Songwriters Hall of Fame
Tabitha Fair grew up singing in her father's church in Oklahoma. She discovered at an early age songwriting and formed Avalon, a highly successful Contemporary Christian group with some of her musical friends. The group toured with several top gospel acts while performing many of Tabitha's songs. ...
Mike Stoller always had musical ideas as a kid but never felt complete as a songwriter until he met Jerry Leiber. Together Leiber and Stoller redefined R&B and Rock & Roll with a long string of hit songs beginning in the early 1950s for performers such as Big Mama Thornton and Big Joe...
Jerry Leiber was one half of Leiber and Stoller, one of the most influential and successful songwriting teams of the 1950s R&B movement. They played a critical role in the early days of Rock and Roll penning songs for rocks biggest and earliest stars such as Elvis Presley, the Drifters, the...
Hugh Martin was a great American songwriter who teamed with Ralph Blane at the end of the golden age of Tin Pan Alley to give us such classics as “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “The Trolley Song” and “The Girl Next Door.” As a tunesmith, Hugh worked on Broadway, for the movies, and as...
Eddie Holland gained worldwide fame as a Motown Record’s songwriter and music publisher along with his brother Brian. Eddie was also a recording artist who performed the chart-topping hit “Jamie” in the early 1960s. During the same time he penned a string of hits for some of the biggest names in...
Brian Holland and his brother Eddie are among the most popular songwriting teams in the history of popular music! For decades they have created the words and music to Motown’s classic sound that has forever changed the way people dance, fall in love and celebrate life. The key to their success as...
Keith Mardak provided great detail of the history of Hal Leonard Publishing, especially the stories of the company's founder, who passed away years ago, before he could be interviewed for this program. Without Keith's insight, the early days of this important music publisher may have been lost....
Dave Bartholomew was a noted bandleader, trumpeter, and songwriter who captured a pioneering sound known as the “big beat” of rock and roll. His uncanny ability to provide the perfect musical expression to the words of his bandmate Fats Domino resulted in a long list of classic recordings. Together...
This audio only interview was conducted for a radio program by Dan Del Fiorentino and donated to the NAMM Oral History program: George David Weiss wrote a number of successful songs for Elvis Presley, Louis Armstrong, and Ella Fitzgerald to name a few. He began writing jazz tunes such as the...
This audio only interview was conducted for a radio program by Dan Del Fiorentino and donated to the NAMM Oral History program: Ray Evans was an Oscar winning songwriter who penned tunes for jazz and pop artists as well as for television and film. Teamed often with his lifelong friend Jay...