NEW YORK (AP) — A comet must have landed during the 2024 Songwriters Hall of Fame induction ceremony. REM members had joked just hours before it took “a comet” for the group to perform one last time together. Yet there they were, reunited at the gala at the Marriott Marquis hotel in New York on Thursday evening.
The annual event celebrated a talented group of songwriters including REM, Steely Dan and Timbalandwho led a medley of his huge hits.
REM Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe are responsible for many alternative rock hits such as “Everybody Hurts” and “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)”. On Thursday, they stunned the audience with the undisputed highlight of the evening: coming together for an acoustic version of “Losing My Religion.”
“We are REM,” Stipe said. “And that’s what we’ve done.”
Stipe highlighted their strength as a group and their early efforts to own their master recordings and share songwriting credits fairly. “A lot of people believed in us,” he said.
Jason Isbell covered the band’s hit, “It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine).” Then he joked, “I’ve never said so many words so quickly in my entire life.” »
Nashville hitmaker Hillary Lindsey, who helped write “Girl Crush” for Little Big Town and “Jesus, Take the Wheel” for Carrie Underwood, was inducted along with Dean Pitchford, who helped Kenny Loggins with the megahit “Footloose” and co-wrote “Fame” and “Holding Out For a Hero”.
The Bacon Brothers, the folk-rock acting duo Kevin Bacon and Michael Bacon, introduced Pitchford with a boisterous version of “Footloose,” tambourine and all. Denise Williams took off her shoes to dance while singing her Pitchford-penned hit, “Let’s Hear It For the Boy.”
“It’s been 40 years, can you believe it,” Pitchford said. “I am deeply grateful… Above all, thank you for listening to me.” He then sang his composition “Once Before I Go”.
Irving Azoff led the celebration of Steely Dan, telling the story of the legendary band submitting a blank glossy image as promotional artwork.
“To say they had a great sense of humor would be an understatement,” he said.
Co-founded by Donald Fagen and the late Walter Becker, Steely Dan is known for its classic rock songs, including “Do It Again” and “Hey Nineteen.”
“I want to thank my partner Walter Becker, wherever he is,” Fagen said in his acceptance speech.
Leader in phishing Trey Anastasio covered Steely Dan’s “Kid Charlemagne” and “Reelin’ in the Years.” Their “real genius” is their songs, Anastasio said.
Nile Rodgers introduced the singer SZA with the Hal David Starlight Award for “gifted young songwriters who are making a significant impact on the music industry.”
“There would be no music industry if there were no songs,” Rodgers told the artists and industry professionals in the room. “It all starts with a song.”
Rodgers received loud applause when he turned away from the prompter to comment: “Spotify, we need you to make it a point to make songwriters your priority.” »
“This is what matters most to me,” SZA told the crowd that included her parents. “I struggle with the artist thing. But it was by writing that I felt like a person, that I had value… it was beyond that, I was pretty, I was loved.
Receiving the award “validates my entire career,” she said before leading the crowd in a stripped-down version of her hit “Nobody Gets Me.”
Carrie Underwood paid tribute to Lindsey, one of her longtime songwriters whom she called “the queen of modern Nashville songwriters,” before launching into a full-band rendition of the tearjerker “Jesus, Take the Wheel”.
Lindsey joked that the first song she wrote “was probably about poop and boogers and stuff”, later describing a childhood spent singing about anything in the house, including “tampons from my mother”.
“The country has come to town, y’all,” she said before playing a short medley of songs she co-wrote, including Lady Gaga “Million Reasons” and a duet with Keith Urban on his “Blue Ain’t Your Color.”
Missy Elliott shouted late rapper Magoo for introducing him to Timbaland in a forceful introduction to his longtime writing and producing partner, emphasizing that he had “a gift.”
“Timbaland literally changed the cadence of the era, because he also treated hip hop records like R&B records,” she said. “He would take the hooks and put on a different sound.”
Timbaland told the audience that songwriting recognition was the best reward he could get.
“I don’t really talk too much. I just speak with my music,” he said, centering his speech on his collaborators and his family, including his grandmother who allowed him to work at home to write “One in a Million” for the deceased singer. Aaliyah.
“I want to thank my little girl, rest in peace, I hope you are watching,” he said.
He led a group of musicians in a medley of some of his most recognizable songs, including Aaliyah’s “Are You That Somebody,” Ginuwine’s “Pony,” Justin Timberlake’s “SexyBack” and “Suit & Tie,” Get Ur Freak On” by Elliott. “Drunk in Love” by Beyoncé and “Promiscuous” by Nelly Furtado.
Paul Williams presented Diane Warren with the Johnny Mercer Award, the event’s highest honor, joking that artificial intelligence “worries about Diane Warren.” Andra Day performed “Stand Up for Something,” written by Warren, who was previously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001.
“I have to thank my mother for being the first to prove me wrong,” Warren said. “Writing songs isn’t something I do, it’s who I am.”
The evening concluded with a performance marking the 40th anniversary of another song written by Warren: DeBarge’s “Rhythm of the Night.”
Before Thursday’s festivities, country star Cindy Walker was posthumously inducted in the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Walker has written songs performed by some of the biggest names in country music history and beyond, including Johnny CashMerle Haggard, BB King, DearGlen Campbell, Gene Autry, Bing Crosby and Roy Orbison.
The Songwriters Hall of Fame was established in 1969 to honor those who create popular music. A songwriter with a notable song catalog is eligible for induction 20 years after a song’s first commercial release. Some already in the room include Gloria Estefan, Carole King, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora, Elton John and Bernie Taupin, Brian Wilson, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Lionel Richie, Bill Withers, Neil. Diamond and Phil Collins.
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A previous version of this story misspelled Donald Fagen’s name.