MARIAH, WAITS, N.W.A UP FOR SONGWRITERS HALL

Mariah Carey, Tom Waits and members of N.W.A are among the nominees for the 2018 Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Associated Press reported a day prior to the hall’s announcement.

Among the performing nominees are John Mellencamp, Tracy Chapman, Alice Cooper, Jimmy Cliff, the Isley Brothers, Chrissie Hynde, Alan Jackson, Kool & the Gang and Tom T. Hall.

Non-performing nominees are William "Mickey" Stevenson, Bill Anderson, Maurice Starr, Allee Willis, Steve Dorff, Mike Chapman, Randy Goodrum, Tony Macaulay and Jermaine Dupri. Nominated songwriting duos include Kye Fleming and Dennis Morgan, Denny Randell and Sandy Linzer, and L. Russell Brown and Irwin Levine.

If N.W.A gets in, they’ll be the second hip-hop act to be so honored; Jay-Z was inducted earlier this year.

Six songwriters, or songwriting groups, will be officially inducted at a gala in New York on 6/14. Balloting runs through 12/17.