Songwriters Hall of Fame

Legendary producer, arranger, performer and songwriter, Brian Wilson has created a body of work that remains among the most memorable in rock music history. His career, first following intense travail as the key creative figure in the group The Beach Boys, and later, physically and emotionally, as a brilliant star…

Accolades aplenty have be heaped on James Taylor, the definitive songwriter, one of the composers for whom the term singer-songwriter was first coined, and a recording artist with an uncanny knack for making both his own songs as well as those of others come to meaningful life.

"James Taylor is an artist who represents a timeless link between Stephen Foster, Jimmie Rodgers, Hoagy Carmichael, Pete Seeger, Ewan MacColl and other great troubadour stylists of modern song in the western hemisphere," said Timothy White, Billboard editor-in-chief. White also suggested that, "More than anything else, generations of listeners know that the heart has no hiding place from the simple hymn-like truth of Taylor's art."

Wonderful words indeed for an extraordinarily talented commentator through song of his own era, a tumultuous time of change for America and the world in which it exists. With a father from North Carolina and a mother from Newburyport MA., Taylor managed to grow up quite literally in both states. He was born in Boston March 12, 1948, and over the years, he and brothers Livingston, Alex, Hughand sister, Kate experienced many a driving trip from the Bay State to Carolina. As children, they got to spend the summer vacations in both places, although in the long run, Massachusetts claimed more of their time. And in like manner, because of happy summers on Martha's Vineyard, that idyllic spot in the Atlantic just off Cape Cod, ultimately became James Taylor's home.

His first working experience in music came when the band Flying Machine was formed in 1967 with guitarist, Danny Kortchmar. As a solo artist, Taylor was also signed by the Beatles-owned Apple Records, which produced his very first album, James Taylor. Following a short stay with Apple, Taylor moved on, this time to Warner Brothers Records, where his first LP, Sweet Baby James, ultimately became triple platinum, with his song, "Fire and Rain," marking his commercial breakthrough. The following year, 1971, brought the release of a second million-seller album Mudslide Slim and the Blue Horizon, which included what would soon become a number one chart single, "You've Got A Friend," written by Taylor’s good friend Carole King.

Taylor married Carly Simon, another successful songwriter and recording artist, in 1972, a union which also brought about a highly successful duet recording of Inez and Charlie Foxx's "Mockingbird," in 1974. Yet another outside songwriter, the team of Holland-Dozier-Holland was the writer of another substantial Taylor chart entry, "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)," which was included in Taylor’s 1975 album Gorilla.

Following a final Warner Brothers album, In The Pocket, Taylor moved over to Columbia Records (Sony) and released a number of well-received CD's, including JT a 1977 double-plantinum package which included a top 10 cover of Jimmy Jones' "Handy Man." "Flag" and "Dad Loves To Work" were released in 1979 and 1981 respectively and both made top 10 on the charts and both were certified gold sellers. Other albums achieving gold status were Never Die Young in 1983 and New Moon Shine in 1991. A double-CD, Live released in 1993 also went platinum.

Despite his ongoing success with high caliber recordings of other people's songs, Taylor is a songwriter of power, having shown his credentials in this regard over the entire course of his career. His own catalog boasts “Celebration," "Country Road," "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight," "Ladies Night," "Steamroller Blues," "Your Smiling Face" and "Take My Heart," among many others.

Taylor was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999, and that same year was the winner in 1999 of the Billboard Century Award, where he joined the eloquent company of George Harrison, Buddy Guy, Billy Joel, Joni Mitchell, the much celebrated Carlos Santana and Chet Atkins of Nashville, Tennessee.

Taylor continues to contribute melodic narrative voice to American popular music. In 2003, his album October Road was honored with a Grammy nomination.

With a distinctive, highly recognizable tenor voice, an unparalleled catalog of enduring pop and soul classics and an honored place in the pantheon of American music, Curtis Mayfield is without question one of the most influential and beloved artist/songwriters of his time.

Born in Chicago in 1942, Mayfield absorbed the city's rich heritage of blues and gospel music and even before reaching his teen years he had formed his first group, The Alphatones. Later, renewing a childhood friendship with Jerry Butler, he formed a group with three others, brothers Arthur and Richard Brooks and Sam Gooden, all from Tennessee. First called The Roosters the band was soon re-christened The Impressions, who recorded a breakthrough hit, "For Your Precious Love," in 1958, one of what was to become an almost endless string of Mayfield hit songs to hit high positions on the record charts.

Following Butler's departure for a solo career in 1959, Mayfield re-formed The Impressions with Sam Gooden and newcomer Fred Cash, and almost immediately landed a contract with ABC Paramount Records. Within a year, Mayfield's song, "Gypsy Woman," reached the top 20 on the charts. The group scored another success with Mayfield's "It's All Right" in 1963, while simultaneously Mayfield was also discharging his new duties at the Columbia Records affiliate Okeh Records, as staff producer. While on this assignment, he was associated with recordings by such stars to be as Major Lance, Gene Chandler, Jan Bradley and Walter Jackson, among others. The Impressions, meanwhile, continued to record Mayfield songs into major hits with such titles as "Talking About My Baby," "I'm So Proud," "Keep On Pushing," "You Must Believe Me," "Amen," "Woman's Got Soul" and the immortal "People Get Ready."

During the late '60s, while continuing at a breakneck pace with his music creativity, Mayfield began to develop an interest in social and political issues of that moment, contributing such songs as "We're a Winner," a tome to black power and pride which became controversial enough to be banned by a number of pop radio stations.

In 1967, Mayfield co-founded Curtom records, and in 1970 he launched a solo recording career. His first album, Curtis, containing such Mayfield classics to be as "Move On Up," and "(Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Down Below, We're All Going To Go," reached the top 20 on the charts and was soon followed within the year by Curtis Live in 1971.

Later, Mayfield again scored by writing, producing and recording Superfly one of the outstanding albums of the 1970’s. Decrying violence and drug use depicted in the film, "Superfly" combined Mayfield's proven music skills with a powerful social consciousness in such hits as the title track for the film and "Freddie's Dead," both certified million-sellers. The album itself spent four weeks at the number one position on the charts.

During the same year as "Superfly," Mayfield was the subject of a television profile, Curtis in Chicago, which featured performances by Jerry Butler, Gene Chandler and The Impressions. He also produced the hit soundtrack to the film Claudine, with Gladys Knight and The Pips in 1974, "Let's Do It Again, " with the famed Staples Singers in 1975, and a pair of albums, Sparkle and Almighty Fire both with Aretha Franklin. Mayfield even appeared on camera with Tex-Mex star Freddy Fender in the prison film Short Eyes. Also during the early years of the '70s, he managed to record a string of well-received albums, including Back To The World, Sweet Exorcist, Got To Find A Way, and There's No Place Like America Today.

More albums, Heartbeat, Between You Baby and Me and Something To Believe In, were still to come as was an exciting reunion tour with The Impressions and Jerry Butler. Then, in 1990, tragedy struck during a rainswept concert in Brooklyn, when a lighting rig, loosened by a high wind gust, toppled onto the stage, striking Mayfield on its way down--he was paralyzed from the neck down.

After several years of drawing deeply on his spiritual reserves, Mayfield regained strength slowly, until an uplifting experience in 1994, when an all-star cast of artists assembled to pay tribute to this great songwriter/entertainer. Warner Brothers Records organized the recording of the album, All Men Are Brothers: A Tribute To Curtis Mayfield, featuring performers including Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Whitney Houston, Bruce Springsteen. John Mellencamp, Rod Stewart, B.B. King, Elton John, Gladys Knight and Aretha Franklin, among others, all singing vintage Curtis Mayfield material, and highlighted by a rendition of "Let's Do It Again," by Mayfield himself, marking his first singing performance in the four years since the accident.

Inspired by this eventful album, Mayfield entered the studio on his own again, two years later in 1996 where he produced a new album of original material, New World Order, which became one of the most acclaimed productions of his entire career. Both Aretha Franklin and Mavis Staples appeared as guests on the album. This album was nominated for 3 Grammys.

Curtis Mayfield died in 1999, shortly before learning of his impending induction into the Songwriters' Hall of Fame.

Worldwide, he has been the number one force in the music industry, the biggest cat indeed, the Godfather of Soul, the one and only James Brown. His career as entertainer and songwriter stretches back to another era of music, when soul songs and performances were just beginning to "cross over" from the more traditional rhythm and blues charts to the pop entries.

Two-time Grammy Award winner and inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Brown's initial recordings helped move rhythm and blues music into the mainstream. Interestingly, despite the fact that he is the writer of virtually every song he recorded, Brown is still principally known as a concert performer, singer and recording artist.

As an artist/composer, Brown is regarded as having been an influential factor in the careers of many headline-writer-performers of the day, including Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, Prince, M.C. Hammer and Sting, among many others.

As a singer, Brown's style evolved over the years but never strayed from his roots in gospel and soul music. He achieved a wide international following among fans of many races and cultures. Beginning with his first significant record release of "I'll Go Crazy" in 1960, virtually every James Brown record has been a hit, among them 74 R&B Top 20 entries, including 17 number ones and total sales of more than 50 million records.

At age 20, Brown joined a group known as The Gospel Starlighters. With the presence of Brown a factor, the group made a stylistic switch out of gospel and on to the more broad-based rhythm and blues field. At the same moment, a name change to The Famous Flames was adopted, a monumental career was launched and the name, James Brown and the Famous Flames became a byword of across-the-board success in the record charts.

The launch pad for this music explosion came during a concert performance of the Brown song, "Please, Please, Please," when a Cincinnati-based recording executive, Syd Nathan heard what was going on and immediately summoned the group to a studio, where the Famous Flames' very first recording of the same song, became a bona fide hit.

From that time forward, Brown and company toured relentlessly from the late '50s to the mid '70s, sometimes performing as many as 350 one-nighters in a single year.

Despite his schedule demands, Brown became an advocate for various causes and associated himself with government figures involved in justice for minorities and the poor. A major figure in black causes, he was actually called upon to help quell the racial rioting of the late '60s in such cities as Detroit and Newark, among others. Brown also found time to visit and perform for American troops in Vietnam.

During the 1980’s, a new generation began to discover James Brown and they found him on screen in such motion pictures as "The Blues Brothers" and "Rocky IV."

Throughout his four decades of music, Brown has continued working in perhaps his strongest territory, that of a songwriter. His production output includes a host of memorable titles, songs that each have their special niche in pop music history. They include "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag," "Baby You're Right," "Get it Together," "I Don't Want Nobody To Give Me Nothin”," "Say It Loud - I'm Black And I'm Proud," "Sex Machine," "America Is My Home" and "I Got You (I Feel Good)."

Over the years, James Brown has been honored with the Award of Merit from the American Music Awards. During the same season, he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences. Meanwhile, the album James Brown's Greatest Hits, reached the gold record level, giving proof again that after 40 years of performing and writing great songs, James Brown remains the true "Godfather of Soul."

While Glenn Frey's name is inextricably woven into the historic west coast rock and roll band, The Eagles, with their silken vocal harmonies and country rock influences, his roots are in a totally different location with its own culture and assuredly its own music scene, the city of Detroit. Known not only for the powerful Motown axis, but also for many successful rock bands including the re-nowned Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band, the Motor City was also the launching pad for Frey's own highly successful career as songwriter, singer and bandleader.

Born in November, 1948, Frey first began putting out his music taproots in the glory days of Detroit rock in the mid-'60s, with his first band, The Mushrooms. The group soon began appearing on the hot local TV show, "Robin Seymour's Swinging Time," and rapidly became a staple on the music menu of The Hideout, a favorite local teen hangout. The band's first single record, released on the club's own Hideout label, was produced by the young Bob Seger prior to his forming his own band. The single, "Such A Lovely Child," achieved significant local airplay and sales.

With the early demise of The Mushrooms, Frey joined another local folk-rock group, The Four Of Us, which was followed in turn by The Subterraneans and The Heavy Metal Kids, both organized by Frey, just prior to his making a sudden and what was to become a major career-bending decision, to move west to California, where the rainbow and the pot of gold were widely thought to be found.

He made the move in the early '70s and almost immediately hooked up with a fledgling label, known as Amos Records, a label that at almost the same time was putting out a first album by a group from Texas, Shiloh, one of whose members was Don Henley. Frey and Henley became friends and musical partners, and found themselves working for a time with Linda Ronstadt, an Arizona expatriate who was also seeking her musical fortune in southern California. In the fall of 1971, Frey, with Henley, formed The Eagles, a band that would pioneer a new kind of mellow, harmonic California sound and genre, thanks not only to unique songwriting from both Frey and Henley, but also to the advent of rock without a hard edge, and a rock style that was to remain in the top ranks of contemporary music makers virtually as long as it wished. Frey assumed leading roles and songwriting credits on such legendary Eagles successes as "New Kid in Town," "Lyin' Eves," and lead vocals on "Take it Easy" (a song co-written with friend Jackson Browne) and "Tequila Sunrise."

During the '70s heyday of The Eagles, Frey also enjoyed a writing credit on a number of the group's most memorable hits, including, "Best Of My Love," "Desperado," "Hotel California," "I Can't Tell You Why," "Life in The Fastlane," "One Of These Nights," "Sexy Girl" and "The One You Love."

When The Eagles disbanded in 1979 in the wake of the album, The Long Run, Frey's solo career took off. He recorded No Fun Aloud in 1982, which in turn spawned a pair of single hits, “I Found Somebody" and "The One You Love." Next came the album The Allnighter, which included what was to become yet another hit single, "Smuggler's Blues," (later inspiring an episode of the hit television series, "Miami Vice," in which Frey also guest-starred. His acting credits following the "Miami Vice" debut also included appear ances on such television productions as "Wise Guy," "South of Sunset," and "Nash Bridges." Frey also appeared in the smash motion picture hit, "Jerry Maguire," as an NFL football team's general manager where he worked opposite Tom Cruise and Cuba Gooding, Jr.

On the music side, Frey has always remained extremely active and in 1985, he enjoyed particular success with his top 10 hit, "The Heat is On," from the soundtrack to the Eddie Murphy comedy, "Beverly Hills Cop" His next contribution to the "Miami Vice" soundtrack, "You Belong To The City," also achieved blockbuster status, just missing the number one slot.

In the mid-’90s, following his own CD, Glenn Frey Live, he joined the phenomenally successful Eagles "Hell Freezes Over" tour, and later formed his own record label, Mission records, with attorney and friend, Peter Lopez.

Frey and wife Cindy, who have two children, daughter Taylor and son Deacon, are committed deeply to children's charities and are particularly dedicated to “Grassroots Aspen Experience”, which for the past eight years has brought more than 2000 economically disadvantaged children from all over the nation to the fabled Colorado mountain village for challenging sports activities, counseling and confidence-building programs.

Composer, recording star and environmental activist, Don Henley, in a somewhat unheralded way, has chalked up a number of significant records for sales and performances in the music world. Like many names in the crossover areas of pop and country, Henley, hails from Texas. In fact, as a young adult, he learned that his little town of Linden, Texas, where he grew up, also spawned the wonderful blues guitarist, T-Bone Walker and the historic ragtime pianist, Scott Joplin.

Henley is known for many accomplishments both on and off the concert stage and recording studio. He is celebrated as an extraordinarily adept songwriter, with a knack for capturing powerful emotional feelings as well as the mood of a special moment in time. A majority of his best remembered hit songs were recorded by his legendary Southern California band, The Eagles, whose roots go back to the early Hollywood music epicenter of Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Lookout Mountain Avenue. Many of the denizens of the Los Angeles music world, including Jackson Browne, The Mamas and Papas, Jim Messina, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and even Steve Martin once made their homes in the area, and Linda Ronstadt, with whom the Eagles worked often, lived a short distance away near the Capitol Records tower.

In terms of familiar melodies, many of Henley's songs have become established standards. These include "Heartache Tonight," "Lyin' Eyes," "Hotel California," "Life in The Fastlane," "New Kid In Town," and "Desperado," which also was recorded by Ronstadt. All of them are on the basic menu of Classic Rock stations as well as adult contemporary and country music outlets.

As a youngster in Texas, Henley was exposed to many forms of musical Americana. He and his father would tune in to the famed Louisiana Hayride on KWKH in Shreveport and the Grand Ole Opry on WSM Radio in Nashville, Tennessee, introducing the young listener to such traditional country greats as Red Foley, Kitty Wells, Hank Williams, (Gentleman) Jim Reeves and Patsy Cline. Other influences on Henley were radio WNOL in New Orleans, bringing the exotic sounds of the music of the delta northward to Texas: the deep, resonant voice of "John R" (John Richborg) from WLAC in Nashville, from Oklahoma City's KOMA and of major importance, the nocturnal howls of the legendary Wolfman Jack from 600 miles south at the Texas - Mexico border. With a tiny transistor radio pressed against his ear in bed, Henley would listen until the wee hours to the music of Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino, Bobby Freeman, Chuck Willis and Bobby Blue Bland, among many others.

In high school, Henley organized his first band, The Four Speeds, with friends Richard Bowden and Jerry Surratt. Later, the band became Shiloh, which included Jim Ed Norman, later a Nashville record exec who would produce many of Anne Murray’s biggest hits.

In 1970, the band relocated to Los Angeles where they recorded a first album on an independent label, Amos Records. Also on Amos, was a young singer/songwriter, Glenn Frey, with whom Henley befriended. As a duo, they worked frequently with Ronstadt, a young singer from Arizona, also cutting her eye-teeth as a recording artist.

In the fall of 1971, Frey and Henley formed The Eagles, a group that was to pioneer a brand new American style of popular music, blending country and folk with standard pop. The band would go on to sell more than 100 million albums, worldwide, win four Grammies and top the album charts five times. The album, Eagles - Their Greatest Hits 1971-75, has sold more than 26 million copies.

Henley's solo career which commenced in the early '80s, has been almost equally successful beginning in 1982 with his debut solo effort, I Can't Stand Still, which contained the hit single, "Dirty Laundry." Other resounding album successes of the '80s included "'Building The Perfect Beast" in 1984, containing four more hit singles, "The Boys Of Summer," "All She Wants To Do Is Dance," "Sunset Grill," and "Not Enough Love in The World". Nominated that year for three Grammies, Henley won for Best Rock Vocal (Male) for “The Boys Of Summer." In 1989, came the album, The End Of Innocence, which produced three more hit singles, "The Heart Of The Matter," "The Last Worthless Evening" and the title track.

Aside from his busy recording career, Henley is an extremely dedicated activist, having founded the renowned Walden Woods Project in 1990, which ahs become one of the most successful preservation/educational endeavors in America. An outgrowth of Walden Woods is Henley’s Thoreau Institute, respected throughout the world as a facility that combines the best of history with state-of-the art cyber-learning techniques. Henley has organized and produced many benefit concerts for Vic Walden Woods Project. So far, more than 22 million dollars has been raised, much of which has been earmarked for the purchase of environmentally sensitive and historically significant acres in the Walden Pond environs just west of Boston.

Henley moved back to East Texas in 1997 with his wife and two children. Following an immensely successful Eagles reunion tour in the mid-90’s, he organized his first solo album in more than a decade. The new album, Inside Job, released in 2001, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album.