Canadian-born country great Shania Twain headlined the five-member class announced Tuesday (Aug. 2) for the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Twain joins in the Contemporary Songwriter/Artist category. Since her mainstream debut in 1993, Twain has had a hand in writing 22 Top 20 songs on the Billboard charts, including seven No. 1 hits. Such Twain compositions as "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!" and "That Don't Impress Me Much" still define the '90s country boom.
She's a former Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) Songwriter/Artist of the Year (1998) and two-time BMI Country Songwriter of the Year (1999, 2000).
(L to R) Mark Ford (NaSHOF executive director), inductees Steve Wariner, Hillary Lindsey, David Malloy and Gary Nicholson and Sarah Cates (chair of NaSHOF Board of Directors). Not pictured, inductee Shania Twain. (Bev Moser)
Steve Wariner, David Malloy, Hillary Lindsey and Gary Nicholson round out the class of 2022. All five will join the 223 prior inductees on Oct. 30 during the 52nd Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Gala. The event will be hosted at Nashville's Music City Center.
"This is always one of my favorite days of the year: when we announce our incoming class and begin their journey to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Gala in October," shared Sarah Cates, chair of the organization's board of directors, in a press release. "I'm especially gratified to note that —for the first time since 2009— two of our inductees-elect are women."
A Veteran Songwriter/Artist category inductee, Wariner transitioned in the 1980s and 1990s from an understudy of Dottie West and Chet Atkins to a superstar singer, songwriter and thumbpicking guitarist. He wrote songs he cut himself (namely 1998's CMA and ACM award-winner "Holes in the Floor of Heaven") as well as hits for other artists (Clint Black's "Nothin' But the Taillights," Keith Urban's "Where the Blacktop Ends").
Veteran Songwriter inductee David Malloy rose to prominence in the 1970s and 1980s as part of a songwriting team with Even Stevens and Eddie Rabbitt. The trio wrote such pop-accessible chart-toppers for Rabbitt as "I Love a Rainy Night" and "Step by Step." He also co-wrote one of Kenny Rogers' definitive hits, 1982's "Love Will Turn You Around."
Hillary Lindsey (Carrie Underwood's "Jesus Take the Wheel," Little Big Town's "Girl Crush") and Gary Nicholson (Vince Gill's "One More Last Chance," Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood's "Squeeze Me In") enter an exclusive club in the Contemporary Songwriter category.
