Jerry Goldstein has already made history by being a part of the making of many incredible pop songs, and now he's making even more history with how he's being recognized for that work. Goldstein is the first songwriter to receive two nominations for the Songwriters Hall Of Fame in a single year. He's being recognized for his work with the writing trio Feldman, Goldstein & Gottehrer (FGG) in the early '60s and with the funk-rock group War in the '70s.
For his FGG nomination, Goldstein shares the honor alongside songwriting partners Bob Feldman and Richard Gottehrer, his bandmates in the Strangeloves. Their hits included "Night Time" and "I Want Candy," which reached #11 on the Billboard Hot 100. Bow Wow Wow revitalized the hit in the '80s, and Aaron Carter did the same two decades later. The trio also wrote the Angels' "My Boyfriend's Back," which topped the Billboard Hot 100 and "Sorrow," which was recorded by the McCoys and then immortalized by David Bowie.
Goldstein was never a member of War, but he produced all their albums and co-wrote their songs. His nomination for War recognizes his work on five classic hits, one of which made it to space. Those bangers include "Low Rider," which reached #7 on the Hot 100; "Why Can't We Be Friends?," which peaked at #6 and was transmitted by NASA into space during the historic Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975; "The Cisco Kid," which got two Grammy noms in 1974; "The World Is A Ghetto," whose namesake album was the best-selling LP of 1973; and the #3 hit "Spill The Wine," recorded with Eric Burdon.
Other songwriter nominees include Walter Afanasieff, Pete Bellotte, Patrick Leonard, Steve Kipner, Andreas Carlsso, Jeffrey Steele, Terry Britten and Graham Lyle, Bob McDill, Kenny Nolan, Christopher “Tricky” Stewart, Martin Page, Tom Snow, Vini Poncia, and Larry Weiss.
Then there's the nominees for performing songwriters, which includes Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell of America, David Byrne, Richard Carpenter, Harry Wayne Casey, Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings of the Guess Who, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of KISS, Kenny Loggins, Sarah McLachlan, Pink, Boz Scaggs, LL Cool J, Taylor Swift, and Charlotte Caffey, Kathy Valentine, and Jane M. Wiedlin of the Go-Go’s.
