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Musicians Who Have Made A Fortune From Unlikely Songwriting Credits

Started by DrGreggles, August 29, 2019, 12:16:51 PM

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DrGreggles

Snappy title, eh?

Ian Dench (formerly EMF's guitarist - looked like a smackhead) became a rent-a-songwriter after the band's demise and was credited as co-writer and co-producer on 3 of the songs on Beyonce's 'I Am... Sasha Fierce' album.
"As of December 2015, the album has sold over eight million copies worldwide. As of February 2017, the album has generated over 1 billion streams."
A few quid made there!

The Culture Bunker

Some bod from Brother Beyond wound up writing songs for Adele, right? That must have brought in some healthy royalty cheques.

sevendaughters

I genuinely didn't know that Kim Deal was raking it in for Firestarter but this is a commonly-known thing, I understand.

I was reading about Gregg Alexnder, the lead singer of New Radicals- he wrote Love Is Rollercoaster, Murder On The Dancefloor and The Game Of Love (Santana) and quite few other UK hits from the 2000's

bigfatheart

Aussie punk band the Cosmic Psychos got a credit on L7's Fuel My Fire because it was musically based on their song Lost Cause. Fuel My Fire was, of course, covered by the Prodigy on Fat of the Land. Pretty certain they saw more money from the two versions of that song than from the rest of their discography.

Jim_MacLaine

Cathy Denis did alright for herself didn't she. After a moderately successful solo career she wrote eight UK number ones and won five Ivor Novello Awards.

Toxic, Can't Get You out of My Head and I Kissed a Girl are some of hers.

Hasn't Betty Boo aka Alison Clarkson written some top pop hits for others too.

Quote from: Jim_MacLaine on August 29, 2019, 02:47:31 PM
Hasn't Betty Boo aka Alison Clarkson written some top pop hits for others too.

Pure and Simple for Hearsay

Quote from: Jim_MacLaine on August 29, 2019, 02:47:31 PM
Cathy Denis did alright for herself didn't she. After a moderately successful solo career she wrote eight UK number ones and won five Ivor Novello Awards.

Toxic, Can't Get You out of My Head and I Kissed a Girl are some of hers.

Hasn't Betty Boo aka Alison Clarkson written some top pop hits for others too.

This was co-written by Dennis and Rob Davis, a member of the 70s glam rockers Mud, of 'Tiger Feet' fame.  Seems an incredibly unlikely songwriter for the song, on the face of it.

iamcoop

I believe once briefly famous indie-cum-reality tv star Preston from shit band The Ordinary Boys is now a successful songwriter. I can't remember who for though.

studpuppet

The unlikeliest must be Jagger & Richard(s) for Bittersweet Symphony. Half-pinched off the Staple Singers for The Last Time anyway, then got full credit on the orchestral version despite the strings bit that was sampled being written and arranged by someone else, and then 100% of the royalties off the Verve until they 'magnanimously' handed them back recently.

boki

Quote from: sevendaughters on August 29, 2019, 12:56:28 PM
I genuinely didn't know that Kim Deal was raking it in for Firestarter but this is a commonly-known thing, I understand.

Utah Saints were also in the habit of crediting the writers of songs that they'd sampled, so on I Want You, for example, you've got members of Slayer rubbing shoulders with Inspiral Carpets.

Lordofthefiles

Glitter rakes it in for Noel G's "Hello", but that's an obvious one innit?!

holyzombiejesus

Quote from: sevendaughters on August 29, 2019, 12:56:28 PM
I genuinely didn't know that Kim Deal was raking it in for Firestarter but this is a commonly-known thing, I understand.

I didn't know either. What for?

Quote from: holyzombiejesus on August 29, 2019, 04:17:36 PM
I didn't know either. What for?

The guitar riff sample on Firestarter is lifted from a Breeders' song (*checks name of song*) - " S.O.S." from the album Last Splash.

Brundle-Fly

Carry On actor, Jim Dale wrote the classic hits Georgy Girl and Dick A Dum Dum

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

All-round entertainer and Friend of Tarby, Kenny Lynch, wrote Sha La La La Lee for the Small Faces.

Auntie Beryl

Quote from: iamcoop on August 29, 2019, 02:56:08 PM
I believe once briefly famous indie-cum-reality tv star Preston from shit band The Ordinary Boys is now a successful songwriter. I can't remember who for though.

"Heart Skips A Beat" by Olly Murs, oddly enough.

There's a few similar ones:

Joel Pott out of Athlete co-wrote "Shotgun" and "Hold My Girl" on the last George Ezra album.

Nick Atkinson, lead singer of mid-00s flash-in-pans Rooster, wrote "Grace" with Lewis Capaldi. On the same Capaldi album, the lead singer of Ben's Brother, Nick Hartman helped out with "Hold Me While You Wait".

"Real Love" by Jess Glynne features a writing credit for one of Mancunian electropop scamps Delphic.

Blokey from Semisonic co-wrote "Someone Like You" with Adele, so is not short of a bob or two.




It's not "unlikely", but heard a great anecdote about Dolly Parton and "I Will Always Love You". After she wrote it in the early 70s, management for Elvis approached her about him doing a version. Apparently Elvis had a standard arrangement where he required a substantial percentage of royalty rights signed over to him for any song he covered. Dolly Parton reluctantly declined despite everyone telling her she was crazy, and went on to take in probably a trillion dollars when the Whitney Houston version blew up in 1992 (a top-5 best-selling single of all time)

bigfatheart

Quote from: Clatty McCutcheon on August 29, 2019, 02:54:39 PM
This was co-written by Dennis and Rob Davis, a member of the 70s glam rockers Mud, of 'Tiger Feet' fame.  Seems an incredibly unlikely songwriter for the song, on the face of it.

Davis also co-wrote Groovejet by Spiller and has a credit on Toca's Miracle by Fragma.

The Culture Bunker

Quote from: Pearly-Dewdrops Drops on August 29, 2019, 06:42:59 PM
It's not "unlikely", but heard a great anecdote about Dolly Parton and "I Will Always Love You". After she wrote it in the early 70s, management for Elvis approached her about him doing a version. Apparently Elvis had a standard arrangement where he required a substantial percentage of royalty rights signed over to him for any song he covered. Dolly Parton reluctantly declined despite everyone telling her she was crazy, and went on to take in probably a trillion dollars when the Whitney Houston version blew up in 1992 (a top-5 best-selling single of all time)
Which connects to Nick Lowe finally making a nice sum from his "(What's so Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding" being covered on the Bodyguard soundtrack by Curtis Stigers, of all people.

Shit Good Nose

What about that bloke who was in a band in the 60s that went nowhere, then had a TV career in the 70s that went nowhere, then in the early 80s wrote a little song called Save Your Love.  Never needed to work again.

Brundle-Fly

Quote from: The Culture Bunker on August 29, 2019, 06:48:34 PM
Which connects to Nick Lowe finally making a nice sum from his "(What's so Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding" being covered on the Bodyguard soundtrack by Curtis Stigers, of all people.

The unlikely musicians being covered by international superstars or featuring on a best selling soundtrack is another thread but the Guns'N' Roses 1993 The Spaghetti Incident? album payday for ageing Brit punk herberts, The Damned and UK Subs must've been unexpected for them. Not forgetting the Charlie Manson estate.

Jockice

Quote from: Auntie Beryl on August 29, 2019, 06:31:41 PM
"Heart Skips A Beat" by Olly Murs, oddly enough.

There's a few similar ones:

Joel Pott out of Athlete co-wrote "Shotgun" and "Hold My Girl" on the last George Ezra album.

Nick Atkinson, lead singer of mid-00s flash-in-pans Rooster, wrote "Grace" with Lewis Capaldi. On the same Capaldi album, the lead singer of Ben's Brother, Nick Hartman helped out with "Hold Me While You Wait".

"Real Love" by Jess Glynne features a writing credit for one of Mancunian electropop scamps Delphic.

Blokey from Semisonic co-wrote "Someone Like You" with Adele, so is not short of a bob or two.

Crispin Hunt from the Longpigs wrote stuff for Jake Bugg and Natalie Imbruglia.

Pseudopath

Quote from: Jim_MacLaine on August 29, 2019, 02:47:31 PM
Cathy Denis - Toxic

Think it might have cropped up in the Fuck my Hat thread recently, but she actually wrote this song about her relationship with Noel Fitzpatrick (better known as Channel 4's Supervet).

Mental.

The Culture Bunker

Quote from: Brundle-Fly on August 29, 2019, 08:08:10 PM
The unlikely musicians being covered by international superstars or featuring on a best selling soundtrack is another thread
True enough, so I'll link it back by saying Lowe's fellow pub-rocker (and keyboard player in his 'Noise to Go'/'Cowboy Outfit' years) Paul Carrack co-wrote a song on the Eagles 'Hell Freezes Over' comeback album. Given that sold nine million in the States, I'm guessing he got a nice drink out of it.

And then they covered a song Carrack wrote on his own on a subsequent album that also sold a few million.

Jockice

Quote from: The Culture Bunker on August 29, 2019, 09:44:24 PM
True enough, so I'll link it back by saying Lowe's fellow pub-rocker (and keyboard player in his 'Noise to Go'/'Cowboy Outfit' years) Paul Carrack co-wrote a song on the Eagles 'Hell Freezes Over' comeback album. Given that sold nine million in the States, I'm guessing he got a nice drink out of it.

And then they covered a song Carrack wrote on his own on a subsequent album that also sold a few million.

Paul Carrack's a good bloke with a very interesting and varied career. And is the only person to appear on albums by both of my two favourite bands of all time. The Undertones and The Smiths, just in case you didn't already know.

The Culture Bunker

Quote from: Jockice on August 29, 2019, 11:36:58 PM
Paul Carrack's a good bloke with a very interesting and varied career. And is the only person to appear on albums by both of my two favourite bands of all time. The Undertones and The Smiths, just in case you didn't already know.
Well, could have been two of a few others too.... Pretenders, Squeeze, Roxy Music, err, Mike and the Mechanics?

I believe he got paid £50 for his work on the Smiths' debut album.

DukeDeMondo

The Your Movie Sucks fella wrote a song that appeared on the most recent Blondie record.

Dunno that he made a fortune from it, mind, but I'm sure it paid for at least a couple of videos all about how The Sixth Sense is rubbish because the microwave door is further open in one shot than it is in another.

Chriddof

Ha! Though I think it would be more about one video on how great Michael bloody Haneke apparently is, and another updating us on how Cool Cat endangered the lives of a female model and a cameraman by getting the former to shoot a live machine gun right over the latter's head.

studpuppet

Quote from: Jockice on August 29, 2019, 08:36:06 PM
Crispin Hunt from the Longpigs wrote stuff for Jake Bugg and Natalie Imbruglia.

And speaking of Imbruglia, the fellah that played the double bass on 'Lovecats' co-wrote 'Torn' as well as a couple of Pixie Lott No.1s.