Way Back Wednesday: Stunning Singer-Songwriters

May

30

2012

Way Back Wednesday: Stunning Singer-Songwriters

Written by TriniTrent | Filed under Lauryn Hill,Michael Jackson,Prince,R. Kelly,Sade,Way Back Wednesday

Nina Simone, Sade Adu and Lauryn Hill.

Being a great artist is much than than simply singing songs. Rather, the very best acts of our time do much more than perform the tracks delivered to them or purchase a slot in the credits; they write those tunes for themselves. Hence, Way Back Wednesday will focus on the work these legendary singer-songwriters.

Composing melodies and lyrics that they perform, the singer-songwriters are literally the tailors of popular culture’s fabric and have earned a place among the most respected persons in the music industry. Indeed, singer-songwriters are so highly regarded that many people lie, cheat and steal to claim the title.

Who exactly are some of the most talented singer-songwriters of our time? Watch some of them in action below:

Bob Marley – ‘Redemption Song’

Carol King – ‘It’s Too Late’

Elton John – ‘Something About the Way You Look Tonight’

Lauryn Hill – ‘Ex-Factor’

Mariah Carey – ‘Petals’/’Rainbow’

Michael Jackson – ‘Earth Song’

Nina Simone – ‘Four Women’

Prince – ‘Purple Rain’

R. Kelly – ‘I Believe I Can Fly’

Sade Adu – ‘The Sweetest Taboo’

Stevie Wonder – ‘I Just Called to Say I Love You’

Singer-songwriters are so well respected because they understand the essence of music and are completely involved in the development of their material. These people are responsible for making us think, question and understand our lives beyond the scope of a range of pretty high notes.

Yet, we all know that there are several frauds in the field of entertainment; shameless individuals who could barely use proper grammar and have sorely limited vocabularies yet somehow expect us to believe that they write the dramatic ballads on their albums. Remember, they can buy writer’s credits but the truth always surfaces eventually.

Who is your favourite singer-songwriter? Is anybody missing from this list? Also, name some artists who you think are complete frauds. Leave your thoughts in the comment section!

Thoughts?
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Keys: carole king, elton john, lauryn hill, mariah carey, michael jackson, nina simone, prince, r kelly, sade, stevie wonder, way back wednesday
- on wax
  
  The Beyonce shade is thick…I literally started coughing and sputtering X_X all true but damn…
- No J-Ho
  
  Yasssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!! This list is EVERYTHING! I am so happy you acknowledged Nina!!
  
  PS: I agree with you points about fake writers. FUCK BEYONCE.
- Karma
  
  Where is Alicia Keys?? You put Mariah and not Alicia? Bullshit.
- Adrian
  
  Excellent list!!! All the greats are here
- Bob
  
  Yeah Alicia needs to be on here
  For the record Mariah is better then Alicia
  As a vocalist and writer
  Mariah’s songs are timeless
- Stoney-Brie
  
  Janet Jackson wrote all her songs from Control till Damita Jo
- Unbothered
  
  Let’s not give Lauryn Hill too much credit. Remember all of the controversy about how she claimed all the writing credits for The Miseducation album when it was a heavily collaborative effort. And the Beyonce shade was magnificent.
- Matthew Charlery-Smith
  
  HAHA! Well done, Trent! (But you need a video to expand and expose this Fraudilicious enterprise of “I write my own songs.com”). I’m so glad MJ was there. It says something MAJOR when you are the ONLY songwriter on a song. I see there’s no rappers except Lauryn Hill!!! Eminem and Tupac could have gone I think. Not sure if Biggie wrote his own. Props to Solange, she’s good. Babyface, Janet Jackson maybe, Mick Hucknell of Simply Red, Donna Summer, Bob Dylan, Marvin Gaye, even some of the Jackson brothers were good, Randy and Jackie in particular. Missy Elliot..Too hungry to think of more!!! Thanks again Trentosaurus the Thesaurus. Oh wait…what about Gaga?!?!?!
  
  By the way, you’re gonna get STUNG for turning the lights off on this post and leaving EVERYONE from the Beyhive in the shade!!!
- Matthew Charlery-Smith
  
  I know Biggie wrote songs but Bad Boy had a habit of cramming songwriters on releases Ma$e’s “Feel So Good” for example. I can never deny Biggie’s amazing lyrical composition.
- kkk
  
  Amy Winehouse should definitely be on this list, she was a lyrical genius..
  CTFU @ the shade, leave Be-on-my-way-to-jail-for-plagiarizing-ce alone! loooooool.
  Other writing frauds include;
  1) Madonna, her and beyonce are the same. Always wanting to take the glory and shine for everything they did and did not do.
  2) Lil kim, who has probably never written a song in her life.
  3) Puffy…. and the list goes on.
- Unbothered
  
  Taylor Swift is a very good songwriter. Ashanti, Keri Hilson, Ciara, and Chris Brown are all decent too.
- DRB
  
  Agree with Amy Winehouse for sure.
  I thought you would’ve put an older Mariah record/performance.
  The shade. And the fact that no name was even mentioned, it can’t be denied.
  Alicia sure.
  
  You need a follow up on the frauds and over rated writers and producers that everyone runs to.
- DRB
  
  Billy Joel
- Liberiangirl
  
  Adele, Alicia Keys, Donell Jones should be on here too. Dang Trent that Beyonce shade is so thick I can but on my bagel for lunch. It’s the truth though even though it seems like a lot of people want to overlook it.
- Omari
  
  Mary J. Blige is one of the greatest singer-songwriters of today the way her albums speak of the journey she has taken is amazing
- Meme
  
  Alicia keys is missing
- leya
  
  Adele, Alicia Keys, and DEFINITELY Amy winehouse. Even if she had her issues, some of her songs are soooooo fucking great.
  
  ThATS WHY I LIKE YOU TRENT. you are the only one who doesn’t kiss celebrities ass.
  You are real and blunt with EVERYTHING.
  Even though you stan for mariah, you’d be honest about her flaws..
  Your blog needs to get even more exposure because you are like the only non-biased one.
- Girrrl
  
  Yeah AK is a songwriter but she’s just ok at it. Her stuff is repetitive and she tries to hard to be deep. MC is way better at it. Glad MJ is on the list. He wrote some great songs. I hate when people compare Hon to Beyoncé. He was an original all around artist. Beyoncé hasn’t written an entire song by herself yet not counting DIL interludes. But that’s for another time.
- DOMOdotSCORE
  
  Great Post!
  Missing: Babyface, George Michael, Jill Scott, Robin Thicke, Janet Jackson, the DeBarge family, Ashford & Simpson, Teena Marie, Pharrell, Amy Winehouse, Queen Latifah, No Doubt, Missy Elliott, Kem, Marsha Ambrosuis, Bobby Caldwell…
  The list goes on.
  
  My gripe with fraudulant credits is that the true writers are so willing to allow the frauds to take credit for their hard work for some coins. I couldn’t see myself working so hard for so long and allowing someone to take the credit for that hard work for some coins.
- larry
  
  THE SHADE WAS THICK AND HEAVY TRENT!!! DAMNNN!!!! MY HEART! HAHAHA
  Yess Alica Keys, Amy winehouse, Lauryn Hill, Frank Ocean, India Arie…so many!
- SparkD
  
  I see Trent is talking about BEYONCE and MADONNA, especially in Madonna’s early career.
- LegendTina The Goddess Of Music
  
  Where is Christina Aguilera, I mean she writes most of her songs! See Stripped, Back To Basics, Bionic, Burlesque. Bound To You, Fighter…
  
  Where is Pink too?..
- sam
  
  A lot of AMAZING singer-songwriters left out in favour of some very average ones.
- Cece
  
  Dnt forget Bruno Mars, he’s new to the game but some of your favorite songs/hooks possibly came from him.
- jay
  
  I think that Jazmine Sullivan and Missy Elliott are really good writers as well…
- Kayla
  
  Mariah Carey, is definitely a wonderful songwriter. Still I feel like a child as a look at the moon, maybe a grew up a little too soon! Most people don’t know or give her credit for her songwriting skills.
- Juewelz03
  
  there are def numerous other song writers Trent could have mentioned but not many arent your fave it be cool if u did a break down
- Matthew Charlery-Smith
  
  How could I forget the British Triple A’s?!?!?! Amy Winehouse, Adele and most importantly Annie Lennox (also with the Eurythmics). Lennox’s achievements and songs are the most impressive in my opinion. Need to have a better listen of the other two…Lennox has Academy Awards like Stevie Wonder!
- Bri
  
  Was it really necessary to bring up the “shameless individuals?” This post could have been a wonderful tribute to wonderful people, but in true Trent fashion it has to contain some sort of stab at someone (of course Beyoncé).
  And for the record, Beyoncé has NEVER taken sole credit for something that was a collaborative process. She never took credit for writing “If I Were a Boy.” She publicly credited Ne-Yo on several occasions for writing “Irreplaceable” (even before it was a single). And she always talks about how much she loves to collaborate with people like The Dream, her sister, and even her cousin Angie. Would I consider her to be a “singer-songwriter?” Absolutely not. But she’s not the fraud you make her out to be. She’s very much involved in the creative process of her material. And as I said, it was unnecessary to bring her (or whoever you’re talking about) into this. This should have been about the people mentioned.
- Meme
  
  Oh Bri Bri Bri
  
  Beyonce is the biggest fraud in the industry. She repeatedly caught out claiming credit for shit she didn’t do. She announced in her concert she wrote Irreplacable for “all her girls”, she was caught out in an interview saying she wrote Emotions. Bitch is a FRAUD
- Bri
  
  Is there any audio or video evidence of her saying she wrote “Emotion?” And here is evidence of her crediting Ne-Yo both before and after the song was popular http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=9-FZaoaR1TI#t=302s
  And throughout that video is evidence of her crediting other people for writing or helping her write songs. She doesn’t take all the credit. She takes credit for what she does which is maybe contribute some lyrics, produce, and vocal arrangements.
- http://www.twitter.com/gReEnGuY_4 Ben M.
  
  Thanks Brie for clearing that up. ^__^ Now to my comment…
  
  The first time I heard “Something About The Way You Look Tonight” covered by Fantasia on Idol, I literally cried. It was so powerful, I HAD to look up the original Elton John song. He’s amazing. “Someone Saved My Life Tonight”, “I’m Still Standing”, and “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me” are some of my all time fave songs ever.
  
  And yes, despite recent commercial failure, Alicia Keys is an EXCELLENT singer-songwriter. Her first 3 albums (including her new material from the Unplugged album) slays some of our faves.
- http://butterflyexpressions.wordpress.com O’neil
  
  Mimi’s Petals/Rainbow performance was so beautiful!Very touching!I love my mimi
- tammi
  
  @ unbothered… Lauryn Hill worte the VAST MAJORITY of the Miseducation and her entire MTV unplugged album which is lyrically superior to the Miseducation. Evwn Wyclef said she made them step their lyrical game up while recording The Score… google her lyrics from Just Like Water and her verse in Bounty Hunter and then tell me she is not a GREAT lyrcist.
  
  Thanks for calling out Beyonce. She even tried to say she wrote the Listen from Dreamgirls…. but was left off the list as an oscar nominee for the song…. she is a fraud.
  
  1. Bob Marley
  2. Lauryn Hill
  3. Nina Simone
  4. Sade
  5. R Kelly
  6. Joni Mitchell
  7. Neil Young
  8. Stevie Wonder
  9. Marvin Gaye
  10. Jill Scott – loves her
- tammi
  
  oops! I left out John Lennon and Sam Cooke
  
  fyi – the list is in no particular order
- tastefullynasty
  
  JIM BEANZ
- Kingofhearts
  
  ASHANTI….we all kno she writes her own…as well as others
- Matthew Charlery-Smith
  
  How could we forget Maurice White from Earth, Wind and Fire? He is amazing. I think he had co-writers though. “Fantasy” just gives that feeling you can’t describe! Ne-Yo is also very good.
- Jasmine
  
  my favorite singer/songwriter is Prince Rogers Nelson. I do agree with @Matthew Charlery-Smith with stating Ne-Yo. Babyface is also another one that should be on here.
- Justin
  
  @ Brie
  Here is the proof that Beyonce didnt write Emotion if youre still checkin:
- Justin
  
  haha bri not brie…cheese on the mind I guess…
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