Siedah Garrett and Barry Eastmond, who have each written some of the most popular songs of the past 40 years, will speak at the latest edition of the Songwriters Hall of Fame Master Sessions at NYU.
Siedah Garrett and Barry Eastmond, who have each written some of the most popular songs of the past 40 years, will speak at the latest edition of the Songwriters Hall of Fame Master Sessions at NYU, a collaboration between the Hall and NYU Steinhardt’s Music and Performing Arts Professions department (Nov. 28). Garrett and Eastmond will discuss their careers as songwriters, performers and producers with Phil Galdston, director of songwriting and NYU Faculty Songwriter-in-Residence at NYU Steinhardt.
“Siedah Garrett and Barry Eastmond have both written songs that span generations and genres,” said Dr. Ron Sadoff, chair of the Music and Performing Arts Professions department. “As active professionals at the top of their game, they are constantly adding to their extraordinarily rich and living bodies of work.”
Siedah Garrett is a GRAMMY® Award-winning and two-time Academy Award-nominated singer/songwriter. With Glenn Ballard, Garrett co-wrote Michael Jackson’s megahit “Man in the Mirror” from his chart-topping 1987 album “Bad.” She was his duet partner on “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You,” that album’s first #1 single. She has also toured internationally as a featured vocalist with Madonna, Sergio Mendes, Wang Chung, The Brand New Heavies, and with Jackson on his Dangerous World Tour. Other artists who have recorded on Siedah’s songs include mentor Quincy Jones, Aretha Franklin, Miles Davis, Earth Wind & Fire, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Hudson, will.i.am, Ray Charles, Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald, Toto, Sheena Easton, Natalie Cole, Barry White, Pointer Sisters, Donna Summer, Dionne Warwick, Patti Austin, Roberta Flack, and Al Jarreau. Garrett wrote lyrics for two of the four new songs added to the film adaptation of Dreamgirls, providing the Jennifer Hudson solo "Love You I Do," which earned Garrett a nomination for the 2007 Academy Award for Best Original Song; Garrett and collaborator Henry Krieger won the Grammy for Best Song-Motion Picture TV, Visual Media for “Love You I Do”.
Barry Eastmond is one of the most successful and prolific songwriters/producers/arrangers in contemporary music. He has racked up over 60 gold, platinum, and multi-platinum albums collaborating with some of the most important artists in pop and R&B, with cumulative sales of more than 80 million copies worldwide. Respected and acknowledged for his stellar work with legends such as Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Barry White, Anita Baker, George Benson, Al Jarreau, Chaka Khan, Britney Spears, Yolanda Adams, and Gladys Knight, the award-winning multi-talented music man has been responsible for hit records with major artists including Britney Spears, Brandy, Faith Evans, Michael Bolton, Vanessa Williams, Freddie Jackson, Billy Ocean, Kenny Lattimore, Regina Belle, Yolanda Adams, and Tamia (among others). Among his numerous hits are Jackson’s version of “You Are My Lady”; Baker’s GRAMMY-winning smash “I Apologize”; Ocean’s “Suddenly” and “When the Going Gets Tough”; Adams’ “Someone Watching Over You”; and “Missing You,” performed by Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight, Tamia, and Brandy.
Launched in 2011, the Songwriters Hall of Fame Master Sessions were established to bring to NYU and the greater New York music community the songwriters who have inspired music creators and music lovers alike. Featuring in-depth interviews complemented by performance and demonstration, the Sessions are curated and moderated by GRAMMY-nominated songwriter and producer Phil Galdston. Previous editions have featured the late Hal David, Jimmy Webb, the late Glenn Frey, Nile Rodgers, Valerie Simpson, Felix Cavaliere and John Sebastian, David Byrne, Gamble & Huff, Rosanne Cash, Don Schlitz, Alan Menken, and Desmond Child.
“We’re very fortunate to have Siedah and Barry join us for this once-in-a-lifetime joint Master Session,” said Galdston. “Our students have an extraordinary opportunity to benefit from these artists’ insights into the art and craft of music-making and the realities of working in the music business. These two people have not only worked extensively across genres with a most remarkable range of artists and collaborators, but have also written together.”
The Songwriters Hall of Fame Master Sessions at NYU are held at the NYU Production Lab, 16 Washington Place in Greenwich Village. For more information about the Songwriting Program at NYU Steinhardt, visit http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/music/songwriting/.
The Songwriters Hall of Fame celebrates songwriters, educates the public with regard to their achievements, and produces a spectrum of professional programs devoted to the development of new songwriting talent through workshops, showcases, and scholarships. West Coast educational activities are held at The GRAMMY Museum, which hosts the permanent Songwriters Hall of Fame Gallery, and at the University of Southern California. Visit the Hall at http://songhall.org/ for more information.
NYU Steinhardt Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions, established in 1925, instructs over 1,600 students majoring in music and performing arts programs. MPAP serves as NYU’s “school” of music and is a major research and practice center in music technology, music business, music composition, film scoring, songwriting, music performance practices, performing arts therapies, and the performing arts-in-education (music, dance, and drama). Prominent alumni include: jazz great Wayne Shorter, music theatre composer and songwriter Cy Coleman, lyricist Betty Comden, film composer Elmer Bernstein, Tony Award, Oscar and playwright and film writer John Patrick Shanley, and Ian Axel and Chad King of A Great Big World. Visit MPAP at steinhardt.nyu.edu/music.