Ep. 88 - STEVE DORFF ("Through the Years")

Songcraft: Spotlight on Songwriters

PART ONE Scott and Paul let you in on how you can score your own autographed copy of Steve Dorff's new memoir, I Wrote That One, Too.
PART TWO - 02:45 mark Mother's Day is coming up soon! Paul counts down 5 of his favorite songs about moms before Scott lists 5 of his favorite songwriters who are also mothers.
PART THREE - 12:11 mark Scott and Paul head over to Steve Dorff's house to get the inside scoop on why he sees color when he hears music; the reason that knowing how to write a great song is only half of songwriting success; how he accidentally wound up playing piano on a classic soul record; what he did to make Dusty Springfield throw a chair at him; how he bluffed his way into film scoring; the time he wrote one of the most iconic TV show theme songs of all time in just 15 minutes; and why he hears Boys II Men in his head when George Strait sings one of his biggest hits.
ABOUT STEVE DORFF
Steve’s Dorff’s songs have been recorded by hundreds of artists, earning him nominations for six Emmy awards and three Grammys. His first major success came with the soundtrack for the Clint Eastwood film Every Which Way But Loose, which yielded three #1 singles, including the title song. Similarly successful soundtrack albums would follow, such as: Bronco Billy, which earned him #1 hits with “Cowboys and Clowns” for Ronnie Milsap and “Bar Room Buddies,” a duet for Eastwood and Merle Haggard; Any Which Way You Can, which spawned a Top 10 hit of the same title for Glen Campbell; and Pure Country, which earned George Strait two #1 hits, “I Cross My Heart” and “Heartland.” In total, Dorff has written nine #1 country hits from motion pictures, more than any other songwriter in history. In addition to his soundtrack success, Dorff has written #1 hits including “I Just Fall in Love Again” for Anne Murray, “Through the Years” for Kenny Rogers, “Don’t Underestimate My Love For You” for Lee Greenwood, “Hypnotize the Moon” for Clay Walker, and “The Man in Love with You” for George Strait. Other artists who’ve recorded his songs include Barbra Streisand, The Carpenters, Celine Dion, Cher, Dolly Parton, Dusty Springfield, Garth Brooks, George Jones, Gladys Knight, Jackie Wilson, Kenny Loggins, Randy Travis, Ray Charles, Reba McEntire, Roy Rogers, Ringo Starr, Smokey Robinson, Whitney Houston, and Willie Nelson. In addition to his songwriting, Dorff has scored countless films and TV shows, including Spenser: For Hire, Murphy Brown, The Singing Bee, Just the 10 of Us, Murder She Wrote, Major Dad, Reba, and Growing Pains, for which he composed the hit theme song “As Long as We Got Each Other.” In 2017 he published his memoir, I Wrote That One, Too: A Life in Songwriting from Willie to Whitney, and he’s a 2018 inductee into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.