Plenty of pop fans have sung along to a chorus without ever learning who wrote it. For many songwriters, the credit line on someone else’s single was the first sign of what they could do.
This list looks at eight writers who built their reputations by handing songs to other singers. Each one later stepped forward with a record of their own.
Carole King
King started as a staff writer in New York, working with her then husband Gerry Goffin. Together they wrote Will You Love Me Tomorrow for the Shirelles, which reached number one in the United States in 1961. They also wrote (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman for Aretha Franklin.
King released her debut solo album, Writer, in 1970. Her breakthrough came a year later with Tapestry, which won four Grammy Awards and spent fifteen weeks at number one on the Billboard 200. Many of its songs were ones she had already written for other singers.
Laura Nyro
Nyro was a New York singer and pianist whose songs were often more successful in other people’s hands. The 5th Dimension took her Wedding Bell Blues to number one in 1969. Blood, Sweat & Tears had a hit with And When I Die.
Barbra Streisand later recorded her Stoney End and sent it into the American top ten. Nyro’s own albums, starting with 1967’s More Than a New Discovery, built a devoted following more slowly. Her case shows how a writer’s catalog can reach the public through other voices first.
Ne-Yo
Shaffer Smith, known as Ne-Yo, got his break writing for others in the early 2000s. He wrote Let Me Love You for Mario, and it became a number one hit in the United States in 2004. That success made him one of the most sought after R&B writers of the period.
His own debut album, In My Own Words, followed in 2006. It produced the single So Sick, which also hit number one. He kept writing for other artists, including Rihanna, alongside his solo work.
Bruno Mars
Before his solo career took off, Mars worked as part of the songwriting and production team the Smeezingtons. The team helped write Nothin’ on You for B.o.B and Billionaire for Travie McCoy, both released in 2009 and 2010. Mars also sang the hooks on both records.
He also contributed to Flo Rida’s Right Round. His own debut album, Doo-Wops & Hooligans, arrived in 2010. The writing credits gave him a track record that made the move to the front of the stage feel less like a gamble.
Lady Gaga
Stefani Germanotta spent time as a hired songwriter in the mid 2000s, after signing a publishing deal. She wrote material for acts including the Pussycat Dolls, and Britney Spears recorded her song Quicksand. It was steady, behind the scenes work at a time when she was still performing on the New York club circuit.
Her debut album, The Fame, came out in 2008 and made her a global star. It included Just Dance and Poker Face, both number one hits in the United States. The writing years gave her a sharp sense of how a pop hook is built.
Jessie J
The British singer first drew industry attention as a writer. She wrote Party in the U.S.A. for Miley Cyrus, released in 2009. The song became one of Cyrus’s best known singles and reached the top five in the United States.
Jessie J then released her own debut album, Who You Are, in 2011. It included Price Tag, a major hit in the United Kingdom. The earlier songwriting work had helped her secure the attention she needed to launch her own career.
Skylar Grey
Skylar Grey, who had earlier recorded as Holly Brook, found a new path through collaborations in 2010. She wrote and sang the chorus of Eminem and Rihanna’s Love the Way You Lie, a global hit. She also contributed to Dr. Dre’s I Need a Doctor, which featured Eminem.
Those placements put her name in front of a much bigger audience. Her album Don’t Look Down followed in 2013. She has continued to write for other artists while releasing her own music.
Julia Michaels
Michaels spent years writing in Los Angeles sessions before anyone knew her face. She was among the writers of Justin Bieber’s Sorry, released in 2015, one of the biggest pop songs of that decade. She also worked with Selena Gomez and Gwen Stefani, among others.
She stepped out under her own name with the EP Nervous System in 2017. Her debut single Issues became her first major solo hit. Her path is a recent example of the writer to artist move that has run through pop for decades.
