Brooks, Jackson join Nashville Songwriters hall (AP)

By CHRIS TALBOTT, AP Entertainment Writer Chris Talbott, Ap Entertainment Writer – Sun Oct 16, 11:02 pm ET

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Garth Brooks and Alan Jackson have won more honors than they can count. The one they took home Sunday night was near the top of the list.

Brooks and Jackson were inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame along with top songsmiths John Bettis, Thom Schuyler and Allen Shamblin.

"It's the songwriter, that's what it's all about," Brooks said. "I mean this is it. We can talk all day about entertainer. We can talk all day about record sales. It starts with the songs. And to be confused as a songwriter, then honored as one, that's the bomb."

Jackson and Brooks are members of the so-called "Class of `89" group of country superstars. Their success over the last two decades helped push country music from the county fair to major arenas and football stadiums.

Brooks, inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York City earlier this year, is the best-selling solo artist in U.S. history with more than 128 million albums sold. Songs like "If Tomorrow Never Comes" and "The Thunder Rolls" helped launch his career.

Jackson, who helped spearhead the new traditionalist movement in country, has 35 No. 1 country songs, including "Chattahoochee" and "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)," which Taylor Swift sang for him Sunday.

"I've won a lot of awards but the songwriting thing has always been most important to me," Jackson said. "I've never thought of myself as much of a singer, so I've always fell back on my songwriting. It's the most creative part of the business. It all starts with the songs."

Jackson and Brooks were inducted as songwriter/artists. Brooks said straight songwriter inductees like Bettis ("Slow Hand," "Human Nature" and "Top of the World," Schuyler ("16th Avenue" and "Long Line of Love") and Shamblin ("The House That Built Me" and "I Can't Make You Love Me") are the real stars of the night.

"I can go in that room and show you the guys I hang out with, and all of them are songwriters," Brooks said. "And to be called that with these guys, because their talent is amazing, makes me very proud. I'm not saying I agree with it, but I'm very proud."

Kimberly Perry of family act The Band Perry won the Nashville Songwriters Association International song of the year for the breakthrough hit "If I Die Young." Chris DuBois, who co-wrote Brad Paisley hits "Old Alabama" and "Anything Like Me," was named songwriter of the year.

Swift won her fourth songwriter/artist of the year award in five years and at 21 remains the youngest winner of that award. Swift told the audience about her first big Nashville showcase at the age of 14 when many of the industry's most influential people were in attendance. She recalled saying to herself over and over "Don't mess this up."

"Ever since then there's been thousands of times in my life where I've said to myself, `Don't mess this up, don't mess this up, don't mess this up' — including right now," Swift said. "And I'm just going to keep going out there and trying not to mess this up."

___

Online:

http://www.nashvillesongwriters.com

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A Minute With: Barbra Streisand's songwriters (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Husband and wife songwriting team Marilyn and Alan Bergman have won three Academy Awards and two Grammys, but their biggest reward in a long career just may be writing for Barbra Streisand.

They have penned the words of songs such as "The Way We Were" and "You Don't Bring Me Flowers." While they have written for other singers ranging from Frank Sinatra to Sting, it is Streisand they hold dearest.

The Bergmans first saw her as a teenager in a Greenwich Village club. They immediately took to her and she to them.

Streisand recently released a new album, "What Matters Most," as a tribute to the Bergmans and their music. It includes "The Windmills of Your Mind" and Streisand's version of Sinatra's "Nice 'n' Easy." The Bergmans spoke with Reuters about the album and their long relationship with Streisand.

Q: You have won numerous awards and been feted many times. So, how special could this have been?

Marilyn: "We almost fell off our chairs. Barbra is our muse. She has recorded over 50 songs of ours, which makes her role in our musical lives and personal lives a very special one."

Alan: "And when she does our songs, she finds things that always surprise us. She deepens them. She gets all the nuances, everything, so it's thrilling."

Marilyn: "Other people have sung 'Windmills of Your Mind,' but really, we think hers will be the definitive version."

Q: Why?

Marilyn: "As Alan said, it's the nuances and the layers of meaning that perhaps we meant but didn't hear ourselves. They are all highlighted when she works, she really works at it."

Q: I'd think it was just talent. How does she work at it?

Marilyn: "She strives for excellence. You can read that as being a perfectionist but not in the sense that has become pejorative. She wants to make something the best it can be. ... She's aware of the permanence when you write something or perform something, and she sees her responsibility as making something as good as it can be."

Alan: "All the God-given gifts are there, but not everybody uses them as responsibly as she does."

Q: She has said you're almost like her parents and you've said she's like a daughter. So, was there a time when you said or had to say, "Barbra, maybe this song isn't best for you?"

Marilyn: "No."

Q: Why?

Alan: "Because her instincts about music and about herself are amazing, they're just terrific."

Q: You met her when she was 18, and one of you asked her if she knew how wonderful she was. What made her wonderful?

Alan: "It was all there, everything. She started to sing, and Marilyn started to cry. ... It was all the things we were talking about earlier -- the way she does it, the instrument."

Marilyn: "The originality was there -- the sound of her voice, the way she phrased songs, the clothes she wore, the original beauty, it's hers."

Q: And how has her voice changed from her youth to today?

Marilyn: "I think it's deeper. I think it's richer. It's more knowing, it's wiser."

Alan: "What Marilyn said is true. We can't dismiss all those things we talked about that go into the notes and interpretation. They're all richer. That's why the songs have added dimension, more than what we realized, because she makes little vignettes and stories out of every song. That is the actress in her and the dramatist in her."

Q: What's your favorite song on the album?

Allan: "The most unique is 'Windmills.' And then the last song, I love the way she does 'What Matters Most.'"

Marilyn: "The most surprising is 'Nice 'n' Easy' -- the great record Frank Sinatra made and we made for him. His version was a proposition and Barbra's is a seduction."

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Garth Brooks among 2011 Songwriters Hall inductees (AP)

NEW YORK – The Songwriters Hall of Fame has honored the likes of Garth Brooks, Leon Russell and Allen Toussaint at its annual gala in New York City.

Amid the famous faces, some of Thursday night's inductees weren't so familiar — that is, until you heard the songs they penned.

Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly might be able to walk the streets in anonymity, but they've written some famously catchy hits, including Madonna's "Like a Virgin," Cyndi Lauper's "True Colors," Whitney Houston's "So Emotional," and The Pretenders "I'll Stand By You."

"It was pretty risque at the time," Kelly said of the Madonna song. "It took us about a month to finally, accidentally fall into what it ended up."

John Bettis, who wrote Madonna's hit, "Crazy For You," along with hit songs for the Carpenters, Diana Ross, and The Pointer Sisters, was another inductee. He wrote "Human Nature" for Michael Jackson, which Skylar Grey performed at the event.

Bill Medley, of The Righteous Brothers fame, was there to present Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil with the Johnny Mercer Award. The married duo wrote the mega-hit, "You Lost That Lovin' Feelin'."

"We were just lucky that they wrote that song for us," Medley said.

The song has had more than 14 million airplays, and still going strong.

As for the show, artists joined inductees on stage. Key performances included Dwight Yoakam performing "Superstar" with Russell; Boz Scaggs and Toussaint doing "What Do you Want the Girl to Do"; and Trisha Yearwood doing a Hal David Medley.

Chaka Khan sang Ashford and Simpson's "I'm Every Woman," and rapper Drake performed his hit, "Best I Ever Had."

Billy Joel inducted Brooks, and later performed a duet of Brooks 1991 hit, "Shameless," which was written by Joel. Brooks was ecstatic.

"You talk about songwriters, there's one of the greatest songwriters of all time," Brooks said of Joel. And he's taken a day out of his life to do this, I feel very lucky."

Joel loves the idea of other artist recording his material, but claims he never intended to be a rock star.

"I don't even like my own voice, I don't. I don't think I'm a good singer. I think I'm a good songwriter," Joel said.

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Songwriter's death in NYC is ruled a suicide (AP)

NEW YORK – The Academy Award-winning songwriter of "You Light Up My Life," who was awaiting trial on rape charges and was found dead in his apartment, committed suicide, the medical examiner's office ruled Monday, citing asphyxia by helium.

Joseph Brooks was discovered in his apartment Sunday by a friend with whom he was supposed to meet for lunch. The door was unlocked and the doorman at Brooks' apartment was given instructions to allow the friend upstairs.

Police said the 73-year-old was found slumped over on a coach in his den. A plastic dry-cleaning bag was wrapped around his head and a towel was wrapped around his neck. A hose was attached to the bag and a small tank of helium nearby.

The medical examiner's office said Monday Brooks died of asphyxia due to displacement of oxygen by helium gas within the plastic bag over his head.

Helium is generally difficult to detect in an autopsy. Using it to commit suicide is outlined in a best-selling suicide manual by British author Derek Humphry.

The songwriter was awaiting trial on allegations that he lured women to his apartment through an online ad offering auditions for a movie role, then sexually assaulted them after making them drink apparently drugged wine as part of an "acting exercise." He pleaded not guilty in 2009, and his court date had not yet been set.

Police said a rambling, three-page suicide note was found that included complaints about his health.

Brooks suffered a stroke in 2008, and his lawyer had said the songwriter's health was deteriorating during the court case. He appeared gaunt and shuffled slowly as he came to recent court dates.

Brooks won the Academy Award for best original song for the 1977 Debby Boone ballad "You Light Up My Life" and directed a movie of the same name about a comedian who had a one-night stand with a director. Brooks also won a Grammy for the song.

"I have been saddened to hear of the horrible tragedies surrounding Joe Brooks and his family over the years," Boone said in a statement released through a friend on Monday.

"My only real association with Joe was in 1977 for a couple of hours in a New York recording studio when I recorded his beautiful song. I will continue to sing it proudly and hope that people will be able to separate the song from Joe's severely troubled life," Boone said.

In an unrelated case, Brooks' son, Nicholas, is charged with murder in the death of his girlfriend, Peruvian-American swimsuit designer Sylvie Cachay. She was found dead, half-clothed and face-up, in a tub at the swanky Soho House after water began leaking through to the floor below.

Nicholas Brooks has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail at the Rikers Island jail complex.

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Songwriter's death in NYC is ruled a suicide (AP)

NEW YORK – The Academy Award-winning songwriter of "You Light Up My Life," who was awaiting trial on rape charges and was found dead in his apartment, committed suicide, the medical examiner's office ruled Monday, citing asphyxia by helium.

Joseph Brooks was discovered in his apartment Sunday by a friend with whom he was supposed to meet for lunch. The door was unlocked and the doorman at Brooks' apartment was given instructions to allow the friend upstairs.

Police said the 73-year-old was found slumped over on a coach in his den. A plastic dry-cleaning bag was wrapped around his head and a towel was wrapped around his neck. A hose was attached to the bag and a small tank of helium nearby.

The medical examiner's office said Monday Brooks died of asphyxia due to displacement of oxygen by helium gas within the plastic bag over his head.

Helium is generally difficult to detect in an autopsy. Using it to commit suicide is outlined in a best-selling suicide manual by British author Derek Humphry.

The songwriter was awaiting trial on allegations that he lured women to his apartment through an online ad offering auditions for a movie role, then sexually assaulted them after making them drink apparently drugged wine as part of an "acting exercise." He pleaded not guilty in 2009, and his court date had not yet been set.

Police said a rambling, three-page suicide note was found that included complaints about his health.

Brooks suffered a stroke in 2008, and his lawyer had said the songwriter's health was deteriorating during the court case. He appeared gaunt and shuffled slowly as he came to recent court dates.

Brooks won the Academy Award for best original song for the 1977 Debby Boone ballad "You Light Up My Life" and directed a movie of the same name about a comedian who had a one-night stand with a director. Brooks also won a Grammy for the song.

"I have been saddened to hear of the horrible tragedies surrounding Joe Brooks and his family over the years," Boone said in a statement released through a friend on Monday.

"My only real association with Joe was in 1977 for a couple of hours in a New York recording studio when I recorded his beautiful song. I will continue to sing it proudly and hope that people will be able to separate the song from Joe's severely troubled life," Boone said.

In an unrelated case, Brooks' son, Nicholas, is charged with murder in the death of his girlfriend, Peruvian-American swimsuit designer Sylvie Cachay. She was found dead, half-clothed and face-up, in a tub at the swanky Soho House after water began leaking through to the floor below.

Nicholas Brooks has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail at the Rikers Island jail complex.

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This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.