Tony Macaulay was finally inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame last night.
It took at least 20 years to get him in. His name used to be on every nomination list, and he was always overlooked. Mariah Carey got in before him!
Congrats to Tony. He wrote or co-wrote many pop classics including “Build Me Up Buttercup” and “Baby Now That I Found You,” for the Foundations “Last Night I Couldn’t Get to Sleep at All,” for the Fifth Dimension, “Smile a Little Smile for Me” and “Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes,” and “Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again.”
Tony had a nasty fight with music publishers in 1974, winning the right to be able to sue them. That may be one reason he was never inducted in the past. The SHOF is controlled by music publishers.
A Brit, Tony is 81, and managed to live long enough to get into the Hall of Fame. Bravo!
PS The Fifth Dimension, which introduced countless famous songwriters, still has no award from the SHOF. Ridiculous. They were innovators. Their back up band were musicians from Phil Spector’s Wrecking Crew, for god’s sake.
