SONGWRITERS HALL
SETS CLASS OF 2018

Alan Jackson, John Mellencamp and Jermaine Dupri are among the newest inductees of the Songwriters Hall of Fame. The induction event will be held 6/14 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York.

Country songwriter Bill Anderson, the Kool & the Gang writing team, film and TV composer/songwriter Steve Dorff and Earth, Wind & Fire collaborator/The Color Purple co-author Allee Willis are also part of the 2018 class of inductees.

“The 2018 roster of Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees is a prodigious representation of creators of cross-genre hits, certain to resonate with everyone,” said SHOF co-chairs Kenneth Gamble & Leon Huff and president/CEO Linda Moran. “Each year, the slate of songwriters we induct is more diverse and illustrative of the history and contributions that we strive to acknowledge and honor.”

Additional special award honorees will be announced soon.

Anderson, whose career started in 1958, is known for "Tips Of My Fingers," "Once A Day" and "Cold Hard Facts Of Life" and has written for Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley and George Strait.

Kool & The Gang members Robert “Kool” Bell, Ronald Bell, George Brown and James “JT” Taylor are being inducted for hits such as “Hollywood Swinging,” “Celebration" and “Jungle Boogie.”

Dorff's songs have been recorded by Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Garth Brooks and others; one of his best-known tunes is Eddie Rabbitt’s “Every Which Way But Loose."

Dupri’s songwriting accomplishments include “My Boo” (Usher and Alicia Keys), “Jump” (Kris Kross) and “We Belong Together” (Mariah Carey).

Recent Country Music Hall of Fame inductee Jackson has written and recorded more than 20 songs that have gone to #1, among them “Chattahoochee” and “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning).”

Mellencamp has written more than 20 Top 40 hits—"Small Town," "The Authority Song," "Pink Houses," etc.—and is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Since getting her start writing for Patti LaBelle, Willis has won a Grammy, Emmy, and Tony, penning songs such as EWF’s "September" and "Boogie Wonderland" and the Friends theme "I'll Be There For You.”

To qualify for induction, a songwriter must be a published writer for a minimum of 20 years with a notable catalog of hit songs.