Rose Marie McCoy Music

The Greatest Songwriter You May Have Never Heard Of

"Her songs have been recorded by so many legendary artists in such a diversity of styles: blues, jazz, rock, rhythm & blues, country, pop, gospel. It's mind boggling what she has done. I don't know of any other songwriter with the kind of track record Rose Marie McCoy has."

Al Bell - past president of Motown & former owner of Stax Records

"Everybody was scrapping to get by, but it was always men. They were the songwriters, they were the producers, they were the musicians. Women didn't have a place, so Rose made a place for herself."

Maxine Brown - singer/songwriter & Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame inductee

Before Carole King, there was Rose Marie McCoy

Rose Marie McCoy's BMI catalogue alone lists 857 songs, and I have found close to 400 artists who have recorded her songs. Many successful artists recorded more than one. of her songs. Elvis recorded 2, Nat King Cole 3, Sarah Vaughan 6, Ruth Brown 10, and on and on. So why isn't such a prolific and successful writer in the Songwriters Hall of Fame? Who does the SHoF consider worthy? At first, it was white men. Of the 120 writers the SHoF inducted in 1970, only three were white females, and six were black males. Over the years, the SHoF did become more inclusive, honoring top selling recording artists, who were more known for their performances than their songwriting. Though their song catalogs paled in comparison with someone like Rose Marie McCoy's, these singers had the backing of major record labels, who had interest in promoting their artists. Others were also staff writers, working for a music publisher who had reason to promote them and their work. Rose never became a popular singer, and she made her way as an independent writer, with no one music publisher to promote her music or her legacy. Though she wrote top ten hits for mainstream artists like Nat King Cole, Elvis Presley, Ike & Tina Turner, and so many others, many of her hits were for Ruth Brown, Nappy Brown, Big Joe Turner, Big Maybelle, Little Willie John, black artists who weren't played on major radio stations when Rose first started out in the 1950s. With no major company to promote her legacy and no major company to buy a very high priced table of tickets to the SHoF's annual fundraising ceremonies, hope does not run high for getting this extraordinary talented songwriter the recognition she deserves.

Rose Marie McCoy

The Greatest Songwriter You May Have Never Heard Of

Before Carole King, there was Rose Marie McCoy

Subscribe

This website uses cookies.