Vince Gill, Paul Overstreet, Randy Goodrum Nominated For Songwriters Hall of Fame

Vince Gill, Paul Overstreet and Randy Goodrum are among the latest songwriters and performing songwriters to be nominated for induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Nominees in the performing songwriters category include Gill, Bryan Adams, Chicago’s Peter Cetera, Robert Lamm & James Pankow, Gloria Estefan, Bread’s David Gates, Cat Stevens (a.k.a. Yusuf Islam), Kool & The Gang’s Robert “Kook” Bell, Ronald Bell & George Brown; Madonna, Jeff Lynne, George Michael, Sylvester “Sly Stone” Stewart, and Jay Z.

Nominees in the non-performing category include Overstreet, Goodrum, Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Max Martin, Tony Macaulay, Kenny Nolan, Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham, P.F. Sloan (d) & Steve Barri William “Mickey” Stevenson, Allee Willis, and Maury Yeston.

Eligible voting members have until Dec. 16 to turn in their ballots, with choices of three nominees from the non-performing and two from a performing category. For more information, visit songhall.org.

The Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction & Awards Gala will be held June 15, 2017 in New York City.

Vince Gill

Gill first came to fame as a songwriter and performer in Pure Prairie League. After going solo as a country artist, he won three consecutive CMA Awards for Song of the Year from 1991 to 1993 for “When I Call Your Name,” “Look at Us” and “I Still Believe in You” (he won it again in 1996 for “Go Rest High on That Mountain”). Inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005, Gill, who was also named the Nashville Songwriters Association International’s Songwriter/Artist of the Decade for 1990-1999 and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2007. A sampling of his numerous hits include “Don’t Let Our Love Start Slippin’ Away,” “If You Ever Have Forever In Mind,” “I Still Believe In You,” “Never Knew Lonely,”  and “One More Last Chance.”

Paul Overstreet

Country singer-songwriter Overstreet has written No. 1 hits for Randy Travis (“Forever and Ever, Amen” and “On the Other Hand”), Keith Whitley (“When You Say Nothing at All”) and Blake Shelton (“Some Beach”), as well as himself (“Daddy’s Come Around”). He’s written other big hits for artists including The Judds (“Love Can Build a Bridge”) and Kenny Chesney (“She Things My Tractor’s Sexy”). He’s won two GRAMMY Awards as well as ACM and CMA Song of the Year awards, and was BMI Songwriter of the Year a record five straight years (1987–91).

Randy Goodrum

Nashville Songwriters Hall of Famer Goodrum was the 1981 ASCAP Country Songwriter of the Year. But he had already made a big name for himself with hits like Anne Murray’s much-covered signature 1978 pop chart-topping “You Needed Me.” He would go on to write Steve Perry’s “Oh Sherrie” and DeBarge’s “Who’s Holding Donna Now” on the pop side, and Dottie West’s “Lesson In Leavin’” and the Kenny Rogers-Dottie West duet “What Are We Doin’ In Love” on the country side.  Other Goodrum-penned hits include “Bluer Than Blue,” “Foolish Heart,” and “I’ll Be Over You.”