Perhaps better known for his chart-topping hits, It Never Rains in Southern California, Free Electric Band, I’m a Train, and Peacemaker, Albert Hammond is currently touring Denmark with his Songbook world tour. He then performs across Norway before arriving in South Africa.
One of the world’s greatest songwriters, Hammond has accumulated no less than 360 million records sold worldwide. Artists who have covered his tunes since the 1970s include Elton John, Engelbert Humperdinck, Julio Iglesias, Joe Cocker, Whitney Houston and Ziggy Marley. The almost endless list also includes Rod Stewart, Barry Manilow, Dolly Parton, Celine Dion, Dionne Warwick, Air Supply, Bonnie Tyler and k.d. lang.
Hammond wrote several highly successful memorable songs including Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now (Starship), I Don’t Wanna Live Without Your Love (Chicago), Through The Storm (Aretha Franklin and Elton John), Don’t Turn Around (Aswad, Neil Diamond, and Ace of Base who had a top-three worldwide hit), Give A Little Love (Ziggy Marley and The Melodymakers), It Isn’t, It Wasn’t, It Ain’t Ever Gonna Be (Whitney Houston and Aretha Franklin), Don’t You Love Me Anymore (Joe Cocker), and many of these were written with frequent collaborator Diane Warren.
In 1988, Hammond, along with John Bettis, had the chance to write the theme song for the Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea. One Moment In Time went straight to the top of the charts worldwide by Whitney Houston, and also won Hammond his first Emmy Award. The last decade has brought another round of great artists to record Hammond compositions: Josh Groban, Westlife, Michael Ball, Spanish singer José Carreras, Sir Cliff Richard and many others. On 19 June, 2008, Hammond was inducted in the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
One needs only to listen to his work from the past 50 years to see the mark he has left on popular music – a vast array of modern-day standards that are known the world over and have so deeply touched the lives of us all.
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