Songwriters Hall Of Fame
Page: 2
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.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“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!
Post Malone is slated to receive the Hal David Starlight Award at the 2023 Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Dinner, which will be held Thursday, June 15, at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York.
SHOF Chairman Nile Rodgers said in a statement, “Over the last few years I have had the pleasure of watching Posty become one of the biggest artists in the world and he’s done it by writing phenomenal songs. Way before Post Malone was a superstar, he was a great songwriter, and this is his first step into the Songwriters Hall of Fame!”
According to the Songwriters Hall of Fame, 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 is meant as a balance to the Johnny Mercer Award, which is a career capper for a legendary writer. Tim Rice is this year’s winner of the Johnny Mercer Award.
Post Malone is the third recipient of the Starlight Award who hails from the world of hip-hop, following Drake, the 2011 recipient, and Lil Nas X, who received the honor last year.
Post Malone, a Universal Music Publishing Group writer, has amassed 10 Grammy nominations – though he has yet to win. His nominations include three consecutive nods for record of the year, for “Rockstar” (featuring 21 Savage), “Sunflower” (a collab with Swae Lee) and “Circles.” The latter song was also nominated for song of the year – Post Malone’s only songwriting nod to date. Posty (real name: Austin Post) co-wrote that silky smash with Louis Bell, Adam Feeney, Kaan Gunesberk and Billy Walsh. He has also nabbed two album of the year nods for beerbongs & bentleys and Hollywood’s Bleeding.
“Rockstar,” “Sunflower” and “Circles” all reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, as did “Psycho” (featuring Ty Dolla $ign). Both of the aforementioned albums had long runs at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
Inductees at the 52nd Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Dinner are Glen Ballard, Snoop Dogg, Gloria Estefan, Jeff Lynne, Teddy Riley and Liz Rose. (Sade Adu had to defer her induction due to a schedule change.)
Songwriters become eligible for SHOF induction 20 years after their first song gained wide exposure. None of the Starlight honorees (see complete list below) have yet been inducted, but many are expected to be as they reach that two-decade mark.
The Starlight Award is named in honor of Hal David, who teamed with Burt Bacharach to write dozens of pop hits from the late ‘50s to the early ‘70s. Bacharach and David were elected to the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972 and received the Johnny Mercer Award in 1996. Their 1965 classic, “What the World Needs Now Is Love,” received the organization’s Towering Song award in 2004. It was voted into the National Recording Registry this year.
Bacharach and David received a trustees award from the Recording Academy in 1997. In 2012, they became the first songwriting team to win the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.
David was chairman of the Songwriters Hall of Fame from 2000-10, and served as chairman emeritus from 2010 until his death in 2012. He was awarded the organization’s first Visionary Leadership Award in 2011.
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 the Songwriters Hall of Fame programs. Songwriters Hall of Fame is a 501(c)3 organization. Contributions are fully tax-deductible as provided by law. The non-deductible portion of each ticket is $215.
Here’s a complete list of past winners of the Hal David Starlight Award.
2022: Lil Nas X
2019: Halsey
2018: Sara Bareilles
2017: Ed Sheeran
2016: Nick Jonas
2015: Nate Ruess
2014: Dan Reynolds
2013: Benny Blanco
2012: Ne-Yo
2011: Drake
2010: Taylor Swift
2009: Jason Mraz
2008: John Rzeznik
2007: John Legend
2006: John Mayer
2005: Alicia Keys
2004: Rob Thomas
The voters who select the 2023 class of inductees into the Songwriters Hall of Fame have a highly diverse list of nominees from which to choose. The list includes rapper and entertainer Snoop Dogg, rock poet Patti Smith, Broadway writers Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, and country pros Vince Gill, Liz Rose and Dean Dillon.
Twelve performing songwriters or songwriting teams and 12 non-performing songwriters or songwriting teams are vying to join the SHOF. Three songwriters or teams in each of these two divisions will be inducted at the SHOF’s 54th Annual Induction & Awards Gala on June 15, 2023, in New York City.
A songwriter with a notable catalog of songs qualifies for induction 20 years after the first significant commercial release of a song.
Gloria Estefan, who received the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song three years ago in tandem with her husband Emilio Estefan, is nominated. So are two songwriters who have already been voted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame – Dillon and Gill.
Most of the nominees are individuals, but eight songwriting teams are vying for induction – Ahrens and Flaherty; Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart; Sandy Linzer and Denny Randell; Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham; and the individuals who comprise Blondie, The Doobie Brothers, Heart and REM.
Boyce is the only songwriter vying to be inducted posthumously. He died in 1994 at age 55.
Tom Snow and Dean Pitchford have written several big hits together, including “Let’s Hear It for the Boy” and “After All,” but they are vying here as individuals.
Pitchford won an Oscar for best original song for co-writing “Fame.” Another nominee, Michael McDonald, won a Grammy for song of the year for co-writing “What a Fool Believes.”
Six of the performing songwriter candidates have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – Smith, Jeff Lynne and the individuals who comprise Blondie, The Doobie Brothers, Heart and REM.
Eligible voting members have until 12 p.m. ET on Dec. 28 to turn in ballots with their choices of three nominees from the non-performing songwriter category and three from the performing songwriter category.
Bios, song lists and photos of the 2023 nominees can be found on songhall.org. Note: The SHOF supplied the titles of the five songs listed after each nominee’s name, but stresses that these “are merely a representative sample of their extensive catalogs.”
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”
Clem Burke / Debbie Harry / Chris Stein (p/k/a Blondie) – “Call Me,” “Heart of Glass,” “Rapture,” “One Way or Another,” “Sunday Girl”
Calvin Broadus Jr. (p/k/a Snoop Dogg) – “Drop It Like It’s Hot,” “Nuthin’ But A “G” Thang,” “Young, Wild & Free,” “Gin & Juice,” “Next Episode”
Tom Johnston / Michael McDonald / Patrick Simmons (p/k/a The Doobie Brothers) – “Listen to the Music,” “Long Train Running,” “What a Fool Believes,” “China Grove,” “Black Water”
Gloria Estefan – “Anything for You,” “Don’t Wanna Lose You,” “Words Get in the Way,” “Rhythm Is Gonna Get You,” “Let’s Get Loud”
Vince Gill – “Go Rest High on That Mountain,” “When I Call Your Name,” “I Still Believe in You,” “Don’t Let Our Love Start Slippin’ Away,” “Whenever You Come Around”
Ann Wilson / Nancy Wilson (p/k/a Heart) – “Barracuda,” “Crazy on You,” “Dog and Butterfly,” “Straight On,” “Even It Up”
Jeff Lynne (ELO – Electric Light Orchestra) – “Mr. Blue Sky,” “Don’t Bring Me Down,” “Evil Woman,” “Livin’ Thing,” “Telephone Line”
Bill Berry / Peter Buck / Mike Mills / Michael Stipe (p/k/a REM) – “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”
Sade Adu (p/k/a Sade) – “Smooth Operator,” “No Ordinary Love,” “The Sweetest Taboo,” “By Your Side,” “Is It a Crime”
Patti Smith – “Because the Night,” “Redondo Beach,” “Dancing Barefoot,” “Frederick,” “People Have Power”
Steve Winwood – “Higher Love,” “Gimme Some Lovin’,” “I’m A Man,” “Valerie.” “Roll With It”
Non-Performing Songwriters
Lynn Ahrens / Stephen Flaherty – “Journey to the Past” (Anastasia), “Once Upon a December” (Anastasia), “At the Beginning,” “Wheels of a Dream” (Ragtime), “Make Them Hear You” (Ragtime)
Glen Ballard – “Man in the Mirror,” “You Oughta Know, “Hold On,” “The Voice Within,” “The Space Between”
Dean Dillon – “Tennessee Whiskey,” “Ocean Front Property,” “Here for a Good Time,” “The Chair,” “I’m Alive”
Franne Golde – “Nightshift,” “Dreaming of You,” “Don’t Look Any Further,” “Don’t You Want Me,” “Stickwitu”
Bobby Hart / Tommy Boyce – “Last Train To Clarksville,” “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone,” “Come a Little Bit Closer,” “(Theme From) The Monkees,” “I Wonder What She’s Doing Tonight”
Sandy Linzer / Denny Randell – “Working My Way Back to You,” “Let’s Hang On,” “Lover’s Concerto,” “Native New Yorker,” “Opus 17 (Don’t Worry ‘Bout Me)”
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”
Dan Penn / Spooner Oldham – “I’m Your Puppet,” “It Tears Me Up,” “Cry Like a Baby,” “Sweet Inspiration,” “A Woman Left Lonely”
Dean Pitchford – “Footloose,” “Fame,” Holding Out for a Hero,” “All The Man That I Need,” “Let’s Hear it for the Boy”
Teddy Riley – “Make It Last Forever,” “I Want Her,” “Just Got Paid,” “I Like,” “My Prerogative”
Liz Rose – “You Belong With Me,” “Crazy Girl,” “Girl Crush,” “All Too Well,” “White Horse”
Tom Snow – “He’s So Shy,” “Let’s Hear It for the Boy,” “Dreaming of You,” “Don’t Know Much,” “After All”