many artists and labels do "songwriting camps", thats why there are so many songwriters included

think Beyonce is the best example, her last album had crazy lots of songwriters

But does every songwriter listed necessarily have input into the song, that's what I wanna know! I'd also be interested to know how the royalties are split e.g. when there's 10 writers, do they each get 10% or do they agree on the split according to who had the most input?

Sure many are credited doing nothing or very little

 

just checked and Beyoncé - Alien Superstar has 24 co-writers :D

Sure many are credited doing nothing or very little

 

just checked and Beyoncé - Alien Superstar has 24 co-writers :D

To be fair, Alien Superstar also samples 3 different songs, and a speech.

looking forward to following this great idea for a thread!

I know Renaissence does have lots of samples but I wonder if 24 co-writers in Alien Superstar is a record?

111. Tracey Ackerman (5)-7 weeks

 

 

Chart toppers:

 

• C’est La Vie (1998)

• Rollercoaster (1998)

• To You I Belong (1998)

• Blame It On The Weatherman (1999)

• Lift Me Up (1999)

 

Backing vocalist in the 80s for some Nigel Wright projects (This Year’s Blonde) and rent a vocalist on some dance hits in the early 90s, Ackerman started to work with Absolute productions co-writing all of B*Witched’s No 1’s plus the odd Geri Halliwell track.

 

No 110- Jess Glynne (5)- 7 weeks

 

 

Chart toppers:

 

• My Love (2014)

• Hold My Hand (2015)

• No Letting Go (2015)

• Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself (2015)

• I’ll Be There (2018)

 

 

Like her or loathe her she pops up again on this list, she auditioned for X Factor at age 15 before providing vocals for Route 94’s “My Love” which led to work with Clean Bandit and a rather lucrative solo career. She’s been rather off the radar these last few years thanks to changing record levels and a backlash over some comments made, but thankfully that delightful Jet2 advert kept her “relevant”.

 

No 108- Paul Wilson/ Andy Watkins (5)- 8 weeks

 

 

Chart Toppers:

• Who Do You Think You Are? (1997)

• Too Much (1997)

• Mi Chico Latino (1999)

• Lift Me Up (1999)

• Bag It Up (2000)

 

Um who? Well you may be wondering but together this pair were 90s production powerhouse Absolute who as you can see helped out both the Spice’s and Geri’s solo career in that decade. Through connections they were offered a contract with Simon Fuller who then asked them to work on his new project and the No 1’s flowed.

 

I didn't know that Jess had auditioned for the X Factor :o was about to say poor her being beaten out in the Steve Brookstein year but apparently she chose to not go ahead with it :kink:

 

My favourite Jess Glynne lyrical contribution is pretty much two sets of lines repeated over-and-over then it seems ('My Love' - tune)

I seem to remember having a 7" vinyl by Tracy Ackerman which was a medley of Madonna songs.

 

(If I have correctly dragged this up from the pits of my memory!)

Just searched my music library for Tracy Ackerman and discovered that she co-wrote Dannii Minogue's 'Get Into You' - but I've just remembered that I know her from being featured on a dance version of Oleta Adams' 'Get Here' - Q feat. Tracy Ackerman, it made #37 in 1993!

 

I also had no idea that Jess Glynne had auditioned for X Factor, although according to internet sources, she was actually asked to audition but turned it down:

"Glynne, 24, said that she was approached by producers of the ITV singing contest, aged 15 – but revealed that she did not think auditioning would have been right for her."

Edited November 17, 20222 yr by Mangø

interesting, I didn’t realise Tracey Ackerman was behind those number ones - I only knew of her for featuring on the Chicane chill out classic “No Ordinary Morning”

 

nice to see Jess Glynne make an appearance here as I wasn’t sure how many of her number ones she had a writing credit on. I didn’t know if the X Factor connection either.

It is kind of interesting to see artists who have writing credits on some of their own #1s but not all of them! Kind of surprised at Jess not having credits on 'Rather Be' and 'These Days' (yet she does have a credit for her 13 words, 3 of which are "my", on 'My Love' :lol:)

I'm not sure why it's hard to believe that featured rappers largely write their own verses? (Yes there are a few cases of rappers being known to use ghostwriters but let's not dismiss the entire concept of rapping because of that)

 

Not hard to believe they write their own contributions - thats why its called Rent A Rapper :lol: - they get paid upfront and also part of the sales of a song that is largely just fine without the rap. The numbers of rap breaks that enhance the original creation is not that high, it just became obligatory to get radio play (see Levitating which topped my charts long before the unnecessary rap addition).

 

Not saying rap is bad (I bought rap when it had something to say, right from Sugarhill gang, Grandmaster Flash and others, and learnt every word by heart to sing along - Try White Lines (Don't Don't Do It) that's a brilliant record) but it did become a marketing ploy and eventually a massive moneyspinning cliched-spinning production-line monster. Target-audience and all that....! Not all rap-based stars subscribe to the cliches, thank goodness, but there's still a tendency to stick to the basic themes.

Not hard to believe they write their own contributions - thats why its called Rent A Rapper :lol: - they get paid upfront and also part of the sales of a song that is largely just fine without the rap. The numbers of rap breaks that enhance the original creation is not that high, it just became obligatory to get radio play (see Levitating which topped my charts long before the unnecessary rap addition).

Agreed, but when a rapper is brought in under the Rent-A-Rapper scheme, I would have thought in most cases they would write the rap as well as perform it, no?

No 107- Ari Levine (5)- 8 Weeks

 

 

Chart toppers:

 

• Nothin On You (2010)

• Just The Way You Are (Amazing) (2010)

• f*** You (2010)

• Grenade (2011)

• Lazy Song (2011)

 

A member of the production team The Smeezingtons which helps to explain the Bruno Mars chart toppers. Levine was the last member to join the trio in 2009 scoring a first writing credit with the Sugababes “Get Sexy”.

 

No 106- Dizzee Rascal (5)- 10 weeks

 

http://s3.amazonaws.com/quietus_production/images/articles/13488/dizzee_rascal_1380706353_crop_550x428.JPG

 

Chart Toppers:

• Dance Wiv Me (2008)

• Bonkers (2009)

• Holiday (2009)

• Dirtee Disco (2010)

• Shout (2010)

 

Hard to believe that Dizzee has been around for almost 20 years now and can clearly write a chart topper as well. A little help from Calvin Harris saw him turn critical acclaim into sales and he didn’t look back for a good 2 years, though the highlight for me will always be his stint on Band Aid 20.

 

No 105- Mark Owen (5)- 10 weeks

 

 

Chart toppers:

 

• Sure (1994)

• Patience (2006)

• Shine (2007)

• Greatest Day (2008)

• These Days (2014)

 

Three members of Take That make our cut with Mark Owen sneaking in. Take That hits of course make up his entire contribution but it’s interesting to note how much more of a group affair writing hits was and remains in Take That mark II (and after) compared to their 90s hey day. Other things to note is that he has of course had three top 5 solo singles and a win on “Celebrity Big Brother” to his name.

 

Agreed, but when a rapper is brought in under the Rent-A-Rapper scheme, I would have thought in most cases they would write the rap as well as perform it, no?

 

I'm guessing the original songwriters would not want to take credit for a couple of lines of rap in almost every case! And of course no-one is forcing the artist to take the rap, so to speak. Well, the music label, maybe, might.... :D

My post had nothing to do with whether or not "rent-a-rappers" improve the songs they are featured on or not. I'm just questioning why people seemed surprised/dismissive that featured rappers have writing credits for their raps.