.) won the Grammy Award for best new artist, which is a similar vote of confidence in a promising young talent.
The SHOF’s inner circle selects the nominees for each year’s induction class. The final choices are made by the Hall’s voting members. But you could give the SHOF a little guidance on which recipient of the Hal David Starlight Award you would most like to see voted in. Are you pulling for Keys, who was the first woman to receive the honor? Legend, who went on to become an EGOT? Drake, the first hip-hop artist/writer to be honored? Ed Sheeran, the only Brit to receive the honor? Taylor Swift, who was mostly known as a country artist when she got the honor in 2010, but has since made a spectacular transition to pop?
Here’s a complete list of winners of the Hal David Starlight Award (with the year they received the honor). Who do you think is most deserving of a spot in the Songwriters Hall of Fame? Vote!
