Successful 1960’s Songwriter/Performer Partnerships
Legendary singers like Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Elvis Presley all chose to sing songs that were written by many different writers. And likewise, many great writers like George and Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, Leiber and Stoller, Otis Blackwell, Jimmy Webb and Billy Strayhorn composed songs for many artists. That was the generally accepted industry practice up until the 1960’s when numerous singer/songwriter relationships were cultivated.
Let’s examine the most successful parings.
My first selection will be the most surprising to many who understandably have never heard of them.
Motown Records had numerous great singer/songwriters including Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye. But these writers performed almost all their own songs exclusively.
Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier and Brian Holland formed one of the decades best songwriting team spanning the most formative years for Motown Recordsfrom 1962 to 1968. They were the creative songwriting force behind 12 US Billboard No1 hit singles, 10 of which were for The Supremes.
Beginning in 1964, Holland-Dozier-Holland penned “Where Did Our Love Go” followed by “Baby Love”, “Come See About Me”, “Stop In The Name of Love”, “Nothing But Heartaches”, “I Hear A Symphony” , “My World Is Empty Without You” and the list goes on. Between 1964 and 1969, The Supremes had 12 No1 hits, 10 of which were written by them. So, there’s no arguing that Holland-Dozier-Holland and The Supremes exemplified a perfect singer/songwriting team.
Holland-Dozier-Holland had a much larger footprint on Motown Records success for being the heart for pop soul music. In total they wrote 29 Billboard Top 10 hits in their span of 6 years. That rivals the Beatles quality and quantity output during the same period.
Besides, impressive results for The Supremes, here’s a sampling of other Top 10 songs they composed for:
· Marvin Gaye — “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)”
· Martha and the Vandellas — “Heatwave”, “Nowhere to Run”, “Jimmy Mack”
· Four Tops — “It’s The Same Old Song”, I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch), “Reach Out I’ll Be There”, “Bernadette”
They were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1988 in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.
Dionne Warwick and Burt Bacharach are an interesting story.
They forged a very successful partnership beginning in 1962 when he noticed her unique voice at the recording session of one of his songs, where she was doing backing vocals for the Drifters. Afterwards, he asked her if she would be interested in recording demos of his original music. Her intriguing vocal strengths encouraged Bacharach to compose deeper and more complicated songs than his previous simple pop style.
Their first collaborative work resulted in the 1962 single release “Don’t Make Me Over” and her debut 1963 album Presenting Dionne Warwick which included “Make It Easy On Yourself”. That was follow by “Wishin’ and Hopin” (later recorded by Dusty Springfield), “Anyone Who Had A Heart”, “Walk On By”, “Reach Out To Me”, “Say A Little Prayer For Me”, “This Girl’s In Love With You”, “Do You Know The Way To San Jose”, “Message To Michael”, “Alfie”, ”I’ll Never Fall In Love Again” and many more.
In total, between the US R&B or Adult Contemporary Top 10 charts, Warwick and Bacharach charted 15 times in the 1960’s. She remained a very successful vocalist through the 2000’s and was inducted into 5 prestigious Halls of Fame. Bacharach remained very active with many artists in different genres right up to his 2023 death. His lyricist through the 1960’s was Hal David who won numerous Academy Awards, Golden Globes, Grammy’s and CMA’S.
Next up are Peter Asher and Gordon Waller known professionally as Peter & Gordon.
They were a British Invasion pop duo that experienced their peak success in 1964–1965. They formed in 1962 but experienced little success until 1963 when the Beatles burst on the UK scene.
That same year Peter’s 18 year old sister Jane began dating a 21 year old lad named Paul McCartney. Having relocated from Liverpool to London recently he was both smitten with Jane and flexible regarding his living arrangements given the he was currently residing in a very small flat with 3 other young musicians. The Asher’s invited him to move into their London home and he readily accepted. His room was near 19 year old Peter’s bedroom and provided the opportunity for them “musically bond”.
Paul’s top floor room contained a small piano and was relatively quiet providing Paul privacy and time to write. He wrote “Yesterday” and “And I Love Her” in this space and ”I Want To Hold Your Hand” in the basement with John Lennon.
He had written “A World Without Love” when he was 16 and both he and John agreed that it wasn’t good enough for the Beatles. So, he gave the song to Peter. It reached No1 on the charts in the US and UK in February 1964 during the beginning of “Beatlemania” in the US.
Fun Fact: The lead guitarist on this recording is studio musician Vic Flick who also played the famous guitar lick for the James Bond Theme.
Several months later Peter and Gordon released another McCartney song “Nobody I Know” written specifically as a follow on to “A World Without Love”. It reached No10 and No12 respectively in the UK and US.
Several months later they released another McCartney song “I Don’t Want To See You Again”. It charted at No16 In the US.
Almost a year and a half later they released their final McCartney song titled “Woman” but without the previous Lennon-McCartney writer credit. Instead, Paul used the pseudonym Bernard Webb to see if he could have a hit song without his name attached. It charted at No28 and No14 respectively in the UK and US.
Peter and Gordon’s other 5 songs that charted in the Top 20 were all covers versus the much more commercially impactful originals McCartney provided. Asher went on to become a very successful record producer.
For the record, I was a teenager for the entirety of the British Invasion and am certain that most listeners were unaware of the Lennon-McCartney connection. And I never heard a DJ reference the connection either.
That’s my list of songwriters who were the “real beef” behind some great performers. If I’ve missed anyone, please let me know.
As I stated in my intro, the “silo” business mentality that stated writers are writers and performers are performers slowly evolved to melding the line between the two. Pop performers like Mel Tormé, Ray Charles, Buddy Holly, and Sam Cooke were early examples of performers who crossed that line. By the mid-1960’s the industry expected bands to perform at least some original music. Putting the obvious financial benefits aside, creative originality fortified performers image.
Thanks for reading my article. If you’d like to sign up to become a regular member, it cost you $5 per month and provides unlimited access to all the content on Medium. Here’s a link for you to sign up: https://medium.com/@ric62551/membership
