The Songwriters Hall of Fame has a new class of inductees, including Timbaland, R.E.M., Steely Dan, Hillary Lindsey and Dean Pitchford.
The organization announced its 2024 class on Wednesday, and the famed songwriters will be officially inducted on June 13. The event will take place in New York City at the Marriott Marquis Hotel.
“I’ve said it before, but the music industry does not exist without songwriters delivering great songs first. Without them there is no recorded music, no concert business, no merch … nothing, it all starts with the song and the songwriter,” Nile Rodgers, chairman of the Songwriters Hall, says in a statement.
“We are therefore very proud that we are continually recognizing some of the culturally most important songwriters of all time and that the 2024 slate represents not just iconic songs but also diversity and unity across genres, ethnicity and gender, songwriters who have enriched our lives and literally enriched music and the lives of billions of listeners all over the world.”
Timabland has been a top-notch, innovative music producer and songwriter for the last three decades. He has worked closely alongside Missy Elliott — who became the first female rapper inducted into the Songwriters Hall in 2019 — and lent his magic to songs like Jay-Z’s “Big Pimpin,” Elliott’s “Get Ur Freak On,” Justin Timberlake’s “SexyBack,” Ginuwine’s “Pony” and much more.
Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Bill Berry and Mike Mills will be inducted as members of R.E.M., who have written the band’s hits such as “Losing My Religion,” “Everybody Hurts” and “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine).” Founding members Donald Fagen and Walter Becker — who died in 2017 — will be inducted on behalf of Steely Dan, who released their debut album in 1972 and had hits like “Do It Again” and “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number.”
Pitchford won the best original song Oscar for writing “Fame” from Fame; he also earned Oscar nods for writing “Footloose” and “Let’s Hear It for the Boy” from Footloose, and “After All” from Chances Are. He has also been nominated for seven Grammys and a Tony.
Lindsey, a three-time Grammy winner, has mostly collaborated with country music artists, co-writing hits like Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus Take the Wheel,” Little Big Town’s “Girl Crush” and Keith Urban’s “Blue Ain’t Your Color.” She worked closely with Lady Gaga on A Star Is Born and Joanne, co-writing hits like “Always Remember Us This Way,” “Million Reasons” and “I’ll Never Love Again.”