George Clinton and The Doobie Brothers to enter Songwriters Hall of Fame

Posted On January 23, 2025January 23, 2025

George Clinton and The Doobie Brothers will be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2025. 

Clinton is most notable for his work with the Parliament-Funkadelic collective, who created classic songs such as ‘Tear the Roof off the Sucker (Give Up the Funk)’. This track exemplifies his ability as a songwriter as he combines jazz compositions with gospel rhythmic chanting. 

“The chants are like church grooves that get you in that state where you’re receptive to opening up your mind,” he previously said when discussing his songwriting technique, “And coming up with positive things.”

Meanwhile, The Doobie Brothers have written a number of well-known songs throughout their time as a band, including tracks like ‘Listen to the Music’, which coincidentally was their first big hit. 

“It was all based around this somewhat Utopian view of the world,” said Tom Johnston once when discussing his inspiration, “The idea was that music would lift man up to a higher plane, and that world leaders, if they were able to sit down on some big grassy knoll where the sun was shining and hear music – such as the type I was playing – would figure out that everybody had more in common than they had not in common, and it was certainly not worth getting in such a bad state of affairs about.”

Other writers set to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2025 include Beach Boys co-founder Mike Love, songwriter and producer Ashley Gorley, Rodney ‘Darkchild’ Jerkins, and Tony Macaulay, the co-writer of ‘Build Me Up Buttercup’. 

Nile Rodgers, chairman of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, said in a statement, “The foundation of the music industry exists because songwriters compose great songs. Without them, there is no recorded music, no concert business, no fans, or merchandising; it all starts with the song and the songwriter.”

Rodgers continued: “We are therefore very proud that we are continually recognising some of the culturally most important writers of all time and that this year’s slate represents not just iconic songs, but also diversity and unity across genres and ethnicity. These songwriters have enriched the lives of billions of listeners the world over.”

The Induction Gala for the class of 2025 will take place on June 12th, 2025, in New York City. 

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