Mariah’s fans will inundate me today with Tweets and messages. They’re already writing in. But the facts are the facts. Many of her songs were sampled from other hits, including “Fantasy,” and “Emotions.” You can read all about it
here. There were settlements for $1 million. And read about it
here.
This doesn’t take away from Mariah’s voice, or her personality. But really, the Songwriters Hall of Fame has done itself a disservice. The fans who write to me and say Margulies or Afanasieff “only wrote” some songs are discounting the fact that those were the
hits, and they don’t come anymore.
Mariah has no songs that she’s “written” by herself. Some of the songs– like “We Belong Together” — has a roll call of writers longer than a grocery list, including the late Bobby Womack who was sampled: Jermaine Dupri, Manuel Seal, Johntá Austin, Kenneth Edmonds, Darnell Bristol, Bobby Womack, Patrick Moten, Sandra Sully. Except for Bobby, will they all take the stage?