A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions and writes lyrics for songs. A songwriter can also be called a composer, although the latter term tends to be used mainly for individuals from the classical music genre and film scoring, but is also associated writing and composing the original musical composition or musical bed. A songwriter who mainly writes the lyrics for a song is referred to as a lyricist. The pressure from the music industry to produce popular hits means that song writing is often an activity for which the tasks are distributed between a number of people. For example, a songwriter who excels at writing lyrics might be paired with a songwriter with the task of creating original melodies. Pop songs may be composed by group members from the band or by staff writers – songwriters directly employed by music publishers. Some songwriters serve as their own music publishers, while others have outside publishers.
Harry Edward Nilsson III, known professionally as Nilsson, was an American singer-songwriter who achieved the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. His work is characterized by pioneering vocal overdub experiments, returns to the Great American Songbook, and fusions of Caribbean sounds. A tenor with a 3 1⁄2 octave range, Nilsson was one of the few major pop-rock recording artists to achieve significant commercial success without ever performing major public concerts or undertaking regular tours. The craft of his songs and the defiant attitude he projected remain touchstones for later generations of indie rock musicians.
Robert Lawson Craft was an American conductor and writer. He is best known for his intimate professional relationship with Igor Stravinsky, on which Craft drew in producing numerous recordings and books.
Estelle Axton was an American record executive and co-founder of Stax Records, along with her brother Jim Stewart.
James Charles Rodgers was an American singer-songwriter and musician who rose to popularity in the late 1920s. Widely regarded as "the Father of Country Music", he is best known for his distinctive rhythmic yodeling. Unusual for a music star of his era, Rodgers rose to prominence based upon his recordings, among country music's earliest, rather than concert performances – which followed to similar public acclaim.
Corb Lund is a Canadian Western and Country singer-songwriter from Taber, Alberta, Canada. He has released nine albums, three of which are certified gold. Lund tours regularly in Canada, the United States and Australia, and has received several awards in Canada and abroad.
Ike Reilly is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and writer as well as frontman and founder of the rock band the Ike Reilly Assassination. He started his music career with various rock bands near his hometown of Libertyville, Illinois, playing guitar for groups such as The Drovers in the late 1980s. After working for a time in music production, in 2001 he released his debut solo album through Universal Records. He afterwards released several albums with The Ike Reilly Assassination, including the well-received Sparkle in the Finish in 2004, through Rock Ridge Music. He released his eighth album of solo material, Crooked Love, in May 2018. According to Mario Mesquita Borges of Allmusic, "Reilly has followed a trail separate from most of today's singer/songwriters -- unlike other such artists, Reilly prefers the harshness of intrepid rocking riffs, sustained by ingenious melodies and exalting words." David Carr of the New York Times said, “Ike Reilly is a kind of natural resource, mined from the bedrock of music. All the values that make rock important to people—storytelling, melody, rage, laughter—are part and parcel of every Ike Reilly show I have ever seen."
Vincent Rose(néVincenzo Cacioppo; 13 June 1880 Palermo, Italy – 20 May 1944 Rockville Centre, New York) was an Italian-born American violinist, pianist, composer, and bandleader.
Acoustic Café is an independent, syndicated radio program, produced in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Started in 1995, Acoustic Café presents singer-songwriters in various genres, playing songs in the Acoustic Café studio and chatting with host Rob Reinhart. A selection of current and past recorded material is also a part of each weekly program.
Jay Graydon is an American songwriter, recording artist, guitarist, singer, producer, arranger, and recording engineer. He is the winner of two Grammy Awards with twelve Grammy nominations, among them the title "Producer of the Year" and "Best Engineered Recording". He has mastered many different music styles and genres, and his recordings have been featured on record, film, television and the stage.
Michael Crafter is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter and entertainment manager. His music career began as lead vocalist for I Killed the Prom Queen. He is the vocalist of Confession, and former vocalist of Carpathian, xAll It Cost Was Everythingx and Bury Your Dead. Crafter sometimes runs a clothing apparel business called Mistake and printing business
Dean Dillon is an American country musician and songwriter. Between 1982 and 1993, he recorded six studio albums on various labels, and charted several singles on the Billboard country charts. Since 1993, Dillon has continued to write hit songs for other artists, most notably George Strait.
Julian Thomas Hamilton is an Australian singer-songwriter and keyboardist, who, with bandmate Kim Moyes, formed the electronica duo, The Presets in 2003. They have issued four studio albums, Beams, Apocalypso, Pacifica, and Hi Viz. Both were previously members of another electronic group, Prop, which released two albums, Small Craft Rough Sea (2001) and Cook Cut Damage Destroy. Hamilton has also worked as a session and touring member of Silverchair (2001–2003) and The Dissociatives (2004). At the APRA Music Awards of 2008 Hamilton and Daniel Johns won Song of the Year and Most Played Australian Work for Silverchair's single, "Straight Lines". In 2009 Hamilton and Moyes won Songwriters of the Year for their work on Apocalypso for The Presets.
Byron Hill, is an American songwriter from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Living and working professionally in Nashville, TN for more than forty years, his songs have been recorded by many Country and Pop artists.
Abner Silberman as pen name Abner Silver, was an American songwriter who worked primarily during the Tin Pan Alley era of the craft.
Casey Michael Beathard is an American country music songwriter. The son of former NFL general manager Bobby Beathard, and father to current Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback C.J. Beathard, and country music artist Tucker Beathard, he has co-written singles for several country music recording artists, including top-ten singles for Gary Allan, Billy Ray Cyrus, Trace Adkins, Kenny Chesney and Eric Church. In 2004 and 2008, he received Broadcast Music, Inc.'s Songwriter of the Year award for his contributions.
Shane McAnally is an American country music singer, songwriter, and record producer. Originally a solo artist for Curb Records in 1999, McAnally charted three singles on Hot Country Songs, including the No. 31 "Are Your Eyes Still Blue", before becoming a songwriter and record producer. He has written and produced songs for Walker Hayes, Kacey Musgraves, Kelly Clarkson, Sam Hunt, Kenny Chesney, Reba McEntire, Jake Owen, Luke Bryan, The Band Perry, Lady A, Keith Urban, Thomas Rhett, Brothers Osborne, Old Dominion, Dierks Bentley, Miranda Lambert, Kelsea Ballerini, and more. The Academy of Country Music named him Songwriter of the Year in 2014. He also won "Best Country Album" and "Best Country Song" at the 2014 Grammy Awards for his work on Kacey Musgraves's Same Trailer Different Park. In 2015, Billboard named him the Hot Country Songwriter of the Year as well as a Billboard Power Player. McAnally joined industry veteran Jason Owen in early 2017 to relaunch Monument Records as co-presidents. McAnally stars as one of the on-screen talent producers in the NBC television reality series Songland. In 2019, McAnally won the ACM Award for Songwriter of the Year and Grammy Award for Best Country Song for co-writing Kacey Musgraves's "Space Cowboy." Most recently, he was named as one of Billboard's 2020 Country Power Players and chosen as the recipient of the 2020 Billboard Trailblazer Award, held only by previous winners Reba McEntire and Florida Georgia Line.
Jerry Glenn Kennedy is an American record producer, songwriter and guitar player.
Adonis Shropshire or Adonis for short, is an American songwriter and record producer.
American Songwriter is a bimonthly magazine, established in 1984 covering every aspect of the craft and art of songwriting. It features interviews, songwriting tips, news, reviews and lyric contest. The magazine is based in Nashville, Tennessee.
