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Legendary songwriters Bobby Braddock, Willie Dixon, Robert Hunter & Jerry Garcia, Toby Keith, Cyndi Lauper and Linda Perry will become the latest inductees of the Songwriters Hall of Fame at the organization’s 46th Annual Induction and Awards event in New York City on June 18, 2015.

Willie Dixon and Jerry Garcia will be inducted posthumously.

The 2015 inductees have been responsible for classic songs such as ‘He Stopped Loving Her Today’, ‘Hoochie Coochie Man’,’ Little Red Rooster, ‘D.I.V.O.R.C.E’, ‘Dark Star’, ‘Should’ve Been A Cowboy’, ‘Time After Time’ and ‘Beautiful’.

“Our 2015 line-up of inductees represents the rich diversity of American musical styles – Rock, Country, Blues and Pop – that have captivated the world over the past six decades,” said Songwriters Hall of Fame President & CEO Linda Moran. “Each one of these brilliant music creators have written instantly recognizable classics, songs that are both of their time and timeless.”

Established in 1969, the Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF) is intended to be a bridge between music’s past and future.  In the Hall, musical pioneers are enshrined and celebrated, while the organization’s outreach to the music community grooms the next generation of songwriters.

Image via Songwriters Hall of Fame

Bobby Braddock:

Bobby Braddock is one of the most successful country music songwriters of all time.  He grew up in Florida, travelled the South as a rock and roll musician, and became a songwriter in Nashville in the mid-1960s.  He is the only living person to have written number one country hits in five consecutive decades, penning songs for artists such as Willie Nelson, Nancy Sinatra, Jerry Lee Lewis, T. G. Sheppard and many more.

With 13 number one hits, his songs have become country music standards, including favourites such as, ‘D.I.V.O.R.C.E,’ recorded by Tammy Wynette, ‘Golden Ring,’ the duet sung by George Jones and Tammy Wynette, Tracy Lawrence’s, ‘Time Marches On,’ and Toby Keith’s 2001 hit, ‘I Wanna Talk About Me’ (the first #1 country rap song). ‘He Stopped Loving Her Today,’ sung by George Jones, has led most surveys as the best country song of all time. In 2001, he embarked on a new career as a producer, discovering singer Blake Shelton and making several number one records with him.

Braddock’s most recent number one composition was Billy Currington’s, ‘People Are Crazy.’ In 2011, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and received the annual BMI Icon Award, and in 2012, received the ACM Poet’s Award.  He has received six CMA Song of the Year nominations, winning twice. He has received a total of 30 BMI airplay awards, and nine ‘Million Air’ awards for songs that received at least one million performances each.

Willie Dixon:

Willie Dixon, one of the most prolific songwriters of all time, has been referred to as ‘the poet laureate of the blues’ and the ‘father of modern Chicago blues.’ His songs have been recorded by countless artists across varying genres. ‘Hoochie Coochie Man,’ first recorded by Muddy Waters and later by Jimi Hendrix, Chuck Berry and Jimmy Smith, went on to be recognized by The Blues Foundation and the Grammy Hall of Fame for its influence in pop music and in 2004, was selected for preservation by the U.S. Library of Congress National Recording Registry.

Also first recorded by Muddy Waters was ‘I Just Want to Make Love to You,’ later covered by a wide array of artists including Etta James, Adele, Van Morrison, and The Kinks, among others. One of his best-known compositions was ‘Little Red Rooster,’ which was recorded by the Rolling Stones, Sam Cooke, the Grateful Dead, The Doors and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and was included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s list of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock & Roll. His other notable songs include ‘My Babe,’ ‘Spoonful’ and ‘You Can’t Judge a Book by the Cover.’ He was inducted into The Blues Hall of Fame in 1980 and posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the ‘early influences’ (pre-rock) category in 1994.

Jerry Garcia & Robert Hunter:

Songwriting partners Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia first paired together as performers in a folk duo in the early 1960s.  When Jerry formed the Grateful Dead in the mid-1960s, he looked to Robert for lyrics. Robert became an official lyricist for the band, and when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, Robert was inducted as a band member, the only non-performer ever honoured.

Jerry wrote the music while Robert penned lyrics for songs such as, ‘Casey Jones’, ‘China Cat Sunflower,’ ‘St. Stephen’ and ‘Truckin,’’ which was recognized by the United States Library of Congress in 1997 as a national treasure.  With more than 35 million albums sold worldwide, other notable tracks include: ‘Dark Star’ (listed as one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll, and ranked at #57 on Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time), the 1987 single ‘Touch Of Grey’, and ‘Friend Of The Devil’ from the 1970 album American Beauty, which has been covered by Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, The Counting Crows, Elvis Costello, Lyle Lovett and John Mayer.  In 2007, the Grateful Dead received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Toby Keith:

Toby Keith has been one of the most consistent songwriters and hit makers of his era.  He has written a number one song for 20 consecutive years – from his first number one smash, ‘Should’ve Been A Cowboy’ to ‘How Do You Like Me Now?’, ‘Who’s Your Daddy’, ‘Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)’, ‘Beer For My Horses’, and ‘I Love This Bar’. He has been honoured with the Nashville Songwriters Association International’s Songwriter/Artist of the Decade distinction and is a three-time BMI Country Songwriter/Artist of the Year.  His albums have sold more than 40 million copies, and his tours have drawn more than one million fans each year for the last 14 years.

Cyndi Lauper:

Cyndi Lauper first found acclaim in 1983, co-writing a pair of memorable singles—’Time After Time’ and ‘She Bop’—for her seminal debut, She’s So Unusual.  Spring-boarding off this success, she co-wrote most of her follow-up album, True Colours, including the hit ‘Change of Heart’. As her craft evolved, so did her nuance for expressing social issues, notably on Hat Full of Stars (‘Sally’s Pigeons’, ‘A Part Hate’, ‘Broken Glass’) and Sisters of Avalon (‘Ballad of Cleo and Joe,’ ‘Say A Prayer’).

Throughout her career Cyndi has penned tracks with an assortment of her peers including Billy Joel, The Hooters, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Jeff Beck, Junior Vasquex, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Nellie McKay and Max Martin.  In 2013, those decades of songwriting culminated in Cyndi’s first foray into Broadway, composing the music for the critically adored Broadway musical Kinky Boots.  The musical won six Tony Awards, including one for her score, which made her the first woman to win solo in that category.  The show has gone on to set a box office record.  Cyndi’s spirited songwriting has earned her more than 50 million in album sales, two Grammys, an Emmy, and a Tony.

Linda Perry:

Growing up, Linda Perry was exposed to a wide-range of musical influences, and began to show interest in creating her own music at a very young age. By age fifteen, she had written her first song, titled ‘Pity Girl’. Perry joined 4 Non Blondes in the early 1990s, and is credited with writing the mega-hit ‘What’s Up’ which catapulted the band to international stardom (selling over seven million records worldwide).

In 2000, Perry began working with Pink on the twice Grammy-nominated album, M!ssundaztood which sold over 13 million copies. Perry wrote and produced eight tracks on the album, including the Grammy-nominated song ‘Get the Party Started’. Perry continued her work with Christina Aguilera, writing and producing several songs including the critically acclaimed pop-ballad ‘Hurt’ and the Grammy Award-winning ‘Beautiful’. Since then, she has written and produced songs with and for artists such as Alicia Keys, Gwen Stefani, James Blunt, The Dixie Chicks, and Celine Dion.

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Read a FREE sample of the book HERE (USA), HERE (UK), HERE (Australia) and HERE (Canada).

Posted by thehitformula in Composers, Singer-songwriters, Songwriting Ideas, Songwriting News, Songwriting tips, Writing lyrics Tags: Bobby Braddock, books about songwriting, Cyndi Lauper, formula for writing a hit song, hit song formula, how to write a hit song, Jerry Garcia, Linda Perry, Robert Hunter, song writing, songwriters, Songwriters Hall of Fame, songwriting, songwriting advice, songwriting formula, songwriting help, songwriting how to, songwriting ideas, songwriting method, songwriting mistakes, songwriting process, songwriting success, songwriting techniques, songwriting tips, Toby Keith, Willie Dixon, writing lyrics, writing songs