Songwriters: A Biographical Dictionary with Discographies »

Nigel Harrison, former CD buyer for Tower Records and reporter for Billboard, lives in Ashland, Oregon.

Eubie Blake, Duke Ellington, Johnny Mercer, Cole Porter This is a comprehensive guide to 1,054 composers and lyricists (in English) from all the popular genres, including Tin Pan Alley, rhythm & blues, country & western, jazz, rap, and film and show tunes. Each artist's entry includes birth name (if different), date and place of birth, principal musical genre, main instruments played (if any), a short biography, a list of compositions, a list of long playing albums or CDs (with year of release, record label and peak chart position) and any noteworthy compilation albums. Artists are cross-referenced with musical group and co-writers, when applicable, and the final section of most entries is an alphabetical list of every known chart version of any song written by that particular artist since 1890 (when Billboard first compiled a pop chart).

Library Journal

This large volume claims to be "the first comprehensive guide to English-language composers and lyricists" of popular songs of the 19th and 20th centuries. Harrison, a former reporter for Billboard, compiles over 1000 entries with biographical information, discographies, and peak chart positions (both British and American). While covering a wide range of popular song (excluding instrumental music), including folk, country, R&B, gospel, blues, and jazz, he is strongest in the rock and popular music fields. The biographical information tends to be quite brief, with most entries consisting primarily of discographical information. Although there is some overlap with the second edition of the Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (LJ 12/95), as would be expected, there are many entries here for songwriters not found in that set. Consequently, this would be a welcome addition to most music reference collections.--Michael Colby, Univ. of California, Davis