The members of R.E.M. — frontman Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry — are being inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
The 2024 class also includes Timbaland, Steely Dan‘s Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, and Dean Pitchford and Hillary Lindsey, who’ve written songs such as “Footloose” and “Jesus Take the Wheel,” respectively.
“I’ve said it before, but the music industry does not exist without songwriters delivering great songs first,” says SHOF Chairman Nile Rodgers. “Without them there is no recorded music, no concert business, no merch … nothing, it all starts with the song and the songwriter.”
He adds, “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.”
The 2024 Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees will be honored on June 13 during a ceremony in New York City.
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