Songwriters

[harrymcnallysblueandwhitearmy 1,683]

Even Diane Warren wouldn’t write something quite as cynically mawkish and grandiloquent, and even Celine Dion would Think Twice before recording them.

[Thatcher 2,339]

On 02/01/2021 at 21:27, Thatcher said:

Steve Brown, record producer for Wham!, Manic Street Preachers, The Cult amongst others, has died aged 63. 

Lyricist and composer Steve Brown presumably alive.

Now the other Steve Brown, the lyricist, composer and record producer, has died. He worked on West End Musicals Spend Spend Spend and I Can’t Sing! The X Factor Musical. He composed many of the songs and jingles on loads of programmes such as Spitting Image in the 80s/90s, Dead Ringers and The Ant and Dec Show (including Wonkey Donkey).

[YoungWillz 20,918]

Report of the death of Nicky Graham, musician, songwriter and producer: 

Member of The End, had a brief stint as Bowie's keyboardist. 

 

Co-wrote such hits as I Owe You Nothing for Bros and Let's Get Ready To Rhumble for Ant and Dec as PJ and Duncan.

 

But let's not forget the Nolans with Chemistry, a UK #15 in September 1981:

 

 

[YoungWillz 20,918]

Musician and songwriter Mark Spiro being reported dead: 

Co-wrote Saltwater with Julian Lennon and Who's Leaving Who, a hit for Hazell Dean.

 

 

[time 8,575]

Mark James, writer of Suspicious Minds reported to have died aged 83.

 

 

[harrymcnallysblueandwhitearmy 1,683]

40 minutes ago, time said:

Mark James, writer of Suspicious Minds reported to have died aged 83.

 

 

 
That’s weird, I sang his Hooked on a Feeling just the other day. Ooga chaka RIP.

[Death Impends 7,942]

4 hours ago, harrymcnallysblueandwhitearmy said:

 
That’s weird, I sang his Hooked on a Feeling just the other day. Ooga chaka RIP.

 

My radio was playing the BJ Thomas version when I read the above posts. No mention by the radio host of his death, so I assume coincidence.

[alt obits guy 3,365]

10 hours ago, time said:

Mark James, writer of Suspicious Minds reported to have died aged 83.

 

 

Mark James obit: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3ggwdvv5kxo

[alt obits guy 3,365]

Buzz Cason, a songwriter best known for the tune 'Everlasting Love', a hit originally by Robert Knight and covered by the likes of Rex Smith/Rachel Sweet, Sandra and Gloria Estefan, has died.  He was 84. Cason also wrote country tunes for the likes of Dolly Parton and Martina McBride.

 

https://tasteofcountry.com/everlasting-love-songwriter-buzz-cason-dead-dies/

 

 

[JQW 276]

16 minutes ago, alt obits guy said:

Buzz Cason, a songwriter best known for the tune 'Everlasting Love', a hit originally by Robert Knight and covered by the likes of Rex Smith/Rachel Sweet, Sandra and Gloria Estefan, has died.  He was 84. Cason also wrote country tunes for the likes of Dolly Parton and Martina McBride.

 

https://tasteofcountry.com/everlasting-love-songwriter-buzz-cason-dead-dies/

 

 

 

'Everlasting Love' was also a no. 1 for Love Affair in the UK.

[harrymcnallysblueandwhitearmy 1,683]

On 17/06/2024 at 16:00, JQW said:

 

'Everlasting Love' was also a no. 1 for Love Affair in the UK.

An all-time pop/soul classic, can withstand almost any X-Factor/karaoke butchering. Another good song of Cason’s is Soldier of Love, definitively recorded by Arthur Alexander and butchered by those loveable long-haired Liverpool louts.

 

Edit: I see it just missed out on a place in the 1960s #1s final. That’s tough.

Edited June 18 by harrymcnallysblueandwhitearmy

[time 8,575]

1 hour ago, harrymcnallysblueandwhitearmy said:

An all-time pop/soul classic, can withstand almost any X-Factor/karaoke butchering. Another good song of Cason’s is Soldier of Love, definitively recorded by Arthur Alexander and butchered by those loveable long-haired Liverpool louts.

but not arrangement on Sandra's recording. 

[harrymcnallysblueandwhitearmy 1,683]

44 minutes ago, time said:

but not arrangement on Sandra's recording. 

The mere words ‘German pop singer’ is enough to warn me off satisfying my curiosity.

[time 8,575]

George Goehring, composer of Lipstick on your Collar, reportedly dead aged 91.

[YoungWillz 20,918]

Billy Edd Wheeler, co-writer of such as Jackson and Coward Of The County, reportedly dead: https://www.dcnewsnow.com/news/local-news/west-virginia/boone-county-native-songwriter-billy-edd-wheeler-dies-at-91/

 

https://secondhandsongs.com/artist/12065/all

[Death Impends 7,942]

30 minutes ago, YoungWillz said:

Billy Edd Wheeler, co-writer of such as Jackson and Coward Of The County, reportedly dead: https://www.dcnewsnow.com/news/local-news/west-virginia/boone-county-native-songwriter-billy-edd-wheeler-dies-at-91/

 

https://secondhandsongs.com/artist/12065/all

 

60s channel this morning was playing the Nancy Sinatra/Lee Hazlewood version of Jackson.

 

Guess he got buried in a fever.

[Ulitzer95 12,431]

1 hour ago, YoungWillz said:

Billy Edd Wheeler, co-writer of such as Jackson and Coward Of The County, reportedly dead: https://www.dcnewsnow.com/news/local-news/west-virginia/boone-county-native-songwriter-billy-edd-wheeler-dies-at-91/

 

https://secondhandsongs.com/artist/12065/all

That’s 3 people with links to Johnny Cash dead in a week.

[adrian0719 220]

JD Souther dead. Wrote for Linda Ronstandt and The Eagles. 

[harrymcnallysblueandwhitearmy 1,683]

4 hours ago, adrian0719 said:

JD Souther dead. Wrote for Linda Ronstandt and The Eagles. 

Depending on who you believe, he either turned down being an Eagle at their conception or was kept out at the insistence of other(s), but with Meisner, Frey and Souther all dead that’ll remain a mystery I suspect. JD was a boyfriend of Judee Sill and you get the feeling he wasn’t the most considerate of guys, but that’s pretty much par for the course with the Laurel Canyon rock stars and songwriters, so I’m not going to have a go at him on hearsay.

 

May I add, I’m not an Eagles fan one little bit, though they could do the West Coast harms as well as CSNY or anyone else.

[Spade_Cooley 9,474]

36 minutes ago, harrymcnallysblueandwhitearmy said:

JD was a boyfriend of Judee Sill

 

The story of course being that after they broke up Souther was woken one morning by Sill banging on his front door, she barged in, took her guitar out, said "this is about you" and gave the first ever performance of "Jesus Was A Crossmaker", before leaving immediately afterwards.

[maryportfuncity 10,616]

17 hours ago, adrian0719 said:

JD Souther dead. Wrote for Linda Ronstandt and The Eagles. 

 

 

Seen the quotes above,  here's a track from his first solo album that also got played on the Whistle Test once over. nerdy note, that amazing stand up bass part is Stanely Clarke at his finest: 

 

[maryportfuncity 10,616]

So, some Googling tonight linked to something I'm writing and seems like the songwriting and sometime performing duo of Roger Cook (84) and Roger Greenaway (86) are both still in the land of the living - obitable without doubt, songs written include I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing

[YoungWillz 20,918]

On 05/07/2022 at 20:47, YoungWillz said:

Alan Blaikley, international hitmaker with his long term songwriting partner Ken Howard, has died: https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/elvis-presley-hit-songwriter-alan-27402515

 

Many songs for Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich, including Bend It, Zabadak! and The Legend of Xanadu, as well as the Honeycombs' hit Have I The Right. I'm going to plump for this one from The Herd:

 

Ken Howard is alive.

Ken Howard no longer alive - Telegraph Obit: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2024/10/08/ken-howard-songwriter-elvis-dave-dee-died-obituary/

[Ulitzer95 12,431]

Jack Ponti (wiki) dead at 66.

Notably wrote "Hey Stoopid" and "Love's a Loaded Gun", two of Alice Cooper's best known songs.

Also wrote songs for Bon Jovi, Baton Rouge, and Nelson.