00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the 10 pop singers who almost exclusively relied on professional songwriters.
00:15Number 10, Britney Spears.
00:20While she has received some songwriting credits over the years, especially later on after she matured as an artist, most of Britney's biggest hits were written by professional songwriters and producers.
00:28Her early career was heavily reliant on songwriters, with Baby One More Time and Oops I Did It Again being almost entirely written by the hit-making machines over at Chiron Studios, including Max Martin.
00:43In fact, Spears didn't have a single writing credit on either of those first two albums, and even as she became more involved later in her career, all of her big songs, including Toxic, Gimme More, and Womanizer, were written by other songwriters, including Pharrell Williams.
00:58All right, you're toxic, I'm slipping my life.
01:03Number 9, Olivia Newton-John.
01:06Let's get physical, physical, I wanna get physical.
01:11Like many pop stars of her era, Olivia Newton-John often performed materials selected or crafted by outside producers and songwriters.
01:19In fact, her sound was almost entirely molded by her longtime producer, John Farrar.
01:23He worked with Newton-John between 1971 and 1989, and is behind many of her big songs, including Physical and Magic.
01:30He also penned many of her songs in Grease, including You're the One That I Want and Hopelessly Devoted to You.
01:44When it comes to Newton-John's mainstream peak in the late 70s and 80s, chances are that you're hearing the words, music, and production of John Farrar, not the singer herself.
01:53Still a heck of a voice, though.
01:54Do you believe in Cher writing her own songs?
02:11Well, don't, because she doesn't.
02:13The goddess of pop has always been about style.
02:15Her bold fashion, the constant reinvention of her public image, her deep contralto voice, she does that.
02:21She leaves the writing up to the pros.
02:24Cher barely wrote any of the songs throughout her decade-spanning career, with the vast majority of her biggest hits being written by others.
02:37For example, Believe was written and produced by a team of pop songwriters, although Cher supposedly altered some lyrics.
02:43And, If I Can Turn Back Time was personally given to the singer by Diane Warren.
02:47Even when she was in Sonny and Cher, she left the songwriting up to Sonny Bono.
02:50Then put your little hand in mine.
02:55Number 7, Dionne Warwick.
02:57Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Bert Bacharach and Mr. Elvis Costello.
03:02There's barely a music hall of fame that Dionne Warwick hasn't been inducted into.
03:06National R&B, rock and roll, Grammy, you name it.
03:09That's the power of a good singer and an unbelievable entertainer.
03:13Warwick's strength lies in her distinctive voice and incredible ability to convey complex emotions through the song she performed.
03:19Although she almost never wrote these songs herself.
03:28Warwick played the public voice of songwriting duo Bert Bacharach and Hal David,
03:33who were responsible for many of her biggest hits in the 60s and 70s, including Walk On By and I Say A Little Prayer.
03:39Say a little grandma, you will ever, ever, and ever, you stay in my heart and I will love you.
03:46Number 6, Linda Rostadt.
03:48Kermit has asked a friend of his, could you introduce, what's your face?
03:54The recipient of 11 Grammy Awards, Linda Rostadt has always been candid about her lack of interest in songwriting.
04:06During an interview with Rout Magazine, she claimed,
04:09It's almost impossible to write a great song, and I had people who were writing great songs around me.
04:14And well, that pretty much sums it up.
04:15I'm rolling back someday, come with me.
04:21Instead, Ronstadt had a knack for choosing tunes that were written by incredibly talented songwriters,
04:26including Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly, Elvis Costello, and the Rolling Stones.
04:30You may have heard some of them.
04:31Regardless, her versatility across genres helped redefine what it meant to be a female pop artist,
04:36with Ronstadt finding hits in rock, country, latin, and even opera.
04:47Number 5, Diana Ross.
04:49As you know, Diana Ross is continuing her career as a single star.
04:54And now, in their last television appearance together,
04:57here's Diana and the Supreme singing their current number one record,
05:02Someday We'll Be Together.
05:04Barry Gordy, the founder of Motown, designed the label to function like a hit-making factory.
05:09Songwriters, producers, and performers were all specialists in their own areas,
05:13and Diana Ross, like many other Motown artists, was expected to focus solely on singing.
05:18As such, many of the Supreme's most legendary hits were written by a team of songwriters,
05:22most notably the famous trio of Holland Dozier Holland.
05:32Ross didn't have songwriting credits on any of the Supreme's major hits,
05:35and even when she ventured on a solo career,
05:37all of her big songs, including the legendary Ain't No Mountain High Enough,
05:41were penned by others.
05:42But that didn't stop Billboard from naming her
05:44the female entertainer of the century in 1976.
05:48I'm in the middle of a teen reaction.
05:51You give me all the after, and it's not action.
05:54Number 4, Whitney Houston.
05:57I'm every moment, it's all in the blue.
06:02There's a reason Whitney Houston is called The Voice, and not The Songwriter.
06:06If you look through her albums, Houston has very few songwriting credits,
06:10with her most iconic albums, including her eponymous album,
06:13and Whitney, containing zero songwriting credits at all.
06:16Her producer and mentor, Clive Davis, believed in surrounding her with the best songs possible,
06:21and as such, she collaborated with the likes of Diane Warren and Babyface.
06:25And what is probably her most famous song, I Will Always Love You,
06:35is actually a cover, being written and originally recorded by Dolly Parton.
06:39It's about Parton leaving her business partner, Porter Wagoner,
06:42to pursue a solo career.
06:43Now, that didn't come across in the Houston version.
06:46Number 3, Celine Dion.
06:58A lot of singers on this list are queens or kings of something.
07:03Celine Dion is the queen of power ballads.
07:06Funnily enough, Dion wrote some songs when she was a child,
07:09often accompanied by her brother and mother.
07:11But when she hit it big, Dion left the writing up to the pros.
07:14And that's the way it is.
07:18She's collaborated with the biggest names in the game,
07:21including Diane Warren on Because You Loved Me,
07:23and Max Martin on The Way It Is.
07:25And, My Heart Will Go On, is the second best-selling single,
07:28ever released by a female artist.
07:30Which is kind of funny, considering it was written by a team of men.
07:33My heart will go on and on.
07:41Number 2, Frank Sinatra.
07:42There were few entertainers as big as Frank Sinatra in the 50s and 60s.
07:55This guy could do anything.
07:57Sing, swing, act.
07:58But he couldn't write songs.
08:00Sinatra had an exceptional ability to inhabit a song,
08:02with his phrasing, timing, and exceptional tone
08:05often elevating lyrics beyond what was written.
08:07And what was written came via a slew of different professionals,
08:16including Capitol Records' Nelson Riddle,
08:18who arranged all the songs on his first couple of albums.
08:21Sinatra did co-write a few obscure tunes early in his career,
08:24including a credit on This Love of Mine.
08:26But even that is debated,
08:28with most people thinking that the true contributor
08:30was Sinatra's manager and business partner,
08:32Hank Sanicola.
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08:55Number 1. Elvis Presley
08:59The king of rock and roll.
09:08Elvis Presley transcended demographics
09:10and became the biggest star in the world throughout the 1950s.
09:13But out of the hundreds of songs that he recorded,
09:15Elvis received songwriting credit on only a select few.
09:17And even then,
09:18it was often for business or publishing reasons,
09:21not because he actually wrote the lyrics or music.
09:23And the money in the whole city of rock.
09:25One day is a dude,
09:26the day is a man out of the road.
09:28Instead,
09:28Elvis worked with some of the best songwriters of the time,
09:31including Otis Blackwell,
09:32and the team of Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller,
09:35who penned some of his most iconic songs,
09:36including Hound Dog and Jailhouse Rock.
09:39Elvis' genius lay in his voice and onstage charisma.
09:42And while he wasn't a writer,
09:43he redefined what it meant to interpret a song.
09:46Well, you ain't never gonna land the hell,
09:48you ain't no fear.
09:51Are you surprised by this?
09:52Let us know in the comments below.
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