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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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Glyn

Quote from: Ballad of Ballard Berkley on August 30, 2019, 09:49:19 PM
Huh? Nicky Wire didn't write that.

Correct, but they did appear in the video for Little Baby Nothing and had involvement in the fan club so there was a non musical connection at least.

On the manics theme I'd say that Waiting For Today to Happen is one of the best Lightning Seeds songs (faint praise) and that's a Wire lyric. The Girl from Tiger Bay was another for Shirley Bassey and I guess Kylie is the more famous one with Some Kind of Bliss.

None of those made a fortune but getting a situationist slogan onto a Shirley Bassey album is an achievement.

Bennett Brauer

Stephen Duffy of The Lilac Time co-wrote a No.1 single for Robbie Williams, and some album tracks as well.

buzby

Quote from: Satchmo Distel on August 30, 2019, 09:06:13 PM
The family of Ronnie Mack, who wrote "He's So Fine" but died soon afterwards (1963), have received regular royalties from 'My Sweet Lord' since George Harrison settled the plagiarism lawsuit in the late 70s.
The 1978 judgement of the case was that Ronnie Mack's estate got a 75% share of the royalties from My Sweet Lord. However, while the case was ongoing, the song's publisher Bright Tunes went bankrupt and was purchased by Allen Klein (who had originally been acting for Harrison at the start of the case, before the Beatles fell out with ABKCO at which point he had given Bright Tunes information on the royalties My Sweet Lord had generated). In 1978 at the settlement judgement, as well as awarding Mack 75% of the composition, the judge also set a settlement of $1.6m in back-royalties to that point (based on the sales and radio plays of songs from All Things Must Pass, as well as the single itself) to be paid to Bright Tunes.

As Klein had been party to information on both sides of the case and had opportunistically bought Bright Tunes, the judge therefore ruled that he should not profit from the settlement, and so it was judged that Harrison should instead pay Klein the $587,000 he paid for the company in lieu of the $1.6m and also receive the publishing rights for He's So Fine (the case was only fully settled in 1998). That means that although Harrison had to pay Mack's estate royalties, he got a percentage of it back by controlling the Mack's publishing.

AQuags1954

The late Neil Innes made a tidy sum when someone at EMI noticed that Oasis's 'Whatever' bore a striking resemblance to his 'How Sweet To Be An Idiot'.

Herbie Flowers, bassist on Walk On The Wild Side, co-wrote Granddad by Clive Dunn.

SteveDave

Quote from: Jockice on August 30, 2019, 08:20:27 AM
Morrissey and Marr ripping off other musicians eh? How long has this been going on?

You can't see Jockice but I'm giving you a standing ovation.

Dave Curtiss, the one surviving member of failed sixties folk duo Curtiss Maldoon, was lucky enough to co-write the song Sepheryn that became the basis for Madonna's Ray Of Light, and probably never had to work again.

Christine Leach from the band Baby Fox is also credited as a songwriter, as it was her interpretation of Sepheryn that William Orbit heard and then took to Madge, so presumably she's done alright out it as well.

daf

Quote from: Lordofthefiles on August 29, 2019, 03:52:08 PM
Glitter rakes it in for Noel G's "Hello", but that's an obvious one innit?!

Thought he'd sold his rights a few years ago for a lump sum - though that may only be in the US :

QuoteIn the US, Universal Music Publishing Group said it was not paying royalties to Glitter: "Gary Glitter's publishing interest in the copyright of his songs is owned by UMPG and other parties, therefore UMPG does not pay him any royalties or other considerations."

Levi


The frontman of Electro-clash shock monkeys Fischerspooner co-wrote a song with Madonna and producer Mirwais and had to chase them for any royalties or credit.
I can't pretend I'm not disappointed - she seems really nice.

https://pitchfork.com/news/fischerspooners-casey-spooner-says-madonna-didnt-pay-or-credit-him-for-madame-x-song/

pigamus


purlieu

Quote from: Glyn on August 31, 2019, 10:55:51 AM
On the manics theme I'd say that Waiting For Today to Happen is one of the best Lightning Seeds songs (faint praise)
Nah, there are tons of fantastic Lightning Seeds songs. But yeah, the '97 re-recording with the orchestra in particular is up there with their best, a stunning song with a wonderfully world-weary lyric. Broudie actually did a pretty good job on the same theme with 'Cigarettes & Lies' a couple of years later. Broudie and Wire might not seem like the most obvious writing partners, but Ian was a working class Liverpool guy who wrote a fair few political songs and had Justice for the 96 in a number of his album sleeves. I'd love them to work together again.

Kankurette

The Real People and Cher.

And yeah, the Lightning Seeds did the Hillsborough Justice Concert with the Manics and there's a song on Tilt called Tales of the Riverbank about the dockers. Broudie's politics aren't that far off the Manics.

PaulTMA



idunnosomename

maybe not unlikely but that shit Resident Evil trailer reminds me that you may not know that Linda Perry of 4 Non Blondes, who sung and wrote "What's Up?", which she probably made a load of money off, wrote Pink's Get the Party Started solo, followed by a bunch of other songs for similar performers and certainly can't be short of money now.

Kankurette

She worked with Christina Aguilera too.

Confession time: I love the Lightning Seeds. I am aware that they aren't the kind of band you're supposed to like but dammit, seeing them again brought back a lot of happy memories (mainly of my best mate in high school who was also a fan).

Brundle-Fly

It Doesn't Matter by Wyclef Jean includes songwriting credits to "This Is Ska" by Bad Manners, "Mona Lisa" by Slick Rick, "Livin' la Vida Loca" by Ricky Martin, and "Take Me Home, Country Roads" by John Denver.

A varied quintet of artists there.

mrClaypole

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 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.

Brian James the author bought a vineyard with the proceedings.


The Culture Bunker

Quote from: Kankurette on October 10, 2021, 11:14:34 AM
Confession time: I love the Lightning Seeds. I am aware that they aren't the kind of band you're supposed to like but dammit, seeing them again brought back a lot of happy memories (mainly of my best mate in high school who was also a fan).
Is that really a "confession" - I mean, Broudie has always been fairly well regarded as a producer and songwriter, hasn't he? Obviously his Lightning Seeds stuff isn't for anyone, but I've long had the impression plenty enjoyed them. They were the first contemporary band I really liked, back when 'Jollification' came out and 'What If' was the first single I ever bought. I'm pretty sure they've never been in that (shudder) 'guilty pleasure' category.

Think his politics were fairly clear from early on, stuff like 'Bound in a Nutshell' being about watching Liverpool decline, especially in the 80s, and the hope it would rise again.

Snow Patrol's guitarist co-wrote some large pop hits for Ed Sheeran, Pink and more. Quite a lucrative little side line, if you can tap into it.

kalowski

Brian Eno wrote the start up sound for Windows 95. I hope he made a lot of money from that.
QuoteThe thing from the agency said, 'We want a piece of music that is inspiring, universal, blah-blah, da-da-da, optimistic, futuristic, sentimental, emotional,' this whole list of adjectives, and then at the bottom it said 'and it must be 3.25 seconds long.'

Ant Farm Keyboard

Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz and Adrian Belew wrote one of the most sampled rhythm tracks from the 80s with the Tom Tom Club's "Genius of Love". They get a credit on Mariah Carey's "Fantasy", which was the 15th biggest single from the nineties in the US.

dissolute ocelot

Quote from: kalowski on October 10, 2021, 04:04:07 PM
Brian Eno wrote the start up sound for Windows 95. I hope he made a lot of money from that.
Eno was allegedly paid $35,000 for that 3.25 seconds. I guess there would be no way to collect a per-play royalty but he could have got a per-unit one instead of a flat fee. Microsoft aren't stupid generous though.

Kankurette

Quote from: The Culture Bunker on October 10, 2021, 03:58:36 PM
Is that really a "confession" - I mean, Broudie has always been fairly well regarded as a producer and songwriter, hasn't he? Obviously his Lightning Seeds stuff isn't for anyone, but I've long had the impression plenty enjoyed them. They were the first contemporary band I really liked, back when 'Jollification' came out and 'What If' was the first single I ever bought. I'm pretty sure they've never been in that (shudder) 'guilty pleasure' category.

Think his politics were fairly clear from early on, stuff like 'Bound in a Nutshell' being about watching Liverpool decline, especially in the 80s, and the hope it would rise again.
I just always got the impression that they were one of those bands universally considered naff. Thom Yorke did a guest review for Melody Maker and you'd think Broudie had banged his wife, the way he went on about Lucky You. Q rated Pure as the most pathetic, wimpy song of all time. And so on. This doesn't reflect my own feelings - I think Broudie is very talented. He's done a fair bit with Terry Hall too.

The Culture Bunker

Quote from: Kankurette on October 10, 2021, 06:52:16 PM
I just always got the impression that they were one of those bands universally considered naff. Thom Yorke did a guest review for Melody Maker and you'd think Broudie had banged his wife, the way he went on about Lucky You. Q rated Pure as the most pathetic, wimpy song of all time. And so on. This doesn't reflect my own feelings - I think Broudie is very talented. He's done a fair bit with Terry Hall too.
I long considered Yorke as a bit of a pretentious "I'm an artist" bellend, so I guess that kind of thing would wash over me. I wish I could write a killer bit of guitar pop like Broudie has shown he can do - maybe then I wouldn't be dreading work on Monday. I'm assuming that's an opinion Q have had recently, as I can remember in the 90s they were pretty warm towards Lightning Seeds stuff - I think the 'Like You Do' compilation got five stars.

I picked up Terry Hall's 'Laugh' album the other day, which has the-then Lightning Seeds rhythm section (Martyn Campbell and Chris Sharrock) all over it, as well as ex-Smith Craig Gannon as guitarist and principal co-writer. A good album, but also very much a divorce-themed one.

purlieu

Yes, Laugh is a bit of an angst-fest in places. If I recall correctly, his first album Home has Chris Sharrock, Simon Rogers, Angie Pollock and Ian Broudie on it, and was produced by Broudie, also containing a version of their co-write 'Sense'. A really wonderful album, too.

And yeah, there's a bit of a sneery attitude towards the Lightning Seeds at times because, despite his punk credentials, Broudie's music can be very fluffy, sugary and poppy and give an impression of earnestness and a lack of cynicism, despite some overtly political songs and a few somewhat scathing ones, as well as a song about his brother's suicide. They're one of my favourite bands, just an endless parade of great memorable pop with a lovely blend of world-weary melancholy and comfort.

idunnosomename

Glenn Danzig wrote songs for Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash.

Both were via Rick Rubin though. Former was 1987 soundtrack for Less Than Zero, latter Cash's '94 comeback American Recordings.

Did he make a fortune? dunno. probably not bad though especially since both sold well

Kankurette

My hat was fucked when I heard Terry Hall's version of Sense.

That Q article was recentish and there was a disgusting sexist comment about a bassline being so weedy it was like Peter Hook had a sex change. Because we girlies don't know our way around instruments, I guess. The Lightning Seeds could be a bit twee at times but there is a darkness and sadness running through some of their stuff, especially Tilt. I'd forgotten how lovely What You Say is. Maybe I should start a Lightning Seeds thread.

poodlefaker

Quote from: pigamus on August 30, 2019, 12:46:15 PM
He also did the music for Withnail and I, having owned the house Bruce Robinson and Viv MacKerrell lived in when they were all at drama school together.
I wonder if they were still living  there when Jeans On was a hit. I imagine them as penniless struggling actors drinking in a miserable pub in 70s Camden Town one Thursday evening, catching sight of him on TOTP on a telly in the corner.