Category: Music

Carole honored as a BMI Icon!

Songwriting Legends Carole Bayer Sager and Mike Stoller To Be Honored as BMI Icons at 70th Annual BMI Pop Awards

Carole was honored as a BMI Icon on Tuesday, May 10th, 2022 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.




An excerpt from the article from bmi.com

BMI is thrilled to be honoring two iconic songwriters, Carole Bayer Sager and Mike Stoller, alongside the creators of some of today’s most-performed songs,” said Cane. “As we commemorate BMI’s 70th Pop Awards, we pay homage to the craft of these two musical legends and their timeless contributions to BMI and the great American songbook. We’re proud to present them with the BMI Icon Award for their lasting impression on fans worldwide and on the songwriters following the path they’ve laid out to musical greatness, which is second to none.”

With a career spanning over five decades, GRAMMY and Academy Award-winning songwriter Carole Bayer Sager is responsible for lyrics to some of the most popular songs of our time, including “Nobody Does It Better,” “A Groovy Kind of Love,” “Don’t Cry Out Loud,” and the Oscar-winning theme from the movie Arthur, “Best That You Can Do.” She’s written more than 400 songs that transcend generations and has worked with some of the biggest stars in music, such as Ray Charles, Celine Dion, Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond, Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Carole King, Melissa Manchester, Reba McEntire, Bette Midler, Dolly Parton, Carly Simon, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand and many more.

Sager has received many accolades and honors throughout her illustrious career, including 26 BMI Awards, and she was named BMI’s Pop Songwriter of the Year in 1977. She’s also received an Oscar, two Golden Globe Awards, a GRAMMY win for Song of the Year for “That What Friends Are For,” and a combined 15 nominations. Adding to her collection of prestigious awards, Sager has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and in 2019, she was the recipient of the Johnny Mercer Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

As the newest BMI Icon honorees, Carole Bayer Sager and Mike Stoller join an elite group of songwriters who have received BMI’s highest honor for their “unique and indelible influence on generations of music makers.” Previous recipients include Barry Manilow, The Bee Gees, Brian Wilson, Carlos Santana, Carole King, Crosby, Stills & Nash, David Foster, Dolly Parton, the Jacksons, John Fogerty, Kris Kristofferson, Mann & Weil, Merle Haggard, Nile Rodgers, Paul Simon, Stevie Nicks, Sting and Willie Nelson, among others.

BMI’s family of songwriters and publishers will also be celebrated throughout the evening with the revealing of the 50 most-performed pop songs in the United States from BMI’s repertoire of more than 18.7 million musical works.

Full article available at

https://www.bmi.com/press/entry/586481

BMI-Pop-Awards-Press-Release-FINAL-4.12.22

 

WSJ-A look back at “Nobody Does It Better”

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal looks back on the theme song to the James Bond movie

Read the full article at https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-secret-agent-in-carly-simons-nobody-does-it-better-11589031471

The Secret Agent in Carly Simon’s ‘Nobody Does It Better

The singer, the lyricist Carole Bayer Sager and others look back on the Bond theme for ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’—and the duality of James

an excerpt from the article:

In the fall of 1977, Carly Simon’s sultry rendition of “Nobody Does It Better” rose to No. 2 on Billboard’s pop chart, casting James Bond in a new light.

Written by Carole Bayer Sager (words) and Marvin Hamlisch (music) for “The Spy Who Loved Me,” the Bond theme was the first to be titled differently from the movie.

As 007 fans await “No Time to Die”—delayed until November but already teased with a theme by Billie Eilish—Ms. Bayer Sager, Ms. Simon, pianist Michael Omartian and arranger Richard Hewson revisited their hit. Last year, Ms. Bayer Sager received the Songwriters Hall of Fame’s Johnny Mercer Award; Ms. Simon’s most recent book is “Touched by the Sun: My Friendship with Jackie.”

Later in the article…

Ms. Simon: As I recorded my vocal, I imagined how the movie would start. Bond films always had plenty of action before the theme song came on.

I also felt Carole’s female perspective in the lyrics. They fit me perfectly. Adding “James, you’re the best” was the perfect homage.

 







 

 

One World Together at Home: The Prayer with Andrea Bocelli, Celine Dion, Lady Gaga, Lang Lang and John Legend

From the One World: Together At Home Special to Celebrate COVID-19 Workers

So honored to hear this rendition of The Prayer, co-written with my composer friend David Foster, this time, with Andrea Bocelli, Celine Dion, Lady Gaga, Lang Lang and John Legend combining their talents.




 

Carole Co-writing on Barbra Streisand’s New Album, “Walls”

Barbra Streisand’s new album

Carole co-wrote two songs “Better Angels” and “What’s On My Mind,” on Barbra Streisand’s “Walls” Album.

Barbra’s timely album just came out November 2018

Listen to WALLS here: http://smarturl.it/BarbraWalls

Better Angels




What’s On My Mind

 




 

Carole’s collaboration on Kanye West’s “Ghost Town”

Carole collaborated with Kanye West on “Ghost Town” on his “Ye” Album

On the week of Ye being released, “Ghost Town” entered the US Billboard Hot 100 at number 16. “Ghost Town” also debuted in the UK Singles Chart at number 17 following the release of West’s album

Available on iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/ye/1392975931

“On My Own” one of Best Michael McDonald songs of all time

“On My Own,” Co-written by Burt Bacharach and Carole, honored as #2 of the 9 of the Best Michael McDonald songs of all time.

A beautiful duet, sung by Michael McDonald and Patti Labelle

was initially not intended to be a duet at all, but LaBelle decided to invite McDonald to help her turn the song into a duet, as she stated: “The song was sent to me and I did a version of it but somehow it just didn’t quite work. We were going over things I’d done and we talked about turning it into a duet. Someone asked, ‘If you could do it with anyone, who would you sing it with?’, and Michael was my first choice.” (Excerpt from Wikipedia…)

http://www.smoothradio.com/features/michael-mcdonald-best-songs-doobie-brothers/

Carole’s song “Living in the Moment” will be featured in “Book Club”

Carole has co-written the theme from the movie, “Book Club.”

Performed by Katherine McPhee, “Living in the Moment” was written in collaboration with Walter Afanasieff and Jay Landers

Book Club stars Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen and opens in theaters May 18th

Later, we’ll post links to the song, but for now here’s the official trailer:

Off the Wall 40th Anniversary Special

The title of Spike Lee’s “Michael Jackson’s Journey From Motown to Off the Wall,” an exhilarating new documentary premiering Friday on Showtime, could not be any plainer or more accurate. It’s the story of how a child prodigy and pre-teen idol became a world-conquering solo artist, from the Jackson 5, to the Jacksons, to the man who was Michael.

Every artist is at least two people, intertwined yet also separate — the person who makes the art and the person who does everything else. It’s impossible not to confuse them, and we like to read the life in the art, just as we tend to let the art glorify the life; but sometimes the art is made in spite of the life, or made without regard to it.

Michael Jackson may have been a mixed-up kid who became a mixed-up adult, but he was also an artist who knew his stuff, who thought a lot about craft, asked questions, made plans.

Read more >

The Los Angeles Times

 

Carole Bayer Sager