Songcraft: Spotlight on Songwriters

Austrian musician, film composer, producer, and screenwriter Harald Kloser began his career in Europe playing in a band and collaborating with pop artists such as Falco. As a musician he appeared on recording projects by Tom Waits, Jose Feliciano, Elton John, Al Jarreau, and others. After a career scoring for television, Harald eventually broke through to national prominence with his work on Alien vs. Predator and the sci-fi disaster film The Day After Tomorrow, starring Dennis Quaid and Jake Gyllenhaal. Both films were directed by Roland Emmerich, with whom Kloser went on to work on 10,000 B.C. and 2012, starring John Cusack. Though the two films were scored by Harald, he also co-wrote the scripts with Emmerich. In addition to creating the score for the movie Anonymous, Harald served as both composer and film producer on the recent hits White House Down, starring Jamie Foxx and Channing Tatum, and Independence Day: Resurgence, starring Liam Hemsworth and Jeff Goldblum. He has won three BMI Film & TV Awards for Alien vs. Predator, The Day After Tomorrow, and 2012. 

Singer/songwriter Rory Feek has written multiple #1 country hits for other artists, including Collin Raye's "Someone You Used to Know,” Clay Walker's "The Chain of Love," Blake Shelton’s “Some Beach,” and Easton Corbin’s “A Little More Country Than That.” Other songs from his catalog that have landed in the Top 20 are Tracy Byrd’s “The Truth About Men,” Blaine Larsen’s “How Do You Get That Lonely,” and Jimmy Wayne’s “I Will.” Additionally, his songs have been recorded by Kenny Chesney, Randy Travis, Reba McEntire, Trisha Yearwood, Mark Wills, Waylon Jennings, Charley Pride, The Oak Ridge Boys, John Michael Montgomery, Terri Clark, and Lorrie Morgan. In 2008 Rory formed the duo Joey + Rory with his wife, Joey Martin Feek, for the CMT show Can You Duet. Their popularity led to an ACM award for Top New Vocal Duo of the Year, their own TV show, eight successful albums, and a handful of charting singles, including the self-penned songs “Cheater Cheater” and “That’s Important to Me.” Rory’s identity as a storyteller extends beyond his songs to include screenplays, TV scripts, and a popular blog, which earned a loyal following as he shared his family’s pain, triumphs, fears, and deep personal faith during Joey’s battle with terminal cervical cancer. The duo’s final album, Hymns That Are Important to Us, was released in 2016, less than a month before Joey passed away at age 40. It debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Country Albums chart, was certified Gold, and earned the duo a Grammy for Best Roots Gospel Album. Rory’s memoir, This Life I Live, chronicles his spiritual journey, his love story with Joey, and his disarmingly vulnerable musings on his role in what he calls “God’s larger story.”

Legendary songwriter Mark James is best known for writing the perennial standards “Always On My Mind” and “Suspicious Minds,” the latter earning induction into the Grammy Hall of Fame and named by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the Greatest Songs of All Time. Both compositions were originally hits for Elvis Presley, who recorded additional charting singles by James, including “Moody Blue,” “Raised on Rock,” and “It’s Only Love.” Mark’s initial success came with B.J. Thomas, who hit the charts with his songs “The Eyes of a New York Woman,” “Everybody Loves a Rain Song,” and the Top 5 single “Hooked on a Feeling,” which was revived as a #1 hit by Blue Swede in 1974 and was prominently featured in the 2014 film Guardians of the Galaxy. Additional hits from the Mark James songbook include Brenda Lee’s Top 10 country single “Sunday Sunrise” and previous Songcraft guest Mac Davis’s Top 10 pop single, “One Hell of a Woman.” Mark found his greatest success with Willie Nelson’s revival of “Always On My Mind” in 1982. The record hit #1 on the country chart, became a Top 5 pop single, won BMI Song of the Year, earned CMA Song of the Year two years in a row, and was awarded a Grammy for both Best Country Song and Song of the Year. Other artists who’ve recorded Mark’s material include The Box Tops, Percy Sledge, Lou Rawls, Pet Shop Boys, Julio Iglesias, Helen Reddy, Waylon Jennings, Fine Young Cannibals, Dwight Yoakam, Phish, and Martina McBride. In 2000, BMI named Mark one of the top Songwriters of the Century. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2014 and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2015.

Dickey Lee’s early artist career found him scoring pop and R&B hits in the 1960s with songs such as “Patches” and the self-penned single “I Saw Linda Yesterday.” He went on to record seventeen Top 40 country singles, including the major hits “9,999,999 Tears” and “Rocky,” which hit #1 in 1975. Lee is best known, however, for writing “She Thinks I Still Care,” which George Jones took to the #1 spot on the Billboard country chart in 1962. The song has since been covered by artists as diverse as Elvis Presley, Little Willie John, Connie Francis, Merle Haggard, James Taylor, Harry Connick, Jr., Cher, Anne Murray, and Garth Brooks. Dickey has written an additional half dozen #1 country hits, including “I’ll Be Leaving Alone” for Charley Pride, “You’re The First Time I’ve Thought About Leaving” for Reba McEntire, “Let’s Fall to Pieces Together” for George Strait, and “In a Different Light” for Doug Stone. His long list of additional hits includes Emmylou Harris’ “Someone Like You” and Tracy Byrd’s “Keeper of the Stars,” which won the Academy of Country Music’s Song of the Year award. Other artists who’ve recorded his songs include Ernest Tubb, Eddy Arnold, Marty Robbins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Conway Twitty, Don Williams, Glen Campbell, John Fogerty, Waylon Jennings, Joe Cocker, Vince Gill, Patty Loveless, Jamey Johnson, and Keb’ Mo’. Ten of Dickey’s songs have earned BMI Performance Awards, and he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1995.

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.