Eddie Schwartz: The Songwriter's Advocate Is Taking His Bow

By David Farrell

Eddie Schwartz is to be inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame this Thursday, May 9, at Rebel Nightclub in Toronto. Indisputably best known for penning the hit song that launched Pat Benatar’s career, hs “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” has gone on to become a universal sports anthem and the opening shot for the Toronto-born craftsmen who has since penned songs recorded by a jukebox of artists. Among them: Carly Simon, Robert Palmer, Jeffrey Osborne, Donna Summer, Rita Coolidge, Martina McBride, Rascal Flatts, Honeymoon Suite, Roch Voisine, Rachel Sweet, Eddie Money, April Wine, and Amy Sky.

Heck, even the New Monkees and the Chipmunks have dipped into his song treasury.

His songs have also featured in videogames, television shows, movies, and on Broadway. Instantly recognizable songs in his folio include:

All Our Tomorrows, co-written with David Tyson, first recorded by Schwartz and successfully covered by Joe Cocker;

Special Girl, co-written with Tyson, a Top 20 AC hit for its co-author, and subsequently recorded by America and Meat Loaf;

The Doctor, co-written with Charlie Midnight with the Doobie Brothers’ Tom  Johnston that became a Hot 100 Top 10 hit for the band;

and Don't Shed A Tear, a US Top 10 hit for Paul Carrack that is one of two songs he authored on the Brit singer's One Good Reason album.

To neatly wrap up the entirety of his success as both writer and record producer, his credits have appeared on recordings that cumulatively have sold in the order of 65 million copies. Not bad for a kid who got his start playing guitar for Charity Brown.

With roots in both the US (on his mother’s side) and Canada, his career has earned music industry awards from the Junos (2), BMI, SOCAN–and a Wm Harold Moon Award.

He served as President of the Songwriters Association of Canada, Co-Chair of Music Creators North America, Chair of Fair Trade Music International, and was elected to six consecutive terms on the SOCAN board and Executive Committee before moving to Nashville in 1997.

In 2012, he was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada, and in 2017 was elected the first North American based President of the International Council of Music Creators (ICMC) based in Paris, with over 500,000 music creator members on five continents. 

For all his success as a writer and record producer, his contributions to the guild of songwriters, at SOCAN and, more recently as president of ICMC, is his greatest gift of giving. In the past few years, he has put his career on hold to travel the world as a fierce advocate for the craft and its practitioners. The job means he is far from home, often; it pits him against some of the brightest, most adversarial and combative tech titans on the planet, and his grasp of the intricacies of copyright and collectives is dizzying. His empathy for songwriters is born out in the workshops he heads, recently appraising a group of Africans about their place in the world and how they can protect their copyrights. His commitment to the cause seems to know no bounds. His travel schedule, workload, and focussed drive have pushed him to the fore on a global scale, although in public he is private and reserved about his often unseen and unpraised commitment to the cause.

His induction has him on stage with Frank Davies, a mentor to him, his former publisher, and the founder of the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. When these two men walk on stage, know you are seeing two men who have given their all to the art of songwriting, and the cause of songwriters everywhere.

So take that bow, Eddie. No one deserves it more than you.