Natchez native Glen Ballard to be inducted into Songwriters Hall of Fame

NEW YORK — Natchez native Glen Ballard is being inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame along with other musical icons, such as Snoop Dogg, Gloria Estefan, Jeff Lynne and Sade.

The Hall of Fame announced Wednesday they will be formally honored in June, when the organization holds its 52nd Annual Induction and Awards Gala in New York.

Ballard, who grew up in Natchez and graduated from Natchez High School in 1971, is a six-time GRAMMY award-winning songwriter and producer, an Olivier Award winner and an Academy Award nominee.

He co-wrote and arranged Man in the Mirror for Michael Jackson and co-wrote and produced the critically acclaimed Alanis Morrissette LP Jagged Little Pill — one of the best-selling records of all time at 33 million worldwide. Among the artists he has written songs for are Wilson Phillips, Christina Aguilera, Dave Matthews, George Strait, Josh Groban, Quincy Jones, Aretha Franklin, Barbra Streisand, Aerosmith, Van Halen, Chaka Khan, Andrea Bocelli, Katy Perry, Ringo Starr, George Benson, Shakira, Idina Menzel, and many more.

Ballard co-wrote the song score and was an executive producer for Netflix’s series The Eddy. In addition, he co-wrote the original songs for Back to the Future the Musical, the 2022 Olivier Award winner for Best New Musical, which will be coming to Broadway in the Summer of 2023.

Ballard’s Hollywood-based international production company Augury develops musical theater, episodic TV and streaming, feature films and live music events.

Among Ballard’s recent visits to his hometown have been to receive the Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration’s Richard Wright Literary Excellence Award in 2015 and to perform his songs with an orchestra at the Natchez Festival of Music in 2016.

Key songs in the Ballard catalog include Man In The Mirror, You Oughta Know, Hold On, The Voice Within and The Space Between.

Ballard and the six other songwriters in the Hall of Fame class of 2023 will be inducted June 15 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City.

Songwriters already in the Hall include Carole King, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora, Elton John and Bernie Taupin, Brian Wilson, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Lionel Richie, Neil Diamond and Phil Collins.

In announcing the list of new inductees on Wednesday, Hall of Fame Chairman Nile Rodgers said, “The music industry does not exist without songwriters delivering great songs first. Without them there is no recorded music, no concert business. … It all starts with the song and the songwriter. We are, therefore, very proud that we are continually recognizing some of the culturally most important songwriters of all time and that the 2023 slate represents not just iconic songs but also diversity and unity across genres, ethnicity and gender, songwriters who have enriched our lives and, in their time, literally transformed music and the lives of billions of listeners all over the world.”

For more information about the Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees, go to https://www.songhall.org/news/view/songwriters_hall_of_fame_announces_2023_inductees