Ep. 73 - SIEDAH GARRETT ("Man in the Mirror")
Songcraft: Spotlight on Songwriters - A podcast by Scott B. Bomar, Paul Duncan
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Siedah Garrett is best known as the co-writer, with Glen Ballard, of “Man in the Mirror,” a #1 worldwide pop hit recorded by Michael Jackson. The Southern California native launched her career with a group called Plush in the early 1980s before joining Deco, which was assembled by her mentor, legendary producer Quincy Jones. It was Jones who played “Man in the Mirror” for Michael Jackson. The King of Pop fell in love with the song and the voice on the demo tape. In addition to recording “Man in the Mirror,” Michael invited Siedah to be his duet partner on “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You,” which was released as the first single from the Bad album and hit #1 on the Billboard pop chart. Siedah would go on to co-write “Keep the Faith” on Jackson’s Dangerous album and join him as a featured vocalist on the Dangerous world tour.
As a backing vocalist, Siedah can be heard on recordings by Madonna, Sarah Vaughan, Barbra Streisand, Donna Summer, Natalie Cole, Santana, Jessica Simpson, and others. As a featured artist she’s scored hits such as the chart-topping R&B duet “Don’t Look Any Further” with former Temptation Dennis Edwards and her solo Top 20 R&B single “K.I.S.S.I.N.G.”
Beyond her work with Michael Jackson, highlights from Siedah’s songwriting catalog include “Sometimes,” a Top 20 R&B hit for The Brand New Heavies, of which she was also a member, as well as five songs on Quincy Jones’s multi-Grammy award winning Back on the Block album. The long list of artists who’ve recorded Siedah’s songs includes Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald, Al Jarreau, Earth Wind & Fire, The Pointer Sisters, Paula Abdul, Amy Grant, Bobby McFerrin, Barry White, Al B. Sure, El Debarge, James Ingram, will.i.am, and others.
The Grammy winning songwriter was also nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Original Song. The first, “Love You I Do,” was performed by Jennifer Hudson in the film Dreamgirls. The second, “Real in Rio,” was from the animated film Rio, and was co-written with Sergio Mendes.
