3 Artists Who Almost Never Wrote Their Own Songs (Plus Their Favorite Songwriters)

Songwriters play a crucial role in the music industry, one that is oftentimes quite overlooked. Here are a few famous performers who rarely wrote their own music. Included with them are some of the songwriters who helped make them into the stars we know and love today.

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Elvis

The King certainly had a way of making people think that the songs he performed were his, which is a talent in and of itself. However, Elvis Presley himself wasn’t a songwriter. He worked with several notable talents throughout his career to give us some of those hits we know today. Among his most frequent collaborators were lyricist Jerry Leiber and composer Mike Stoller. With the help of this duo, Presley reached the charts with iconic hits like “Hound Dog” and “Jailhouse Rock”. In an interview, Stoller once said that Elvis would sometimes refer to him and Leiber as his “good luck charms.” Given that their songs that helped make him a superstar, I’d say that’s pretty accurate.

Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra had the vocal chops that few can only dream of. However, when it came to some of his biggest hits, he wasn’t exactly the one holding the pen. Songwriter Sammy Cahn wrote about 87 Sinatra songs, 43 of which were composed by Jimmy Van Heusen. Writers like Bart Howard penned iconic hits like “Fly Me To The Moon”, while Paul Anka famously wrote “My Way” in about five hours.

Anka shared with the Our Way podcast that he wrote “My Way” after getting dinner with Frank. The singer had informed him that he was planning on quitting show business in the late 60s. “I was kind of metaphorically writing it with [Frank] in mind because I was moved by the fact that he was leaving,” he explained, “So I wrote it as if he were writing it.” Ironically, the song would become Frank’s biggest hit.

Diana Ross

In 1997, dynamic performer Diana Ross told Rolling Stone, “I sing all the time. Music is a part of my being. Like when I’m walking, I walk with a rhythm. I carry myself as if there’s music inside.” A lot of the time, Ross just needed a songwriter or two to help her get that music from the inside out.

Among these writers were husband-and-wife songwriting duo Ashford and Simpson. The couple played a major role in the writing and production of Ross’ albums in the 70s and even cut hits like “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”for Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. The song would also become a No. 1 for Ross in 1970. It was also Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of the disco band Chic who scored a major chart-topper with Ross’ “Upside Down”.

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