The greatest songwriters of the last 60 years.

[Bentley Bullet]

John Shuttleworth

[Mike_F]

I see a lot of love here for people who've for the most part written and performed their own songs. I chucked Albert Hammond in without comment to see if anyone picked up on his vast canon of songs written for the biggest pop stars of the 80s, 90s, & 2000s.

A quick glance at his Wikipedia page tells you all you need to know:

Hammond wrote commercially successful singles for artists including Celine Dion, Joe Dolan, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Diana Ross, Leo Sayer, Tina Turner, Glen Campbell, Julio Iglesias, Willie Nelson, Lynn Anderson and Bonnie Tyler, and bands Ace of Base, Air Supply, Blue Mink, Chicago, Heart, Living in a Box, the Carpenters, the Hollies, the Pipkins, Starship, and Westlife. Notable songs co-written by Hammond include "Make Me an Island" and "You're Such a Good Looking Woman" by Joe Dolan, "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" by Starship, "One Moment in Time" sung by Whitney Houston, "The Air That I Breathe", a hit for the Hollies, "To All the Girls I've Loved Before", a Julio Iglesias/Willie Nelson duet, and "When I Need You" by Leo Sayer. In 2015, he received the British Academy's Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Song Collection.

[i_ateallthepies]

First time I heard of Willie Nelson I thought they were talking about wrestling.

[Pancho Regan]

Billy Joel






Totally agree on that one, I’ve seen him live half a dozen times, absolutely brilliant

He’s an incredible songwriter. I feel he doesn’t always get the credit he deserves in this country because most people’s go to is ‘Uptown Girl’. There is so much more than that. I’ve been lucky enough to see him many times since my first concert in 1985. The last being the best, at Hyde Park last year. I’ve even had a trip to Madison Square Gardens during his record breaking residency there.
I was 13 when I first saw him on TOTP in 1983 (funnily enough, the Uptown Girl video), then I slowly discovered his back catalogue.
The man’s a genius.

Edit: have you ever seen Elio Pace perform the Billy Joel Songbook? Or even better, his Album shows?

Unfortunately I've never seen him live Belton, but I agree he is a brilliant songwriter. Ironically, 'Uptown Girl' is probably the only song of his that I dislike!

The albums 'Glass Houses' and 'The Nylon Curtain' from the early 1980's are both excellent. I used to play them to death. The track 'Goodnight Saigon' is a masterpiece - it sent shivers down my spine when I first heard it.