Songwriters Hall of Fame 2013 Nominees For Induction Announced

New York, NY – October 11, 2012 – Jimmy Webb, Chairman of the Songwriters Hall of Fame has announced the slate of 2013 nominees for induction. The organization, which is dedicated to recognizing the work and lives of those composers and lyricists who create popular music around the world, holds annual elections to determine those who will make up the roster of inductees for the following year. Eligible voting members will have until December 17th, 2012 to turn in ballots with their choices of three nominees from a non-performer and two from a performer category. For information with which to register or renew as a voting member before November 19th in order to participate in this election, please go to songhall.org/join.

The 2013 Annual Awards Gala will take place at the New York Marriott Marquis on Thursday, June 13th.

The nominees are:
(*Note that the five songs listed after each nominee are merely a representative sample of their extensive catalogs)

Non-Performer Songwriters

Bobby Braddock

Bobby Braddock served as Marty Robbins’ pianist, with Robbins returning the favor by recording Braddock’s “While You’re Dancing” for the songwriter’s first chart record in 1966. Braddock’s first No. 1 hit came two years later with Tammy Wynette’s classic “D-I-V-O-R-C-E,” and he would go on to score more hits for Wynette and then husband George Jones, including “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” the Country Music Association Song of the Year in 1980 and 1981 and considered by many to be the greatest country music song. Inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1981, Braddock was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2011.

Key songs in the Braddock catalog include “Would You Catch A Falling Star?” “D-I-V-O-R-C-E,” “Golden Ring,” “He Stopped Loving Her Today” and “Time Marches On.”

Don Covay

A Pioneer Award recipient from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation, Don Covay took his beginnings as a performer in a family gospel quartet to a minor career as an r&b artist in the late 1950s and early ‘60s. But his big success came with his songwriting: Chubby Checker had a No. 1 hit with his “Pony Time,” Aretha Franklin won a Grammy with his “Chain Of Fools,” and his hit “Mercy Mercy” was notably covered by The Rolling Stones. Steppenwolf, Bobby Womack, Wilson Pickett and The Small Faces are among other artists who have scored with songs by Don Covay.

Key songs in the Covay catalog include “Chain Of Fools,” “Sookie, Sookie,” “Mercy, Mercy,” “Tonight’s The Night” and “Seesaw.”

Randy Goodrum

Nashville Songwriters Hall of Famer Randy Goodrum was the 1981 ASCAP Country Songwriter of the Year. But he had already made a big name for himself with hits like Anne Murray’s much-covered signature 1978 pop chart-topping “You Needed Me.” Numerous other pop and country hits were forthcoming, most notably Steve Perry’s “Oh Sherrie” and DeBarge’s “Who’s Holding Donna Now” on the pop side, and Dottie West’s “Lesson In Leavin’” and the Kenny Rogers-Dottie West duet “What Are We Doin’ In Love” on the country side.

Key songs in the Goodrum catalog include “You Needed Me.” “Bluer Than Blue.” “I’ll Be Over You,” “Foolish Heart” and “Oh Sherrie.”

Tony Hatch

English songwriter/pianist/arranger/producer Tony Hatch wrote Garry Mills’ 1960 U.K. and U.S. hit “Look For A Star,” then went on to produce and write for numerous hit artists on both sides of the Atlantic including Bobby Rydell (“Forget Him”) and The Searchers (“Sugar And Spice”). Most significant was his producer/songwriter relationship with Petula Clark, which yielded such classic British Invasion pop hits as “Downtown” and “I Know A Place.” He wrote more songs with his then wife Jackie Trent (as a performing act they were called “Mr. & Mrs. Music”) and also excelled in composing TV themes, most notably the Australian soap opera “Neighbours.”

Key songs in the Hatch catalog include “Downtown,” “Don’t Sleep In The Subway,” “I Know A Place,” “My Love” and “Sign Of The Times.”

Holly Knight

After finding some success in the rock bands Spider (also featuring Late Show With David Letterman drummer Anton Fig) and Device, she made it big as a songwriter, joining with Mike Chapman in penning Tina Turner’s hit “Better Be Good To Me” and Pat Benatar’s “Love Is A Battlefield”—both Grammy winners. Turner ended up recording nine of her songs, also including the chart-topping “The Best,” while Benatar hit, too, with her “Invincible.” Numerous other Knight-written hits range from Divinyls’ “Pleasure And Pain” to Scandal’s “The Warrior;” she has also written for Heart, Aerosmith, Bonnie Tyler and Rod Stewart, and recently wrote and produced for Tony Bennett’s daughter Antonia Bennett.

Key songs in the Knight catalog include “Love Is A Battlefield,” “Simply The Best,” “Better Be Good To Me,” “Obsession” and “The Warrior.”

Dennis Lambert/Brian Potter

The versatile songwriting-producing team of Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter first found success in 1969 with their antiwar hit for Coven, “One Tin Soldier,” which graced the soundtrack of The Legend Of Billy Jack. They stayed on the charts throughout the ‘70s, frequently scoring with pop and country hits like Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds’ “Don’t Pull Your Love,” the Grass Roots’ “Two Divided By Love” and Glen Campbell’s “Country Boy (You Got Your Feet In L.A.).” Their work with the Four Tops yielded the legendary vocal group’s first post-Motown hits “Keeper Of The Castle,” “Ain’t No Woman (Like The One I’ve Got)” and “Are You Man Enough.”

Key songs in the Lambert/Potter catalog include “Ain’t No Woman (Like The One I’ve Got),” “ Don’t Pull Your Love,” “It Only Takes A Minute,” “One Tin Soldier (The Legend of Billy Jack)” and “Country Boy (You’ve Got Your Feet In L.A.).”

Bob McDill

After scoring minor hits in the late 1960s for Perry Como and Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs, Bob McDill found his place in country music, especially with Don Williams. His big hits for Williams included “Say It Again,” “She Never Knew Me” and “Amanda,” which was also a major hit for Waylon Jennings. The prodigious writer, who wrote one song a week for 30 years, also placed major hits for the likes of Anne Murray, The Kendalls, Alan Jackson and Bobby Bare, who recorded a full album of McDill songs entitled Me And McDill. The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee’s catalog includes over 30 No. 1 hits, and his shelf displays numerous BMI Songwriter of the Year trophies.

Key songs in the McDill catalog include “Amanda,” “Baby’s Got Her Blue Jeans On,” “Gone Country,” “It Must Be Love” and “Song Of The South.”

Rick Nowels

A prolific songwriter since age 13, Grammy-winner Rick Nowels has co-written over 60 Top 20 singles in the U.S. and Europe, Belinda Carlisle’s “Heaven Is A Place On Earth” and Circle In The Sand” among the most notable. His breakthrough came when Stevie Nicks heard his songs, then teamed with him in writing “Rooms On Fire” and other tunes. His numerous other credits include songs written for the likes of John Legend, Colbie Caillat, Nelly Furtado, Santana and Madonna.

Key songs in the Nowels catalog include “Heaven Is A Place on Earth,” “White Flag,” “The Power Of Good-Bye,” “Standing Still” and “Fallin’ For You.”

Linda Perry

Linda Perry was the lead singer and main songwriter for 4 Non Blondes prior to establishing herself as a major songwriter and producer. She wrote and produced such hits as Pink’s “Get The Party Started” and Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful”—both chart-toppers. Other top artists whose catalogs include Perry compositions are Gwen Stefani (her hit “What Are You Waiting For?”), Courtney Love, Celine Dion and Alicia Keys. Most recently she has fronted the band Deep Dark Robot and published a set of acoustic cover songs recorded with her iPhone.

Key songs in the Perry catalog include “Get The Party Started,” “Beautiful,” “Hurt,” “What You Waiting For?” and “What’s Up?”

P.F. Sloan/Steve Barri

The songwriting team of P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri was one of the most successful of the pop-rock scene based in Los Angeles in the mid-1960s. Barry McGuire’s hit recording of their apocalyptic “Eve Of Destruction” was a signpost for a generation and its era. But Sloan/Barri’s lighter fare was equally impressive and significant, and included songs for The Turtles (“You Baby” and “Let Me Be”), Herman’s Hermits ("A Must To Avoid” and “Hold On!"), The Grass Roots (“Where Were You When I Needed You”) and Johnny Rivers (“Secret Agent Man”).

Key songs in the Sloan/Barri catalog include “Secret Agent Man,” “Eve Of Destruction,” “Where Were You When I Needed You,” “You Baby (Nobody But You)” and “A Must To Avoid.”

JD Souther

Singer, songwriter and actor JD Souther is justly celebrated for co-writing such Eagles hits as “Best Of My Love,” “Heartache Tonight” and “New Kid In Town.” He produced Linda Ronstadt’s Don’t Cry Now album, penned songs for her and sang with her on “Hasten Down The Wind,” “Prisoner In Disguise” and “Sometimes You Can’t Win.” He has written for other topflight artists including Bonnie Raitt, Don Henley and George Strait, and had his own big hits with “You’re Only Lonely” and his collaboration with James Taylor, “Her Town Too.”

Key songs in the Souther catalog include “Faithless Love,” “Best Of My Love,” “You’re Only Lonely,” “Heartache Tonight” and “New Kid In Town.”

Rod Temperton

Oscar-nominated (for The Color Purple’s “Miss Celie’s Blues”) English songwriter/producer Rod Temperton is best known for the songs he wrote for Michael Jackson, including “Rock With You” and “Thriller.” But he was also a member of the funk/disco band Heatwave, for which he supplied the million-selling U.S. hits “Boogie Nights” and “Always And Forever.” Among the numerous artists who have also recorded Temperton tunes are James Ingram, Michael McDonald, Rufus, Donna Summer, Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock, Aretha Franklin, Anita Baker, Patti Austin and Karen Carpenter.

Key songs in the Temperton catalog include “Always And Forever,” “Give Me The Night,” “Rock With You,” “Yah Mo B There” and “Boogie Nights.”

Performer/Songwriters

Lindsey Buckingham/Christine McVie/Stevie Nicks (p/k/a Fleetwood Mac)

Lindsey Buckingham, Christine McVie and Steve Nicks were together in Fleetwood Mac from 1975 to 1987, when the band enjoyed its greatest commercial success and released Rumours (1977)--one of the all-time biggest-selling albums. The classic hits “Rhiannon,” “Say You Love Me,” “Go Your Own Way, “Dreams,” “Don’t Stop,” “Tusk,” “Hold Me” and “Gypsy” all came from this period. All three writers went on to solo success, as well as induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame—with Fleetwood Mac—in 1998.

Key songs in the Buckingham/McVie/Nicks catalog include “Go Your Own Way,” “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow,” “Rhiannon,” “Over My Head” and “Dreams.”

Jimmy Buffett

Nashville Songwriters Hall of Famer Jimmy Buffett has carved out a unique niche as a singer-songwriter thanks to hits like “Margaritaville,” the 1977 hit that is his signature. The easy-going, laidback tune exemplified a sunny Gulf Coast style that has enamored him to millions of “Parrotheads”—the collective name of his devoted fan base. They turn out ecstatically at concert performances that feature famed parrothead classics also including “Why Don’t We Get Drunk” and “A Pirate Looks at Forty.”

Key songs in the Buffett catalog include “(Wastin’ Away In) Margaritaville,” “Cheeseburger In Paradise,” “Come Monday,” “Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes” and “Fins.”

Elvis Costello

One of the most acclaimed singer-songwriters of the modern rock era, Elvis Costello burst upon the scene in 1977 at the height of the New Wave and has been writing songs—many of which have been covered by artists from Linda Ronstadt to Johnny Cash--at full throttle ever since. But rock is only one of the many genres he has conquered. The indefatigable Costello has also written country and classical music while collaborating with Burt Bacharach and Paul McCartney and earning his way into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Key songs in the Costello catalog include “Accidents Will Happen,” “Alison,” “Veronica,” “Pump It Up” and “Watching The Detectives.”

Ray Davies

Ray Davies is the lead singer and chief songwriter for the Kinks, which was one of the seminal bands of the 1960s British rock invasion. He authored widely-ranging rock song classics like “You Really Got Me” and “Lola” in a historic career commemorated in 1990 by the group’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Davies has also written and performed as a solo artist, mixing Kinks material with his own along with stories from his written works in a Storyteller format.

Key songs in the Davies catalog include “Lola,” “Tired of Waiting,” “Well-Respected Man,” “Come Dancing” and “You Really Got Me.”

Vince Gill

One of the most celebrated songwriters—and artists—in country music history, Vince Gill first came to fame as songwriter and performer in Pure Prairie League. After going solo as a country artist, he broke ground in winning three straight CMA Awards for Song of the Year from 1991 to 1993: “When I Call Your Name,” “Look At Us” and “I Still Believe In You” (he won it again in 1996 for “Go Rest High On That Mountain”). Inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005, Gill, who was also named the Nashville Songwriters Association International’s Songwriter/Artist of the Decade for 1990-1999 and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2007, has had his songs covered by many others ranging from Alabama to Rosanne Cash.

Key songs in the Gill catalog include “Don’t Let Our Love Start Slippin’ Away,” “I Still Believe In You,” “One More Last Chance,” “If You Ever Have Forever In Mind” and “Never Knew Lonely.”

Mick Jones/Lou Gramm (p/k/a Foreigner)

Foreigner’s songwriting partnership of England’s Mick Jones and America’s Lou Gramm resulted in immense album sales and huge hits during the 1970s and ‘80s. Their songwriting prowess was proven from the outset with the self-titled 1977 debut album, which yielded the hits “Feels Like The First Time,” “Cold As Ice” and “Long, Long Way From Home.” Hits like “Hot Blooded,” “Double Vision,” “Urgent” and “Waiting For A Girl Like You” followed, and they reached No. 1 in 1985 with the massive gospel-inspired “I Want To Know What Love Is.”

Key songs in the Jones/Gramm catalog include “Juke Box Hero,” “Waiting For A Girl Like You,” “Cold As Ice,” Hot Blooded” and “Double Vision.”

BB King

A blues legend as a guitarist and singer, B.B. King is also one of the genre’s finest songwriters. His key credits include “Sweet Sixteen,” “Rock Me Baby” and the revealing—and funny—“Nobody Loves Me But My Mother.” He also wrote one of his signature songs, the self-explanatory “Why I Sing The Blues.”

Key songs in the King catalog include “Bad Luck,” “Lucille,” “Rock Me Baby,” “Woke Up This Morning” and “Sweet Sixteen.”

Annie Lennox/Dave Stewart

As the hugely successful Eurythmics, Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart brought an innovative sound and plenty of style to the 1980s. After “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)” topped the charts in 1983, they achieved international fame, their career buoyed by follow-up hits like “Here Comes The Rain Again” and “Would I Lie To You?” The pair went on hiatus in the 1990s and pursued successful solo careers before reteaming at the end of the decade for a final studio album, Peace, featuring the hits “I Saved The World Today” and the U.S. dance chart No. 1 “17 Again.”

Key songs in the Lennox/Stewart catalog include “Here Comes The Rain Again,” “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This),” “Would I Lie To You,” “Missionary Man” and “Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves.”

Jeff Lynne

English pop-rock luminary Jeff Lynne first found fame in The Move, then made it big on both sides of the pond as leader of the Electric Light Orchestra. With ELO, he wrote such hits as “Can’t Get It Out of My Head,” “Livin’ Thing,” “Mr. Blue Sky” and “Don’t Bring Me Down.” He later co-founded the Traveling Wilburys with George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty, and had a writing hand in their hits “Handle With Care” and “End Of The Line;” he also wrote hits for the likes of Orbison (“You Got It”) and Petty (“I Won’t Back Down” and “Free Fallin’”).

Key songs in the Lynne catalog include “Evil Woman,” “Do Ya,” “Don’t Bring Me Down,” “Mr. Blue Sky” and “Strange Magic.”

Steven Tyler/Joe Perry (p/k/a Aerosmith)

Aerosmith’s frontman Steven Tyler and guitarist Joe Perry have collaborated on many of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band’s biggest hits. Songs like “Dude Looks Like A Lady” and “Love In An Elevator,” besides being big hits, were highlights of the MTV era. Their 1977 hit “Walk This Way” was covered by Run-D.M.C. in 1986 and broke the rap act into the mainstream.

Key songs in the Tyler/Perry catalog include “Dream On,” “Dude Looks Like A Lady,” “Love In An Elevator,” “Sweet Emotion” and “Walk This Way.”

Steve Winwood

Only 15 when he joined England’s Spencer Davis Group, Steve Winwood co-wrote and sang on that 1960s band’s hits “Gimme Some Lovin’” and “I’m A Man.” But he left shortly thereafter to form the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group Traffic, then joined Eric Clapton in the short-lived supergroup Blind Faith—for which he wrote “Can’t Find My Way Home.” After reuniting with Traffic, he went solo and delivered such huge hits as the chart-topping compositions “Higher Love” and “Roll With It.”

Key songs in the Winwood catalog include “Gimme Some Lovin’,” “Back In The High Life Again,” “Dear Mr. Fantasy,” “Can’t Find My Way Home” and “Higher Love.”

Bobby Womack

Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Bobby Womack’s start in music came in his family’s gospel group, which eventually evolved into The Valentinos--for whom he wrote “It’s All Over Now,” later the classic U.K. breakthrough hit for the Rolling Stones. He went on to experience a varied career as singer, songwriter and musician in all pop music genres, his compositions becoming hits for the likes of Wilson Pickett (“I’m In Love” and “I’m A Midnight Mover") as well as a classic album cut for Janis Joplin (Pearl’s ballad “Trust Me”). His self-written solo hits include “That’s The Way I Feel About ‘Cha” and “Woman’s Gotta Have It.”

Key songs from the Womack catalog include “Across 110th Street,” “It’s All Over Now,” “That’s The Way I Feel About Cha,” “Breezin’” and “I’m In Love.”

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Link to 2013 nominees: http://www.songhall.org/n..._announced

[Edited 10/11/12 15:36pm]

All are deserving, but I would love for Rod Temperton to be inducted. I've been listening to a lot of his work lately and he is definitely a genius.

Great list, nice to see actual talent recognized.

Rod Temperton is no brainer, I'd love to see Annie and Dave inducted though