Dan + Shay, Debbie Gibson, Kristin Chenoweth, John Stamos, Aaron Dessner, and more are among the presenters and performers at the 2025 Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF) Induction & Awards Gala on June 12 at the New York Marriott Marquis in New York City.
Living Color’s Vernon Reid, Corey Glover, Will Calhoun, and Doug Wimbish, along with Mary-Mitchell Campbell, Sadie Gorleym Heavenly, Hannah Joy and Rodney Jr. Jerkins, Alan Menken; Moriah, Sam Opoku, Daphne Brower, Mary Kate Morrison, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (Pasek and Paul), and Teddy Riley are also scheduled to either present or perform during the ceremony.
This year, the SHOF inductees include the Doobie Brothers‘ Tom Johnston, Michael McDonald, and Patrick Simmons, the Beach Boys‘ Mike Love, George Clinton, and more are among the inductees into the 2025 Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF). This year, inductees also include Tony Macaulay. Ashley Gorley and Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins.
Additionally, singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams will receive the Hal David Starlight Award, which is given to “young songwriters who are making a significant impact in the music industry with their original songs,” according to the SHOF, while Stephen Schwartz will be the recipient of the Johnny Mercer Award.
Each year, the Songwriters Hall of Fame honors songwriters in the Non-Performing and Performing categories, who have produced a catalog of “notable songs qualify for induction 20 years after their first significant commercial release of a song.” This is the first group of Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees to include no women since the class of 2017.
Love, Clinton, and the Doobie Brothers have been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Love, also 83, was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 as a member of the Beach Boys and was behind co-writing some of the group’s classic hits, including “Fun, Fun, Fun,” “Help Me, Rhonda,” “California Girls,” and “Good Vibrations.”
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Funk pioneer Clinton’s career started as a Motown staff songwriter in the 1960s before his early group, the Parliaments, had their first big hit “(I Wanna) Testify” in 1967, which went to No. 3 on the R&B chart and made the top 20 of the Pop chart. Now 83, Clinton’s career exploded by the ‘70s with Parliament/Funkadelic with hits “Give Up the Funk,” “Flashlight,” and more.
The Doobie Brothers, who released their sixteenth album, Walk This Road, in 2025, are being honored for their five decades together and hits, including “Listen to the Music,” “Takin’ It to the Streets,” “What a Fool Believes,” “Black Water,” “Long Train Runnin’,” and more.
Both 47 Gorley and Jerkins are two of the youngest inductees into the 2025 Songwriters Hall of Fame this year. Gorley has written songs for everyone from Chris Stapleton, Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, and more and has earned 80 No. 1 hits, including Post Malone’s “I Had Some Help,” featuring Morgan Wallen, and Wallen’s “Last Night.”
Starting his career at 15, Jerkins’ career has crossed off collaborations with Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Cher, Whitney Houston, George Michael, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, Beyonce, Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Notorious B.I.G., Nas, Drake, Kelly Clarkson, Keyshia Cole, and Britney Spears, among many others.
Macaulay, known for the Foundations’ 1968 hit “Build Me Up Buttercup,” has written songs recorded by everyone from Elvis Presley, Gladys Knight, Donna Summer, Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdinck, The Fifth Dimension, Andy Williams, Cher, Glen Campbell, The Hollies, Jon Bon Jovi, Olivia Newton-John, and more.
“The foundation of the music industry exists because songwriters compose great songs,” said SHOF chairman Nile Rodgers in a statement. “Without them, there is no recorded music, no concert business, no fans, or merchandising; it all starts with the song and the songwriter. We are therefore very proud that we are continually recognizing some of the culturally most important writers of all time and that this year’s slate represents not just iconic songs, but also diversity and unity across genres and ethnicity.”
Rodgers continued, “These songwriters have enriched the lives of billions of listeners the world over. It’s our honor to honor them.”
Photo: Courtesy of the Songwriters Hall of Fame
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