Songwriters Hall of Fame Nominees Announced

Jeff Lynne, Cat Stevens, Bryan Adams, Sly Stone among the potential inductees

All of the potential nominees for 2017. Quite a collection of talent!

The Songwriters Hall of Fame has announced its nominees for 2017. The new class of five inductees will receive their honors at the organization’s Annual Induction & Awards Gala on June 15, 2017, in New York City. Eligible members can vote for three non-performing songwriters and two performing songwriters until Dec. 16.

In the Performing Songwriters category, the nominees include:

Bryan Adams (“(Everything I Do) I Do It for You,” “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?,” “Heaven,” “Cuts Like a Knife,” “Summer of ’69”)

Peter Cetera, Robert Lamm & James Pankow (Chicago) (“25 or 6 to 4,” “Saturday in the Park,” “Colour My World,” “Baby, What A Big Surprise,” “Feelin’ Stronger Everyday”)

David Gates (Bread) (“Baby I’m-a Want You,” “Diary,” “Everything I Own,” “If,” “Make It With You”)

Cat Stevens (“Moonshadow,” “Morning Has Broken,” “Peace Train,” “The First Cut Is the Deepest,” “Wild World”)

Robert “Kool” Bell, Ronald Bell & George Brown (Kool & The Gang) (“Celebration,” “Fresh,” “Get Down on It,” “Joanna,” “Ladies Night”)

Jeff Lynne

Jeff Lynne (Electric Light Orchestra) (“Evil Woman,” “Mr. Blue Sky,” “Don’t Bring Me Down,” “Turn to Stone,” “Strange Magic”)

Madonna (“Everybody,” “Into the Groove,” “Like a Prayer,” “Material Girl,” “Vogue”)

Sylvester “Sly Stone” Stewart (“Dance to the Music” “Everyday People,” “Family Affair,” “Hot Fun in the Summertime,” “Thank You (Falettin’ Me Be Mice Elf Again)”

And among the classic rock artists nominated in the Non-Performing Songwriters category are:

Tony Macaulay (“Baby Now That I’ve Found You,” “Build Me Up Buttercup,” “Don’t Give Up On Us,” “Last Night I Couldn’t Get To Sleep At All,” “Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes”)

Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham (“Cry Like a Baby,” “Sweet Inspiration,” “I’m Your Puppet,” “It Tears Me Up,” “A Woman Left Lonely”)

P.F. Sloan

P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri (“A Must to Avoid,” “Eve of Destruction,” “Secret Agent Man,” “Where Were You When I Needed You,” “You Baby”)

William “Mickey” Stevenson (“Beechwood 4-5789,” “Dancing in the Street,” “Devil With the Blue Dress,” “It Takes Two,” “Pride And Joy”)

Among the other nominees is Jay-Z. If elected he will become the first hip-hop artist recognized by the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

(Note that the five songs listed after each nominee are a representative sample of their extensive catalogs.)

The Songwriters Hall of Fame, according to its website, “is dedicated to recognizing the work and lives of those composers and lyricists who create music around the world.” Eligible voting members will have until December 16 to turn in ballots with their choices of three nominees from a non-performing and two from a performing category.

Watch Paul McCartney induct Brian Wilson into the Songwriters Hall of Fame