NOBODY DOES IT BETTER

The latest big catalog to go under Hipgnosis? The trove of trailblazing songwriter/producer Carole Bayer Sager.

The uncanny pop composer’s 55 years of work includes hits like “A Groovy Kind of Love,” “Don’t Cry Out Loud,” “Nobody Does It Better,” “That’s What Friends Are For” “Heartlight” and “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do),” among countless others. (If you’d written one of those songs you’d never shut up about it.)

Bayer Sager’s touch—as writer, producer or both—was felt on recordings by a few people you might’ve heard of: Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Bob Dylan, Dionne Warwick, Whitney Houston, Neil Diamond, Carly Simon, Bette Midler, Celine Dion, Phil Collins, Rod Stewart and Reba McEntire. She's co-written with Dylan, Burt Bacharach, Carole King, Diamond, Neil Sedaka, Kenny Edmonds, Marvin Hamlisch and David Foster, to name but a few.

You won’t be surprised, then, to learn that Bayer Sager’s been in the Songwriters Hall of Fame since 1987 or that in 2019 the Hall bestowed the coveted Johnny Mercer Award upon her (she is only the sixth female songwriter to be so honored). Of course she also released three albums of her own in the ‘70s.

Honors for her work include an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, a Tony Award and two Golden Globe Awards (she's also been nominated for an Emmy).

Bayer Sager earned her first #1 with a song she penned while still in high school; “Don’t Cry Out Loud,” recorded by The Mindbenders, was a global smash in 1965. 23 years later, it helped Phil Collins win a Grammy for Pop Vocal Performance. The James Bond theme “Nobody Does It Better” was a Grammy Song of the Year nominee. It also received Academy Award, Emmy and Golden Globes noms. An all-star rendition of “That’s What Friends Are For” won the SOTY Grammy. These are just a few bullet points we grabbed from her capacious bio at random. But isn’t it time for a quote from Merck Mercuriadis?

“This is one of the most important deals we have ever made,” reads the Hipgnosis founder/chief’s quote. “Carole’s iconic songs have been making the world go around for more than 55 years. She has an elegance with words that has made these songs universal. They are not only enormously successful but truly beloved all over the globe. It’s very special to welcome Carole to the Hipgnosis family, and it’s an honor to now be the custodians of these incredible songs of genuine cultural importance.”

“Speaking with Merck, I was surprised to find how intimately acquainted he was with my catalog of songs,” said Bayer Sager. “Hearing his plans to keep these songs alive and bring them to a new generation of listeners excited me and convinced me that now was the right time to allow a new custodian to take charge of their future. With Merck and his Hipgnosis family, I feel my songs are going to be nurtured and cared for. I look forward to yet another wonderful collaboration.”