Last week, Neil Diamond became an inspirational figure in the city of Boston’s recovery from the Boston Marathon bombings by leading the Red Sox’s Fenway Park crowd in a rousing and highly emotional sing-along rendition of ‘Sweet Caroline’.
His 1969 song has been an eighth-inning ritual at every Fenway Park game since 2002. New Yorker Diamond took to the field after reportedly flying to Boston specially to pay tribute to the city during the Red Sox’s first home game after the bombings.
After his unannounced Boston appearance, he said: “What resonates for me is the way music can offer comfort to people in times of joy or sorrow. With a tragedy like this, there are no words, but if people can find healing in music, this is the reason I’ve been doing this for the last 50 years. It goes beyond what I ever imagined.”
Now, Neil Diamond has revealed that he is writing a new song inspired by the Boston Marathon bombing and other recent tragic events in the United States, such as the shootings in Aurora, Colorado and Newtown, Connecticut.
“I’m writing now and obviously affected by this situation in Boston,” he told Rolling Stone magazine. “So I’m writing about it just to express myself … I’m writing about what we’re going through with all of these tragedies.”
The 72-year-old songwriting legend says he plans to fast-track a recording of the as-yet-untitled new song.
Watch Neil Diamond performing ‘Sweet Caroline’ at Fenway Park HERE…
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“How [Not] To Write A Hit Song! – 101 Common Mistakes To Avoid If You Want Songwriting Success” is now available from Amazon’s Kindle Store for only US$7.22 or GB£4.78.
Read a FREE sample of the book HERE (USA) and HERE (UK).
Also available from Apple’s iTunes Store (Books/Arts & Entertainment/Music).
Many producers of artists who don’t write their own songs are finding that the best way to consistently generate hits is to use the American TV ‘writers room’ model – with large numbers of pop writers working in teams.
But what is the optimum number of writers required to create a hit song?
English boy band phenomenon One Direction had an average of five songwriters per track on their hit 2012 album Take Me Home. Now, Britney Spears is going two better with her new track, titled ‘Ooh La La’, which will be featured in the upcoming Smurfs movie, The Smurfs 2.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, ‘Ooh La La’ is the result of a seven-way collaboration between Lukasz Gottwald, Joshua Coleman, Henry Walter, Bonnie McKee, Jacob Kasher Hindlin, Lola Blanc and Fransisca Hall.
You can watch Britney’s official video for ‘Ooh La La’ HERE…
The song will play over the end credits of The Smurfs 2 when it is released in cinemas this summer.
The film’s director Raja Gosnell said: “I am very excited that Britney is joining our smurfy adventure. ‘Ooh La La’ is the perfect Smurf-party song, and the perfect button on the film for audiences around the world.”
Britney added: “I always loved The Smurfs as a kid and now my boys are the biggest Smurfs fans ever. I wanted to surprise them with a song in the movie. I know they’ll think it’s Smurftastic!”
The royalty split agreement between all of the writers and music publishers involved in ‘Ooh La La’ should also make Smurftastic reading!
Also busy collaborating right now is Katy Perry who is co-writing tracks for her third album with hitmakers such as Max Martin, Dr. Luke, Greg Wells, Sia and Bonnie McKee. The album will be the follow-up to Teenage Dream which spawned five Hot 100 Number One singles.
“Max and Luke push me the most,” said Katy, giving an insight into how she works with her co-writers. “As a team we have certain strengths. With Max, it’s melody choices, Luke is production and I’m topline and melody.”
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“How [Not] To Write A Hit Song! – 101 Common Mistakes To Avoid If You Want Songwriting Success” is available from Amazon as a paperback, or as an eBook from Amazon’s Kindle Store, Apple’s iTunes Store (Books/Arts & Entertainment/Music) and Barnes & Noble’s Nook store.
Read a FREE sample of the book HERE (USA), HERE (UK) or HERE (Australia).
While a song’s title is often its strongest selling point, and the best way to attract the attention of music publishers, A&R executives and record buyers alike, coming up with a highly distinctive lyric line within a song can also instantly draw listeners in and hook their interest.
Most top songwriters confess to being envious of certain lyric lines written by other writers. The latest to join this group is US singer-songwriter Bruno Mars who has revealed the iconic lyrics that he most admires. They include lines from Amy Winehouse’s ‘Rehab’, ‘You Sexy Thing’ by Hot Chocolate, and ‘Big Poppa’ by The Notorious B.I.G.
The Grammy award-winning writer has admitted that he wishes he had come up with lines like: “They try to make me go to rehab, but I say No No No” … “I believe in miracles since you came along. You sexy thang. You sexy thang you” … and “Cause I see some ladies tonight who should be havin’ my baby….”.
Bruno recently admitted that he finds it difficult to come up with new material. “You know how hard it is to write a big song?,” he said in an interview with GQ magazine. “It’s so hard to do. Might be one of the hardest things to ever do.”
Which classic lyric line do you wish you had written?
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“How [Not] To Write A Hit Song! – 101 Common Mistakes To Avoid If You Want Songwriting Success” is now available from Amazon’s Kindle Store for only US$7.22 or GB£4.78.
Read a FREE sample of the book HERE (USA) and HERE (UK).
Also available from Apple’s iTunes Store (Books/Arts & Entertainment/Music).
Emeli Sandé – who recently won two Brit awards for ‘Best British Female’ and ‘Best British Album’ – could be in line for more prizes at this year’s prestigious Ivor Novello awards in London on May 16.
She has been nominated for two awards: ‘Best Song Musically & Lyrically’ (for ‘Next To Me’, which she co-wrote with Hugo Chegwin, Harry Craze and Anup Paul) and PRS for Music’s ‘Most Performed Work’ award (also for ‘Next To Me’).
However, she faces stiff competition in the ‘Best Song’ category from Jake Bugg’s ‘Two Fingers’ and ‘Laura’ by Bat For Lashes (pictured below, right).
The annual Ivor Novello Awards are presented by the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA), in association with the UK collection society PRS For Music.
The event will also see prizes presented for ‘Songwriter of the Year’, ‘Outstanding Song Collection’ and ‘Outstanding Achievement’.
The awards are judged by the British writing community and are designed to celebrate, honour and reward excellence in songwriting and composing. They are regarded as the most important awards for UK music writers.
Watch the official video for Emeli Sandé’s ‘Next To Me’ HERE…
Watch the official video for Jake Bugg’s ‘Two Fingers’ HERE…
Watch the official video for ‘Laura’ by Bat For Lashes HERE…
Which song do you think deserves to win this year’s ‘Best Song’ Ivor award?
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“How [Not] To Write A Hit Song! – 101 Common Mistakes To Avoid If You Want Songwriting Success” is now available from Amazon’s Kindle Store for only US$7.22 or GB£4.78.
Read a FREE sample of the book HERE (USA) and HERE (UK).
Also available from Apple’s iTunes Store (Books/Arts & Entertainment/Music).
Every new song you write and perform could be helping listeners to feel better, it seems. A new scientific study in Canada – published in the journal Science – has found that listening to new music is rewarding for the brain.
Using MRI scans, a team of Canadian scientists found that areas in the reward centre of the brain become active when people hear a song for the first time. And connections in the brain region called the nucleus accumbens “light up” and become stronger the more the listener enjoys what he or she is hearing.
“We know that the nucleus accumbens is involved with reward,” Dr Valorie Salimpoor, from the Rotman Research Institute in Toronto, told the BBC World Service’s Science in Action programme. “But music is abstract. It’s not like you’re really hungry and you’re about to get a piece of food and you’re really excited about it because you’re going to eat it. The same thing applies to sex or money. That’s when you would normally see activity in the nucleus accumbens.
“But what’s cool is that you’re anticipating and getting excited over something entirely abstract – and that’s the next sound that is coming up.”
The study was conducted at the Montreal Neurological Centre at McGill University. The scientists played 19 volunteers 60 excerpts of new music while the participants were lying in an MRI machine. As they listened to the 30-second tracks, they were able to ‘buy’ the songs they liked in a simulated online music store.
Dr Salimpoor said: “As they are listening to this music, we can look at their brain activity and figure out how they are appreciating or enjoying this music before they even tell us anything.”
The researchers found that the nucleus accumbens was also interacting with another region of the brain called the auditory cortical stores – an area that ‘saves’ sound information based on music that people have been exposed to in the past.
Dr Salimpoor said: “This part of the brain will be unique for each individual, because we’ve all heard different music in the past.”
The Canadian scientists say they now intend to study how the ‘rewarding’ effects of new music can help to drive people’s music tastes – and whether brain activity can explain why people are drawn to different styles of music.
Maybe such advances in neuroscience will finally give aspiring songwriters a means of finding out whether the song they’ve just written and agonized over for weeks really is a potential hit!
(Image via Picgifs.com)
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“How (Not) To Write A Hit Song! – 101 Common Mistakes To Avoid If You Want Songwriting Success” is now available from Amazon’s Kindle Store for only US$7.22 or GB£4.78.
Read a FREE sample of the book HERE (USA) and HERE (UK).
Also available from Apple’s iTunes Store (Books/Arts & Entertainment/Music).
A new US TV commercial for Diet Coke shows Taylor Swift writing her latest single ‘22’ – supposedly being inspired by the can of Diet Coke that the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter is seen enjoying throughout the ad.
Filmed in Nashville, the TV ad – titled ‘Music That Moves’ – also features performances by Taylor’s fans singing and dancing along with the new song.
“Taylor is a true artist, deeply involved in the full creative process, from writing to production to release,” says Stuart Kronauge, general manager, Sparkling Beverages, Coca-Cola North America.
“The ‘Music That Moves’ ad shows Taylor in her natural element – penning lyrics that one day will speak volumes to millions of fans the world over … all while sipping on a Diet Coke. The commercial serves as a peek behind the curtain at an extraordinary day in the life of a true American superstar.
“Whether you’re writing a hit song like Taylor, or simply singing along, Diet Coke helps you Stay Extraordinary.”
You can judge for yourself HERE…
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“How (Not) To Write A Hit Song! – 101 Common Mistakes To Avoid If You Want Songwriting Success” is now available from Amazon’s Kindle Store for only US$7.22 or GB£4.78.
Read a FREE sample of the book HERE (USA) and HERE (UK).
Also available from Apple’s iTunes Store (Books/Arts & Entertainment/Music).
Songwriters Hall of Fame chairman Jimmy Webb has announced that Elton John and Bernie Taupin will be the 2013 recipients of the prestigious Johnny Mercer Award at this year’s awards ceremony in New York on June 13.
John and Taupin have been one of the most prolific and successful songwriting partnerships of all time. Their award-winning relationship has spanned more than four decades and they have collaborated on more than 30 albums since they first met in 1967.
“Some catalogues are more significant than others not only because of their pertinence to the times in which they were written, but because their sheer mass is overpowering,” said Jimmy Webb. “It’s just not that easy to write 40 top 10 records. It’s kind of like swimming the English Channel with your hands tied behind your back.”
He added: “Elton’s readily identifiable melodic piano style has proven to be a perfect accompaniment to Bernie’s razor sharp lyrics about relationships and living on the edge of life both in good and bad times.”
The Johnny Mercer Award is the highest honour bestowed by the Songwriters Hall of Fame. It is exclusively reserved for songwriters or songwriting teams who have already been inducted in a prior year, and whose body of work is of such high quality and impact that it upholds the gold standard set by the legendary Johnny Mercer.
Past Johnny Mercer Award recipients have included songwriting giants: Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, Phil Collins, Holland-Dozier-Holland, Paul Anka, Dolly Parton, Kris Kristofferson, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Carole King, Billy Joel, Jimmy Webb, Hal David, Burt Bacharach, Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, Paul Simon, Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Stephen Sondheim, Cy Coleman, Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne.
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‘How (Not) To Write A Hit Song! – 101 Common Mistakes To Avoid If You Want Songwriting Success’ is now available from Amazon’s Kindle Store for only US$7.22 or GB£4.78.
Read a FREE sample of the book HERE (USA) and HERE (UK).
Also available from Apple’s iTunes Store (Books/Arts & Entertainment/Music).
The Songwriting Hall of Fame has announced the inductees for its 44th annual awards this year.
They include English songwriter Tony Hatch, Mick Jones and Lou Gramm of Foreigner, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith (pictured), Holly Knight, and JD Souther. They will join previous legendary recipients such as Willie Nelson, Paul Simon, Sam Cooke and John Lennon.
“Each of our 2013 inductees has been responsible for captivating the world with their creativity for decades, serving up a rich variety of songs for our global soundtrack,” said Hall of Fame chairman Jimmy Webb. “We are looking forward to celebrating their contributions at our Annual Awards Gala.”
The ceremony will be held on June 13 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Manhattan.
Steven Tyler and Joe Perry co-founded Aerosmith in 1970 with guitarist Ray Tabano, bassist Tom Hamilton and drummer Joey Kramer. In addition to the Songwriters Hall of Fame induction, Tyler and Perry were recently announced as the next recipients of ASCAP’s Founders Award.
Tony Hatch will be honored for his 53-year career during which he has written many memorable hits, including ‘Downtown’ and ‘Don’t Sleep In The Subway’ for Petula Clark and ‘Sugar and Spice’ for The Searchers.
Foreigner co-founders Mick Jones and Lou Gramm are being recognized for classic songs such as ‘Feels Like the First Time’ and ‘I Want to Know What Love Is’.
Holly Knight’s 36-year career has seen her work with artists like Chaka Khan, Pat Benatar, Aerosmith, KISS, Tina Turner and Cheap Trick.
JD Souther had ten of his songs recorded by Linda Ronstadt, as well as co-writing several Eagles songs, including ‘Victim of Love’.
In addition to the annual inductees, the Songwriters Hall of Fame will be announcing a number of special awards, including the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award, the Towering Song Award, the Towering Performance Award and the Hal David Starlight Award.
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SONGWRITING: THE HIT FORMULA 