Vaudevillian Diva, popular American singer, comedian, and actress... Nora Bayes was “all that”. Her salary was among the very highest earned by a vaudevillian, but for good reason. She was considered second to none in dramatizing a song and audiences were wild about her. Above all, she was a class act, maintaining a level of dignity and style one associates with legit actors and opera singers.

Nora Bayes (music) wrote the song, Shine on Harvest Moon, with her husband Jack Norworth (music & lyrics). It was originally performed in "Ziegfeld Follies of 1908" and the first recording was by Harry Macdonough & Miss Walton (January 15, 1909) There have been over 70 covers published.

Jimmy McHugh (music) & Dorothy Fields (lyrics) wrote I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby in 1928 for "Lew Leslie's Blackbird Revue", which opened on Broadway later that year as the highly successful "Blackbirds of 1928" (518 performances), wherein it was performed by Adelaide Hall, Aida Ward, and Willard McLean. there have been more than 323 covers published. She wrote The Way You Look Tonight in 1936 with Jimmy & Jerome Kern. 

Dorothy Fields was a very successful lyricist who collaborated with composers such as Jimmy McHugh, Jerome Kern, and Cy Coleman. She wrote more than 400 songs and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1971.

Paul James (music) & Kay Swift (lyrics) wrote Can't We Be Friends? in 1929 and introduced it on Broadway in The Little Show by Libby Holman. It was later recorded by many artists including Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, and Frank Sinatra.

Ann Ronell was an early female Hollywood/Tin Pan Alley composer and wrote Willow Weep for Me in 1932. Willow Weep for Me was first recorded by Ted Fio Rito & His Orchestra and has been published by other artists more than 350 times.

Mari Grever, Musician, and composer, primarily of boleros, was from Mexico. She wrote both the music & lyrics for the What a Difference a Day Makees with the original title, Cuando Vuelva A Tu Lado (When I Return to Your Side). The song was most popularized by Dinah Washington.

Consuelo Velázquez Torres was a Mexican concert pianist, songwriter and recording artist. She wrote, Bésame Mucho (Kiss Me a Lot) in 1940 by Mexican songwriter Consuelo Velázquez. According to Velázquez herself, she wrote this song even though she had never been kissed yet at the time, and kissing, as she heard, was considered a sin. It is one of the most famous boleros and was recognized in 1999 as the most sung and recorded Mexican song in the world.

Born in Zanesville, Ohio, Una Mae Carslile was trained to play piano by her mother and was performing in public by age three. Still a child, she performed regularly on radio station WHIO (AM) in Dayton, Ohio. In 1932, while still in her teens, Fats Waller discovered Carlisle while she worked as a local Cincinnati performer live and on the radio. Her piano style was much influenced by Waller's; she played in a boogie-woogie/stride style and incorporated humor into her sets. She played solo piano from 1937, touring Europe repeatedly and recording with Waller late in the 1930s. In the 1940s Carlisle recorded as a leader for Bluebird Records, with sidemen such as Lester Young, Benny Carter, and John Kirby. She had a longtime partnership with producer/publisher/manager Joe Davis, which began after her contract with Bluebird expired. Her records under Davis included performances from Ray Nance, Budd Johnson, and Shadow Wilson. She also saw success as a songwriter; Cab Calloway and Peggy Lee were among those who covered her tunes. She had her own radio and television programs late in the 1940s. Her last recordings were for Columbia Records with Don Redman early in the 1950s.

Una Mae Carlisle wrote the music for I See A Million People in 1941 and Robert Sour wrote the lyrics..

Carole King (1942- ) is an American composer and singer-songwriter. She is the most successful female songwriter of the latter half of the 20th century in the USA, having written or co-written 118 pop hits on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1955 and 1999. She also wrote 61 hits that charted in the UK, making her the most successful female songwriter on the UK singles charts between 1952 and 2005. 

Toni Stern, lyricist, poet & artist, Born and raised in Los Angeles, Toni Stern enjoyed a highly productive collaboration with singer-songwriter Carole King. Stern wrote the lyrics for several of King’s songs of the late ’60s and early ’70s, most notably It’s Too Late, for the album Tapestry. 

I Will Always Love You is a song originally written and recorded in 1973 by American singer-songwriter Dolly Parton with great commercial success. It reached number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart twice. Whitney Houston recorded her version of the song for the 1992 film The Bodyguard. Her single spent 14 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart making it one of the best-selling singles of all time.

Dolly Parton is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, actress, author, businesswoman, and philanthropist, known primarily for her work in country music. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Dolly Parton made her album debut in 1967, with her album Hello, I'm Dolly. She is the most honored female country performer of all time. Achieving 25 Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified Gold, Platinum, and Multi-Platinum awards, she has had 25 songs reach No. 1 on the Billboard country music charts, a record for a female artist (tied with Reba McEntire). She has 41 career top-10 country albums, a record for any artist, and she has 110 career charted singles over the past 40 years. She has garnered nine Grammy Awards, two Academy Award nominations, ten Country Music Association Awards, seven Academy of Country Music Awards, three American Music Awards, and is one of only seven female artists to win the Country Music Association's Entertainer of the Year Award. Parton has received 47 Grammy nominations. In 1999, Parton was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. She has composed over 3,000 songs.

Canadian singer-songwriter, folk & jazz-rock fusion musician, and painter... Joni Mitchell has been called "one of the greatest songwriters ever", by Rolling Stone and #AllMusic has stated, "When the dust settles, Joni Mitchell may stand as the most important and influential female recording artist of the late 20th century” (110+ songs). The song, Black Crow, is from her eighth studio album - the songs on the album were largely written by Mitchell on a trip by car from Maine back to Los Angeles, California, with prominent imagery including highways, small towns, and snow. 

Marian McPartland's bittersweet ballad In the Days of Our Love actually began as an instrumental called "Afterglow." She recorded it with her trio (on Ambiance), accompanied by violinist Joe Venuti (The Maestro & Friend) and also as a piano solo (Solo Concert at Haverford). Singer Peggy Lee fell in love with the tune and offered to write lyrics for it, after which it became known as "In the Days of Our Love." Lee's thoughtful words describing the memories of a love affair that has since faded fit McPartland's poignant melody perfectly. The pianist has continued to frequently perform it as a solo during her long-running National Public Radio series Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz, in addition to taping it for her Concord releases At the Festival and In My Life. In addition to Peggy Lee's interpretation, singers Cleo Laine, Meredith D'Ambrosio and Eden Atwood (the latter accompanied by McPartland) all have recorded warmly recommended versions.

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Marian McPartland (1918-2013) - English-American jazz pianist, composer, and writer. She was the host of Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz on National Public Radio from 1978 to 2011. She wrote almost 200 songs.

Peggy Lee/Norma Deloris Engstrom (1920– 2002)

An American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress, in a career spanning six decades. Peggy Lee wrote 30 songs during her career.

Anita Denise Baker (born January 26, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter. Starting her career in the late 1970s with the funk band Chapter 8, Baker released her first solo album, The Songstress, in 1983. In 1986, she rose to stardom following the release of her platinum-selling second album, Rapture, which included this Grammy-winning single Sweet Love, co-written with Louis A. Johnson & Gary Bias 

She is regarded as one of the most popular singers of soulful romantic ballads during the height of the quiet storm period of contemporary R&B in the 1980s and she has won eight Grammy Awards, has five platinum albums, one gold album. 

Siedah Garrett is an American singer and songwriter, who has written songs and performed backing vocals for many recording artists in the music industry, such as Michael Jackson, The Pointer Sisters, Brand New Heavies, Quincy Jones, Tevin Campbell, Donna Summer, Madonna, Jennifer Hudson among others. Garrett has been nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Original Song and won the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media at the 50th Grammy Awards for co-writing "Love You I Do" (performed by Jennifer Hudson) for the 2006 musical film, Dreamgirls.

In 1987, Siedah wrote Man in the Mirror and submitted it to Quincy Jones who produced Michael Jackson's recording. Glen Ballard also worked on the song.