List of songwriters (all time)

Adam Thomas Jones (born January 15, 1965) is a three-time Grammy Award-winning American musician and visual artist, best known for his position as the guitarist for Tool. Jones is also the director of the majority of Tool's music...

Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (born 5 May 1988) is a British singer and songwriter.

Albert King Nelson (April 25, 1923 – December 21, 1992), known professionally as Albert King, was an American blues guitarist and singer, and a major influence in the world of blues guitar playing. One of the "Three Kings of the B...

Aleksandar Živojinović, (born August 27, 1953), better known by his stage name Alex Lifeson, is a Canadian musician, best known as the guitarist of the Canadian rock band Rush. In 1968, Lifeson co-founded the band that would becom...

Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier; February 4, 1948) is an American singer, songwriter, musician and occasional actor whose career spans five decades.

Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known by the pseudonym Alicia Keys, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Keys released her debut album with J Records, having had previous record deals first...

Amos Lee (born Ryan Anthony Massaro, June 22, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter whose musical style encompasses folk, rock and soul. He was born in Philadelphia and graduated from the University of South Carolina with a degre...

Andy Lau Tak-wah (born 27 September 1961) is a Hong Kong Cantopop singer-songwriter, actor, presenter, and film producer. Lau has been one of Hong Kong's most commercially successful film actors since the mid-1980s, performing in...

Angus McKinnon Young (born 31 March 1955) is a Scottish-born Australian guitarist best known as a co-founder, lead guitarist, and songwriter of the Australian hard rock band AC/DC.

Avril Ramona Lavigne (born 27 September 1984) is a Canadian-French singer-songwriter, musician, and occasional actress. She was born in Belleville, Ontario, and spent most of her youth in the town of Greater Napanee. By the age of...

W. Axl Rose (born William Bruce Rose, Jr. ; raised as William Bruce Bailey February 6, 1962) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is the lead vocalist and only remaining original member of the hard rock band Guns N' R...

Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known by his stage name B.B. King, was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. King was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and is often called "The...

Ben Harper (born October 28, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.

William Thomas "Bill" Berry (born July 31, 1958) is a retired American musician and multi-instrumentalist, best known as the drummer for the alternative rock band R.E.M. In addition to his drumming duties, Berry played many other...

William Martin "Billy" Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American pianist, singer-songwriter, and composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth-best-selling recording artist and the thir...

Björk Guðmundsdóttir (born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic experimental singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and occasional actress. She initially became known as the lead singer of the alterna...

Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter, artist and writer.

Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono, is an Irish singer-songwriter, musician, venture capitalist, businessman, and philanthropist. He is best recognized as the frontman of the Dublin-based rock band...

Brian Johnson (born 5 October 1947) is an English singer and songwriter. Since 1980, he has been the lead singer of the Australian rock band AC/DC, with whom he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003...

Brianne Sidonie Desaulniers (born October 1, 1989), known professionally as Brie Larson, is an American actress, singer, and director. Larson began her career as a teenage actress. On television, she was a series regular on the 20...

Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and humanitarian. He is best known for his work with his E Street Band. He is nicknamed "The Boss".

Brian Patrick Carroll (born May 13, 1969), known professionally as Buckethead, is an American guitarist and multi-instrumentalist who has worked within many genres of music. His music spans such diverse areas as progressive metal...

Carlos Santana (born July 20, 1947) is a Mexican and American musician who first became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered a fusion of rock and Latin American music. He has won 10 Gram...

Charlie Parra del Riego (born March 5, 1985 in Lima, Peru) is a Peruvian guitarist and composer. He is also known as Charlie Parra.

Christopher Anthony John "Chris" Martin (born 2 March 1977) is an English singer-songwriter, pianist, guitarist, and is the lead vocalist and co-founder of the band Coldplay.

Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry (born October 18, 1926) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter.

Clifford Lee "Cliff" Burton (February 10, 1962 – September 27, 1986) was an American musician, best known as the bass guitarist for the American thrash metal band Metallica. Burton joined Metallica in 1982 and performed on the ban...

Daniel Edwin "Danny" Carey (born May 10, 1961) is an American drummer best known for his work in American Grammy Award-winning progressive rock band Tool. He has also contributed to albums by artists such as Zaum, Green Jellÿ, Pig...

Daniel Robert "Danny" Elfman (born May 29, 1953) is an American composer, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is known as the lead singer and songwriter for the rock band Oingo Boingo from 1976 to 1995, and later for scori...

David Eric "Dave" Grohl is an American rock musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and producer who is best known as the former drummer for the grunge band Nirvana and the founder and frontman of the rock band Foo Fig...

David John "Dave" Matthews (born January 9, 1967) is a South African-born American singer-songwriter, musician and actor, best known as the lead vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist for the Dave Matthews Band. Matthews was born in...

David Scott "Dave" Mustaine (born September 13, 1961) is an American musician. He is best known as the co-founder, guitarist, and lead singer of the American thrash metal band Megadeth, and well known as the original lead guitaris...

David Bowie (born David Robert Jones, 8 January 1947) was an English singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, arranger, painter, and actor.

David Jon Gilmour (born 6 March 1946) is an English musician, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. In a career spanning more than 50 years, he is best known for his work as the guitarist and co-lead vocalist of the progre...

Andre Romelle Young (born February 18, 1965), known by his stage name Dr. Dre, is an American rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur. He is the founder and current CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics. Dre was p...

Aubrey Drake Graham (born October 24, 1986) is a Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter and actor. He was born in Toronto, Ontario. He first garnered recognition for his role as Jimmy Brooks on the television series Degrassi: The Nex...

Michael Andrew "Duff" McKagan (born February 5, 1964) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and author. He is best known for his twelve-year tenure as the bassist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved wo...

Edward Christopher "Ed" Sheeran (born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter, musician, and occasional actor.

Edward Lodewijk "Eddie" Van Halen (born January 26, 1955 in Nijmegen) is a Dutch-American musician, songwriter and producer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, occasional keyboardist and co-founder of the hard rock band Van H...

Elena Jane "Ellie" Goulding (born 30 December 1986) is an English singer and multi-instrumentalist. Her career began when she met record producer Starsmith and Frankmusik, and she was later spotted by Jamie Lillywhite, who later b...

Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight, 25 March 1947) is an English singer-songwriter, composer and pianist. He has worked with lyricist Bernie Taupin as his songwriting partner since 1967; they have collaborated o...

Marshall Bruce "Eminem" Mathers III (born October 17, 1972) is an American rapper, record producer, actor, and songwriter. Eminem is from Detroit, Michigan. In addition to his solo career, he is a member of D12 and (with Royce da...

Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysler (born May 8, 1975), simply known as Enrique Iglesias is a Spanish singer, songwriter, actor, and record producer. Iglesias started his career in 1995 on an American Spanish Language record label Fo...

Enya (born Eithne Ní Bhraonáin; anglicised as Enya Brennan; 17 May 1961) is an Irish singer-songwriter, musician, and producer. She has sold 26.5 million RIAA-certified albums in the US and an estimated 75 million worldwide, makin...

Eric Patrick Clapton (born 30 March 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist and separately as a member of the...

Eve Jihan Jeffers-Cooper (born November 10, 1978) is an American hip hop recording artist and actress from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra (December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer, songwriter, actor, producer and director. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 150 million records...

Freddie King (September 3, 1934 – December 28, 1976) was an American blues guitarist and singer. He is often mentioned as one of "the Three Kings" of electric blues guitar along with Albert King and B.B. King. Freddie King based h...

Troyal Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962), best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country pop singer-songwriter. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at number 2 in the US country album chart while climb...

Gary Francis Caine Cherone (born July 26, 1961) is an American rock singer and songwriter. He is best known for his work as the lead vocalist of the Boston rock group Extreme, as well as his short stint as the lead vocalist for Va...