Lady Gaga, Shakira, Jack White and Boy George lead the 2027 Songwriters
Hall of Fame nominees
[November 06, 2026]
By MARIA SHERMAN
NEW YORK (AP) — Lady Gaga, Shakira, Pink, Boy George, Jack White, Sia,
Vince Gill, Ne-Yo, Blondie's Debbie Harry and Chris Stein and many more
are among the impressive list of nominees for the 2027 Songwriters Hall
of Fame class, an especially eclectic mix of pop, hip-hop, Latin, funk
and rock innovators.
Also on the ballot are America's Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell,
Grandmaster Melle Mel, ZZ Top's Frank Beard, Billy Gibbons and Dusty
Hill as well as War's Thomas Sylvester Allen, Harold Ray Brown, Morris “B.B.”
Dickerson, Jerry Goldstein, LeRoy L. Jordan, Lee Oskar Levitin, Charles
William Miller and Howard E. Scott.
And that's just scratching the surface.
A long list of talented songwriters
The Hall annually inducts performers and non-performing songwriters
alike. The latter category’s nominees this year include Boy Meets Girl —
the dream duo of George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam — responsible for
Whitney Houston's biggest hits like “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who
Loves Me)” and “How Will I Know.”
Then there's Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein and Richard Gottehrer, the
trio behind the 1960s American songwriting and record production company
FGG Productions. Also known as simply Feldman, Goldstein & Gottehrer,
they are responsible for The Angels’ “My Boyfriend’s Back” and The
Strangeloves' “I Want Candy.” (Fun fact: FGG were The Strangeloves; they
just pretended to be a band of brothers from Australia.)
Also recognized are Maurice Starr (New Edition's “Candy Girl,” New Kids
on the Block's “Step By Step”) and Stock Aitken Waterman — aka, Mike
Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman — known for Rick Astley's “Never
Gonna Give You Up” and Kylie Minogue’s “I Should Be So Lucky.”
The same goes for Dan Wilson (Semisonic's “Closing Time,” Adele's
“Someone Like You”) and Toni Wine (Phil Collins' “A Groovy Kind of
Love,” Tony Orlando's “Candida”).
For the R&B pop fans, Kandi Burruss is nominated (known for TLC's “No
Scrubs,” Destiny's Child's “Bills, Bills, Bills,” NSYNC’s “It Makes Me
Ill”), as are Mikkel S. Eriksen and Tor Erik Hermansen, the Norwegian
duo known as Stargate behind Beyoncé's “Irreplaceable” and Rihanna's
“Diamonds.”
Excitingly, will.i.am is also nominated (Black Eyed Peas’ “Where Is the
Love,” and “I Gotta Feeling” as well as Usher’s “OMG” and John Legend’s
“Ordinary People”). It might be strange to see a name like his, or
Burruss', or Wilson's in the non-performing songwriter category, since
they are all performers as well, but that is because they are being
recognized for their work with a variety of artists beyond their own
catalogs.
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 And for country fans, all eyes are
on Tom Douglas (Miranda Lambert's “The House That Built Me,” Tim
McGraw's “Grown Men Don't Cry”).
2027 Songwriters Hall of Fame voting starts
Eligible voting members have until midnight Eastern Standard Time on
Dec. 14 to turn in ballots with their choices of up to three
nominees from the songwriter category and up to three from the
performing-songwriter category.
This year, a few songwriters are getting another shot at entry.
That's true for Starr, Douglas, Gill, Boy George and members of
Blondie and America.
Pink was nominated in 2026 but didn't make the final cut. It's the
same case for Swedish pop producer of the legendary Cheiron Studios,
Andreas Carlsson, known for such hits as Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It
That Way,” NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye,” and Katy Perry’s “Waking Up In
Vegas” and disco songwriter Pete Bellotte (known for his work with
Donna Summer on “Hot Stuff,” “I Feel Love” and “Love To Love You
Baby”).
Bob McDill, known for country classics like Don Williams' “Amanda”
and Dan Seals’ “Everything That Glitters (Is Not Gold),” is also a
returning nominee, having been on the ballot six times in 15 years.
New inductees will join a historic institution
The Songwriters Hall of Fame was established in 1969 to honor those
creating popular music. A songwriter with a notable catalog of songs
qualifies for induction 20 years after the first commercial release
of a song.
Some already in the hall include Elton John and Bernie Taupin, Brian
Wilson, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Carole King,
Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Lionel Richie, Bill Withers, Neil Diamond,
Phil Collins, R.E.M., Steely Dan, Dean Pitchford, Hillary Lindsey
and Timbaland.
The 2026 class included Taylor Swift, Kiss’s Gene Simmons and Paul
Stanley, Christopher “Tricky” Stewart, Alanis Morissette and Kenny
Loggins as well as nonperformers like the duo Terry Britten and
Graham Lyle (Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got To Do With It”) and
Walter Afanasieff, who helped Mariah Carey with her smash “All I
Want for Christmas Is You.”
The 2027 inductees will be announced in early 2027.
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