Linda Perry started her career as the lead singer and songwriter of the 1990s alt-rock band 4 Non Blondes, but she truly proved the power of her words when she turned her attention to songwriting and producing for other artists.
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With artists across genres recording her songs over the years, Perry rightfully earned her place in the Songwriters Hall of Fame when she was inducted in 2015. Check out three songs you didn’t know Perry wrote for other artists below.
1. “Beautiful” by Christina Aguilera
Though her sound is rooted firmly in rock and roll, Perry wrote and produced one of the most beautiful pop songs to come out of the early 2000s with Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful.” Since its release in 2002, the song has become an anthem for the LGBTQ+ community, with empowering lyrics like, You are beautiful/No matter what they say/Words can’t bring you down/You are beautiful in every single way.
“When it got to, I am beautiful, I stopped, I literally jumped away from my piano and I got up and I’m like, ‘I can’t say that, I can’t say I am beautiful, because I don’t believe that,'” Perry recalled of the writing process to American Songwriter. “I couldn’t finish it because I was so in my own vanity and insecurity of, ‘I can’t say something like that because I don’t believe it’…I walked away and I came back. I’m like, ‘I have to finish this song, it’s a song that needs to be written. It obviously showed up for a reason.’ ‘Beautiful’ is a really important song.”
2. “Get the Party Started” by Pink
Before she wrote the poignant ballad that is Aguilera’s “Beautiful,” Perry wrote a song on the opposite end of the spectrum with Pink’s lively “Get the Party Started.” Like “Beautiful,” Perry wrote and produced it on her own, marking a deviation in her process, as she used programmed beats instead of raw instrumentation. She also broke new ground as a songwriter, pulling in every catchphrase she could think of for the lyrics, realizing after that she wrote what could be her first dance hit.
Her instincts were correct. With Pink’s voice on the track, “Party” was heard around the world, peaking at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reaching the top of the Dance Club Songs chart. As the lead single off Pink’s groundbreaking sophomore album, Missundaztood, “Get the Party Started” is one of her signature hits.
3. “What You Waiting For?” by Gwen Stefani
Perry had another pop hit on her hands when she co-wrote Gwen Stefani’s “What You Waiting For?” with the singer. There was a lot riding on the song at the time, as it serves as Stefani’s debut single as a solo artist in 2004 after nearly a decade of success with her band, No Doubt.
“It felt like it was my explanation for doing the record,” Stefani told MTV in 2004 about “Waiting.” “It just feels like the perfect way to come out with the record.”
The song proved to be a hit, topping the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart. Is also has been certified platinum in the U.S. for sales of more than one million copies.
(Photo by Paul Morigi/WireImage for The Recording Academy )
