Credit: Matthew RolstonSongwriter Carole Bayer Sager, who has penned the lyrics to dozens of classic pop hits, will receive the Songwriters Hall of Fame’s highest honor, the Johnny Mercer Award, at the organization’s 50th annual Induction and Awards dinner.
The event is scheduled for June 13 in New York City. The award is presented to a Songwriters Hall of Fame member whose body of work is of such “high quality and impact” that it “upholds the gold standard set by the legendary Johnny Mercer.”
Among the many hits Bayer Sager has co-written: The Mindbenders‘ “A Groovy Kind of Love”; Leo Sayer‘s “When I Need You”; Melissa Manchester‘s “Midnight Blue” and “Don’t Cry Out Loud”; Carly Simon‘s “Nobody Does It Better”; Neil Diamond‘s “Heartlight”; Diana Ross‘ “It’s My Turn”; “That’s What Friends Are For” by Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Elton John and Gladys Knight; and the Oscar-winning theme to Arthur, “Best That You Can Do,” sung by Christopher Cross.
“If you are going to be the honored recipient of the Johnny Mercer Award you better be one of the greatest lyricists of all time,” says Songwriters Hall of Fame chairman Nile Rodgers. “[T]he incomparable Carole Bayer Sager has been a powerful female voice that has made the world a gentler and more beautiful place.”
Among the composers Bayer Sager has collaborated with over the years are Albert Hammond, Peter Allen, Marvin Hamlisch and Burt Bacharach, to whom she was married from 1982 to 1991.
Past Johnny Mercer Award recipients include Diamond, Lionel Richie, Paul Simon, Phil Collins, Billy Joel, Elton John, Van Morrison, Carole King and Stevie Wonder.
Bayer Sager was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987. As previously reported, this year’s inductees include Yusuf — a.k.a. Cat Stevens — and frequent Eagles collaborator Jack Tempchin.
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