Songcraft: Spotlight on Songwriters

Billy Vera is a multi-faceted performer, songwriter, actor, producer, bandleader of The Beaters, and entertainment industry Renaissance man. He’s written numerous hit singles, including “Mean Old World” by Rick Nelson, “Make Me Belong to You” by Barbara Lewis, Dolly Parton’s #1 country single “I Really Got the Feeling,” and “At This Moment,” which rocketed to the top of the Billboard pop rankings following a memorable usage on the popular TV show Family Ties. He made his charting debut as an artist on Atlantic Records with the self-penned Top 20 R&B single, “Storybook Children,” a groundbreaking interracial duet with Judy Clay. Other Billy Vera songs of note include Bonnie Raitt’s recording of “Papa Come Quick (Jody & Chico)" and “Room With a View,” a modern blues classic that’s been recorded by Eric Burdon, Johnny Adams, and Lou Rawls, who released a handful of albums co-produced by Vera . The long list of additional artists who’ve covered Billy’s songs includes The Shirelles, Robert Plant, Fats Domino, Don Williams, Gregory Isaac, Etta James, Nona Hendryx, Tom Jones, Little Milton, Steve Goodman, and George Benson. Vera launched his acting career with an appearance in the cult classic film Buckaroo Bonzai, and went on to appear in Oliver Stone’s The Doors, the Bruce Willis movie Blind Date, and TV shows such as Alice, Baywatch, Boy Meets World, and Beverly Hills 90201. A noted music historian, Billy has produced over 200 reissue albums, earning multiple Grammy nominations, and a 2013 win for his work on the Ray Charles box set, Singular Genius: The Complete ABC Singles. His historically-oriented radio show, Billy Vera’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Party, earned him a Peabody Award for Excellence in Radio Broadcasting and led to a career as a voiceover artist. He is the voice of major advertising campaigns by Burger King, Honda, Toyota, Mercury, and others, as well as the singer of TV show theme songs, including Empty Nest and The King of Queens. He was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and tells the remarkable story of his varied career in the new memoir, Billy Vera: Harlem to Hollywood.

Multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter Vince Gill launched his solo career in the mid-1980s, hitting the Top 10 on Billboard’s country singles chart a remarkable 25 times. All but one of those hits was written or co-written by Gill, and a dozen of his compositions have been nominated for either CMA Song of the Year, ACM Song of the Year, or the Best Country Song Grammy. These include “When I Call Your Name,” “Look At Us,” “Pocket Full of Gold,” “When Love Finds You,” “High Lonesome Sound,” “If You Have Forever in Mind,” “Feels Like Love,” and “Threaten Me With Heaven.” “Go Rest High on That Mountain” won both the CMA Song of the Year and the Best Country Song Grammy, while “I Still Believe in You” won the Best Country Song Grammy, as well as both the CMA and the ACM’s Song of the Year awards. Though he’s won four in total, Vince is the only songwriter to ever win three consecutive Song of the Year awards from the CMA. He has won more Grammy awards, with over 20 trophies, than any male country performer in history. These include two Best Country Song wins, as well as a 2017 win for Best American Roots Song for “Kid Sister,” which was recorded by Gill’s band, The Time Jumpers. He has won eight ACM awards and 18 CMA awards, including Vocalist of the Year five years in a row and Entertainer of the Year two years in a row. Other highlights from his long list of hit singles include the #1 hits “Don’t Let Our Love Start Slippin’ Away,” “One More Last Chance,” and “Tryin’ to Get Over You.” In addition to writing his own material, Vince’s songs have been recorded by Loretta Lynn, Bob Seger, John Denver, Mary Chapin Carpenter, John Prine, Willie Nelson, Michael McDonald, LeAnn Rimes, and Alabama, who topped the country charts with his “Here We Are.” Vince was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005, and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2007. In 2014, he was named a BMI Icon, one of only twelve country writers ever honored with the prestigious award.

Jimmy Webb emerged as a superstar songwriter and arranger in 1967 when two of his songs – The 5th Dimension’s “Up, Up and Away” and Glen Campbell’s “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” - were among the five nominees for the Grammy’s Song of the Year award. He went on to write a string of major hits for Campbell, including “Wichita Lineman,” “Galveston,” "Where’s the Playground Susie,” “Honey Come Back,” and many others. Additionally, he penned “MacArthur Park,” which was a hit for a diverse range of artists, including Richard Harris, Waylon Jennings, Tony Bennett, Andy Williams, and Donna Summer; “The Worst That Could Happen,” which was a Top 5 hit for The Brooklyn Bridge; “Didn’t We,” which was recorded by Thelma Houston, Frank Sinatra, Diana Ross, and Barbra Streisand; “All I Know,” which became a Top 10 hit for Art Garfunkel; “The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress,” which has been recorded by Joe Cocker, Judy Collins, Linda Ronstadt, and Josh Groban; and “If These Walls Could Speak,” which was recorded by Glen Campbell, Amy Grant, Nanci Griffith, and Shawn Colvin. Others who’ve covered material from the Jimmy Webb songbook include Diana Ross, Dusty Springfield, Nina Simone, The Four Tops, Roberta Flack, The Temptations, The Association, Tom Jones, Dionne Warwick, Cass Elliot, Harry Nilsson, Nancy Wilson, Cher, Bob Dylan, The Everly Brothers, Nick Cave, John Denver, Kenny Rogers, Sheena Easton, David Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Michael Feinstein, R.E.M., Aimee Mann, America, Aretha Franklin, Isaac Hayes, Peggy Lee, Bette Midler, James Taylor, Carrie Underwood, Dwight Yoakam, and The Highwaymen (consisting of Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson), who took Jimmy’s song “Highwayman” to #1, earning him a Grammy for Country Song of the Year. As an artist, he has released more than a dozen albums, most recently 2013’s Still Within the Sound of My Voice, which features duets with guest artists such as Lyle Lovett, Carly Simon, Keith Urban, and Brian Wilson. One of the most celebrated songwriters on the planet, Jimmy is the only individual to win Grammy awards for music, lyrics, and orchestration. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Great American Songbook Hall of Fame. Additionally, he has received ASCAP’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the Influential Songwriter Award from the National Music Publishers Association, and the Academy of Country Music’s prestigious Poets Award. In 2015 he was named among Rolling Stone magazine’s 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time. Jimmy’s new memoir, The Cake and the Rain, details his formative years and early career through 1973. It’s available now from St. Martin’s Press. 

Emerging from Brooklyn in the late 1990s, Talib Kweli has carved out a reputation as a gifted lyricist and has been called “one of this generation’s most poetic MCs” by AllMusic.com. A prolific collaborator, he is a member of multiple duos, including Reflection Eternal with DJ Hi-Teck, Black Star with Yasiin Bey (formerly known as Mos Def), and Idle Warship with vocalist Res. He has placed seven releases in the Top 10 on Billboard’s R&B and Hip Hop Albums chart, and has found success with the solo hit “Get By,” which was produced by Kanye West. Additional hits include the Top 5 Black Star track “Definition,” the chart-topping Reflection Eternal singles “Move Somethin’” and “The Blast,” and the Top 5 single “One Four Love Pt. 1,” which was included on the Hip Hop for Respect EP he organized with Mos Def. Additionally, he and Common collaborated on “Get ‘Em High” from Kanye West’s The College Dropout album. Kweli recently contributed to “The Killing Season” from A Tribe Called Quest’s 2016 comeback album that debuted at #1 on the Billboard album charts. Others with whom he’s collaborated include John Legend, Pharrell Williams, J Dilla, The Roots, Will.i.am, KRS-One, Consequence, Anderson Paak, Anthony Hamilton, Mary J. Blige, Raheem DeVaughan, Norah Jones, Musiq Soulchild, Sizzla, Justin Timberlake, and Jay-Z.  

Joe Melson co-wrote more than 200 songs with Roy Orbison, including over half of Roy’s sixteen Monument Records singles that appeared on the Billboard chart between 1960 and 1963. Their first major hit together was “Only the Lonely,” a style-defining performance featuring Orbison on lead vocals and Melson on the prominent counter melody. The pair followed up their success with a string of hits, including “Blue Angel,” “Running Scared,” and “Crying.” Legendary songwriter Boudleaux Bryant once wrote, “It would be an unpardonable oversight to overlook the contribution of Joe Melson to Roy’s meteoric rise to stardom.” In the 1960s Joe landed his own record deal with the Hickory label, while continuing to pen songs for other artists. His successes in that era include The Newbeats’ Top 10 pop single “Run, Baby Run (Back Into My Arms)” and Don Gibson’s Top 40 country hit “Ever Changing Mind.” In subsequent years the team of Melson and Orbison reunited, working together as both co-writers and producers. Linda Ronstadt covered their “Blue Bayou” in 1977, making it a Top 5 hit on both the country and pop charts. Credited with creating the template for the dramatic rock ballad, Melson has won multiple BMI awards. “Blue Bayou” was named one of BMI’s Top 100 Songs of the Century, “Only the Lonely” is among Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and “Crying” appears on both the BMI and Rolling Stone lists. Most recently, Melson joined forces with Australian Idol winner Damien Leith. The pair have released several singles since 2013 and continue to collaborate. Joe was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in 2002.  

Rod Argent is the founding member, keyboardist, and driving force behind the legendary 1960s British Invasion band, The Zombies. Argent wrote the band’s best known classics, including the Top 10 single “Tell Her No” and the #1 hit “She’s Not There,” which Rolling Stone ranked at #297 on the list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. By the time The Zombies’ 1968 LP Odessey and Oracle was released, the group had disbanded. “Time of the Season” became a surprise hit from the album, however, reaching the Top 5 on the US charts. Over time, Odessey and Oracle has become a cult classic, and was ranked in the Top 100 Greatest Albums of All Time in both Rolling Stone and Mojo magazines. Rod went on to form the band Argent, scoring a Top 5 hit in 1972 with “Hold Your Head Up,” which he co-wrote with former Zombies bandmate Chris White. Additionally, the group recorded the original version of “God Gave Rock and Roll to You,” which was subsequently covered by KISS. After the demise of Argent, Rod threw himself into session work, playing piano on the Who’s classic single “Who Are You,” and working extensively with Andrew Lloyd Weber. He released a handful of solo projects, produced successful albums for artists such as Nanci Griffith and Joshua Kadison, and toured as a member of Ringo Starr’s All Star Band before re-forming the Zombies with original lead singer Colin Blunstone in the mid-2000s. His songs have been recorded by The Ventures, Dusty Springfield, Vanilla Fudge, The Mindbenders, Del Shannon, Santana, Steppenwolf, Uriah Heep, Juice Newton, Eric Clapton, Dave Matthews Band, Susanna Hoffs, Tom Petty, America, Mother Love Bone, Ronnie Spector, and others. The original lineup of The Zombies - Rod, lead singer Colin Blunstone, bassist Chris White, and drummer Hugh Grundy - have just released a career retrospective coffee table book called The Odessey. They’ll launch a tour this month in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the recording of Odessey and Oracle and will perform the full album in its entirety.      

Natalie Hemby came to prominence as an award-winning Nashville-based writer for other artists, penning at least two dozen songs with or for Miranda Lambert, including the hits “White Liar,” “Only Prettier,” “Baggage Claim,” and the #1 single “Automatic,” which was nominated for a Grammy and named both ACM and NSAI Song of the Year. Additionally, she co-wrote Little Big Town’s chart topping singles “Pontoon” and “Tornado,” the #1 hits “Downtown” by Lady Antebellum and “You Look Like I Need a Drink” by Justin Moore, Toby Keith’s Top 20 “Drinks After Work,” and “Don’t Rush,” which was a hit for Kelly Clarkson and Vince Gill. Additionally, she scored a Top 10 UK pop hit with “Jealous,” a song co-written with - and recorded by - the English producer, performer, and multi-instrumentalist known as Labrinth. Natalie has co-written songs with a long list of artists who’ve gone on to record their collaborations, including Eli Young Band, Amy Grant, Keith Urban, Sheryl Crow, Brett Eldredge, Chris Isaak, Laura Bell Bundy, Dierks Bentley, Maren Morris, Johnnyswim, and previous Songcraft guests Trent Dabbs, Lori McKenna, and Maia Sharp. Others who’ve dipped into the Natalie Hemby songbook include Lee Ann Womack, Carrie Underwood, Kellie Pickler, Blake Shelton, Jerrod Niemann and Lee Brice. In addition to writing a half dozen #1 hits, Hemby co-produced a documentary about her grandfather’s hometown called Puxico, which was the inspiration for the eponymous album that’s been heralded by The New York Times, NPR, and Rolling Stone as an early favorite of 2017.

The legendary Jerry Chesnut has written more than three dozen Top 40 singles, including Top 10 classics such as Jerry Lee Lewis’s “Another Place, Another Time,” Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton’s “Holding On to Nothing,” George Jones’s “A Good Year For the Roses,” Faron Young’s “It’s Four in the Morning,” Loretta Lynn’s “They Don’t Make ‘Em Like My Daddy Anymore,” and  Johnny Cash’s “Oney.” Additionally, he wrote five songs that were recorded by Elvis Presley, including the Top 10 "It's Midnight," and “T-R-O-U-B-L-E,” which would later become a hit single for Travis Tritt. Chesnut also penned charting singles for Tammy Wynette, Dave Dudley, Bobby Goldsboro, Bill Anderson, Hank Williams Jr., Mel Tillis, Tom Jones, and Alan Jackson. His songs have additionally been recorded by Waylon Jennings, Kitty Wells, Ernest Tubb, Eddy Arnold, Ray Price, Marty Robbins, Conway Twitty, Hank Thompson, Willie Nelson, Mark Chesnutt, Johnny Paycheck, George Strait, Elvis Costello, the Counting Crows, and many others. The two-time Grammy nominee was named Billboard’s Country Songwriter of the Year in 1972, was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1996, and became a member of the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame in 2004.

Texas songwriter extraordinaire Radney Foster has written over a dozen Top 10 country hits, including Colin Raye’s “Anyone Else,” Keith Urban’s “Raining on Sunday,” and Sara Evans’s “A Real Fine Place to Start.” He initially hit the scene with songwriting partner Bill Lloyd, with whom he penned Sweethearts of the Rodeo’s “Since I Found You.” The pair gained success as performers with the Top 10 singles “Crazy Over You,” “Sure Thing,” “What Do You Want From Me This Time,” and “Fair Shake,” earning four nominations for CMA Vocal Duo of the Year. Foster’s debut solo album, Del Rio, TX 1959, spawned five charting singles, including the Top 10 hit “Nobody Wins.” He has gone on to release nine additional albums as a highly respected singer/songwriter, while continuing to have his material recorded by others. Notable highlights from the Foster songbook include The Mavericks’ “I Got You,” The Dixie Chicks’ cover of “Godspeed (Sweet Dreams),” Dierks Bentley’s recording of “Sweet and Wild,” Pat Green’s Top 40 single “Three Days,” Jack Ingram’s Top 20 single “Measure of a Man,” Keith Urban’s chart-topping take on “I’m In,” as well as “Somebody Take Me Home” from Kenny Chesney’s #1 triple platinum album The Road and the Radio, and “I Knew You That Way” from Luke Bryan’s multi-platinum #1 album Tailgates & Tanlines. The long list of additional artists who’ve recorded Radney’s songs includes Guy Clark, Hootie & The Blowfish, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Brooks & Dunn, Gary Allan, Kenny Loggins, and, Darius Rucker.

After establishing herself in Europe, New Zealand native Pam Sheyne broke through to international songwriting success when “Genie in a Bottle” hit #1 in more than 20 countries, sold millions of copies around the world, cemented Christina Aguilera’s place as a new pop superstar, and earned Sheyne an Ivor Novello award for International Hit of the Year. Pam went on to pen the single “Mirror Mirror” for the Norwegian pop duo M2M, which landed in the Top 20 on the US Dance chart, as well as “He Loves U Not,” which was recorded by the girl group Dream, hit #2 on the Billboard pop chart, and was certified Gold after selling more than a half million copies in the US. She went on to write “Irresistible,” the title track to Jessica Simpson’s second album, which reached #15 on the Billboard pop singles chart in 2001. Pam also co-wrote the Top 40 single “She Said” for teen pop singer turned Academy Award winning actress, Brie Larson, and the #1 hit “Lighthouse” for South African Idol winner Elvis Blue. Other artists who’ve recorded her songs include Sheena Easton, O Town, Nick Lachey, Lindsay Lohan, Ce Ce Winans, Vitamin C, Corinne Bailey Rae, Demi Lovato, Seal, and others. In addition to her creative efforts, Pam is also a tireless advocate for the songwriting community and has been in the trenches fighting for fair legislation and business practices that support the songwriting profession.