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A singer-songwriter is a person who writes songs and then sings them. There's more to it than that, however: the "singer-songwriter" label is associated with certain styles of music. Traditionally, the label refers to Three Chords and the Truth music in which a single singer accompanies himself with only an acoustic guitar or a piano, but you'll also find singer-songwriters in pop, rock, R&B and country music. The defining charisteristics of a singer-songwriter is that he is billed individually rather than as part of a band, that he writes his own songs, and that the emphasis is on the lyrics rather than on complex music (this is why you don't call Jimi Hendrix or Frank Zappa "singer-songwriters", even though they did sing and write songs). The term also usually isn't used to refer to pop superstars like Mariah Carey although they may write their own material, or to groups like The Eagles or The Mamas and the Papas whose music fits the Singer-Songwriter mold.
May or may not write Protest Songs.
Notable singer-songwriters include:[]
Belgium[]
- Jacques Brel
- Raymond Van Het Groenewoud
Britain[]
- Adele
- Kate Bush
- Elvis Costello
- Nick Drake
- Joe Jackson
- Elton John
- Cat Stevens
- KT Tunstall
Canada[]
- Leonard Cohen
- Sarah McLachlan
- Joni Mitchell
- Alanis Morissette
- Buffy Sainte-Marie
- Neil Young
Germany[]
- Herbert Grönemeyer
- Marius Müller-Westernhagen
The Netherlands[]
- Jaap Fischer
- Boudewijn de Groot
- Drs. P
Russia[]
- The entire bard music (authors' song) genre.
United States[]
- Tori Amos
- Fiona Apple
- Joan Baez (although her biggest hit, "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," was a cover)
- Johnny Cash
- Tracy Chapman
- Judy Collins (although her biggest hit, "Both Sides Now," is a Joni Mitchell song)
- Jim Croce
- Bob Dylan
- Arlo Guthrie
- Woody Guthrie
- Janis Ian
- Billy Joel
- Janis Joplin
- Carole King
- Leadbelly
- Tom Lehrer
- Melissa Manchester
- Barry Manilow (although most of his big hits were written by others)
- Don McLean
- Laura Nyro
- Phil Ochs
- Pete Seeger
- Carly Simon
- Paul Simon
- Bruce Springsteen
- James Taylor