Songcraft: Spotlight on Songwriters Ep. 135 - WENDY WALDMAN ("Save the Best for Last")
The Grammy Song of the Year nominee and ASCAP Song of the Year winner joins us to chat about her wide-ranging career and multi-genre songwriting success. About Wendy Waldman From recording artist to musician to backing vocalist to record producer to multi-platinum songwriter for other performers, Wendy Waldman has a diverse music industry resume. Though her father was a film and television composer who wrote the Perry Mason theme and worked on classics such as The Twilight Zone and Star Trek, Wendy was drawn to the blues and folk music at a young age. Her first serious group was Bryndle, featuring Karla Bonoff, Kenny Edwards, and Andrew Gold. Though they split up before their first album was released, all four would be instrumental in Linda Ronstadt’s success and would re-form in later years to record three albums that are now regarded as modern-day classics. Wendy’s solo career began when she signed with Warner Bros. Records and released her first album, which Rolling Stone magazine called the “singer-songwriter debut of the year.” A series of critically-acclaimed releases followed before Wendy relocated from Los Angeles to Nashville, where she found commercial success with Crystal Gayle’s #1 single “Baby, What About You,” The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s chart-toppers “Fishin’ in the Dark” and “Home Again in My Heart,” as well as Top 10 singles for Lorrie Morgan, The Forester Sisters, and Nicolette Larson with Steve Wariner. Always difficult to pigeonhole, Waldman’s achievements on the country charts were rivaled by her success in the pop world, where she scored with Don Johnson’s Top 5 single “Heartbeat” and Vanessa Williams’s “Save the Best for Last.” which reached #1 on the pop, R&B, and adult contemporary charts, earned Wendy a Grammy nomination for Song of the Year, and was named ASCAP Song of the Year. Wendy’s songs have additionally been covered by Patti Austin, Kenny Rogers, Reba McEntire, Cher, Alison Krauss, Randy Travis, Percy Sledge, Kathy Mattea, Aaron Neville, Rita Coolidge, CeCe Winans, Bette Midler, Johnny Mathis, Judy Collins, Restless Heart, Barbara Mandrell, Tanya Tucker, Patty Loveless, and many others.