A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. 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 among 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 external publishers.
Clyde Jackson Browne is an American rock musician, singer, songwriter, and political activist who has sold over 18 million albums in the United States.
Paula Dorothy Cole is an American singer-songwriter and producer. After gaining attention for her performances as a vocalist on Peter Gabriel's 1993–1994 Secret World Tour, she released her first album, Harbinger, which suffered from a lack of promotion when the label, Imago Records, folded shortly after its release. Her second album, This Fire (1996), brought her worldwide acclaim, peaking at number 20 on the Billboard 200 album chart and producing two hit singles, the triple-Grammy nominated "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?", which reached the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1997, and "I Don't Want to Wait", which was used as the theme song of the television show Dawson's Creek. Cole was a featured performer in the 1996 prototype mini-tour for Lilith Fair, and also was a headliner for Lilith Fair in 1997 and 1998. She won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1998, and also became the first woman ever to be nominated for "Producer of the Year" in her own right in that same year.
The Motels are an American new wave band from Berkeley, California, that is best known for the singles "Only the Lonely" and "Suddenly Last Summer", each of which peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100, in 1982 and 1983, respectively. In 1980, The Motels song "Total Control" reached No. 7 on the Australian chart, and their song "Danger" reached No. 15 on the French chart.
A demo is a song or group of songs typically recorded for limited circulation or for reference use, rather than for general public release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas in a fixed format, such as cassette tape, compact disc, or digital audio files, and to thereby pass along those ideas to record labels, producers, or other artists.
Midlake is an American folk rock band from Denton, Texas, formed in 1999. The band consists of Eric Pulido, McKenzie Smith, Scott Lee, Eric Nichelson, Jesse Chandler, and Joey McClellan.
A music competition is a public event designed to identify and award outstanding musical ensembles, soloists, composers, conductors, musicologists or compositions. Pop music competitions are music competitions which are held to find pop starlets.
"Change the World" is a song written by Tommy Sims, Gordon Kennedy, and Wayne Kirkpatrick and recorded by country music artist Wynonna Judd. A later version was recorded by English singer Eric Clapton for the soundtrack of the 1996 film Phenomenon. Clapton's version was produced by R&B record producer Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds.
Raised by Swans is the recording alias of Canadian solo artist Eric Howden. A singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Howden chose the name 'Raised By Swans' in 1997 following a cathartic dream he had after leaving his previous band, The Gandharvas; the name relies on a homonym to convey a simultaneous sense of connection and freedom.
Bon Iver is an American indie folk band founded in 2006 by singer-songwriter Justin Vernon. Vernon had originally formed Bon Iver as a solo project, but it eventually became a band consisting of Vernon, Sean Carey, Michael Lewis, Matthew McCaughan, Andrew Fitzpatrick, and Jenn Wasner
Joe Brooks is an English singer and songwriter. Brooks started out as a Myspace musician when he was just 17 and quickly gained popularity on the site while releasing two independent EPs. By 2008 he was hyped and labelled as the "Number 1 Unsigned UK Artist" on MySpace and had amassed 11 million song plays. In 2009 he signed to Jason Flom's Lava Records and Universal Republic Records, where he released his first full-length and major label album, Constellation Me, in 2010. Following his exit from Lava/Universal in 2011, he released a fan-funded independent EP, A Reason to Swim, later that year.
The Unsigned Guide is an online contacts directory and careers guide for the UK music industry. Founded in 2003, and first published as a printed directory, The Unsigned Guide became an online only resource in November 2011. It is produced specifically for emerging bands, artists, music managers, and the UK music industry and contains directory listings covering all aspects of the business from record labels, music publishers, PR companies, recording studios, managers to radio stations, venues, gig promoters, festivals and music distribution.
Tony Martino is a singer-songwriter and record producer from Chicago. Martino is also the primary singer-songwriter and producer for his new side-project formed in 2017, The Rarest Kind, a group with a "revolving member" format in which he is the only official and permanent member. His songs have been featured in several television shows, including the "Ghost Whisperer" on CBS, MTV's "The Real World" and "Road Rules", and many others the Discovery Channel and Sy-Fy.. He has also received critical acclaim and other mentions in major media publications and music magazines such as the Daily Herald, San Francisco Chronicle, Amplifier Magazine, and Performing Songwriter Magazine. Martino is also known for his upfront opinions on various music-related topics. He was quoted in The Wall Street Journal discussing the controversial use of Auto-Tune recording software. Academy Award and Emmy Award-nominated musician, Adam Schlesinger of the pop/rock band Fountains Of Wayne, also praised Martino's music in an article Schlesinger penned in The New York Times, stating, "I get handed stuff almost every day. I try to listen to all of it – 99 percent is garbage. But every so often you get something that stands out...This is a guy with incredible potential."
Anine Stang is a Norwegian singer and songwriter.
Daniel Pearson is an English musician and songwriter from Kingston upon Hull, England. He has released two studio albums as a solo artist, and plays guitar, bass guitar, keyboards and percussion on his releases, which have been acclaimed by national and international press and radio. He is primarily known as an indie/folk rock artist.
Natania is an Indian pop musician and singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles, California.
Jesse Palter is an American singer-songwriter and recording artist. Palter's work ranges from pop to jazz. She released her debut album, Paper Trail, on Mack Avenue Music Group July 19, 2019.
Tan Yang Peng, professionally known as TAN, is a Malaysian pop singer and songwriter from Penang, Malaysia.
Live in San Diego is the thirteenth live album by British rock musician Eric Clapton. It was released through Reprise Records as a live album on 30 September 2016 and as a 2-hour live DVD on 10 March 2017.
Nalani & Sarina are an American soul-rock duo from New Jersey consisting of identical twin sisters Nalani and Sarina Bolton. They graduated high school early to pursue music full-time, performing up and down the east coast since age 16. Their sibling harmonies are showcased in their live shows and recordings, which also feature them playing a variety of instruments including keyboard, guitar, and ukulele.
