The Neptunes, the creative, innovative production-songwriting duo of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo who shaped pop and urban radio from the '90s well into the 2000s thanks to crafting hits for Britney Spears, Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake, Usher and Beyoncé, are nominated for the prestigious Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Joining the Neptunes as nominees for the 2020 class are other visionaries who have carved out their own space in the music universe: the rap icons Outkast and rock pioneers R.E.M., who announced they had called it quits in 2011.
Twenty-four acts are in contention for the 2020 class. Performing nominees include Patti Smith, Journey, Vince Gill, Gloria Estefan, the Isley Brothers, former Eurythmics members Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart, Mike Love, Bread's David Gates and Steve Miller. Mariah Carey, who co-wrote 17 of her 18 No. 1 hits and earned her first Songwriters Hall nomination last year, is up for the prize again.
Non-performing solo nominees are William "Mickey" Stevenson, Rick Nowels, Sonny Curtis, Jerry Fuller, Tony Macaulay, Bob McDill and Roger Nichols. Non-performing songwriting duos nominated include the late Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, L. Russell Brown and the late Irwin Levine, and Kye Fleming and Dennis Morgan.
Songwriters are eligible for induction after writing hit songs for at least 20 years.
Six songwriters, or songwriting groups, will be officially inducted at the Hall's 51st annual Induction & Awards Gala in New York on June 11, 2020. Eligible members can vote for three non-performing songwriters and three performing songwriters until December 16.