Laura Nyro — One Of Music’s Greatest (Un)Sung Songwriters
And an impeccable singer in her own right
It did take a bit of time, but Laura Nyro, the artist that was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2010, and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012, is finally getting a box set titled American Dreamer that covers the key period in her career cut short by her untimely death from ovarian cancer back in 1997.
While Nyro’s name may raise eyebrows even with some of the most ardent followers of music, the artists that covered her music (and had big hits with them) ― and an even wider swath of musicians and critics ― count her as one of the most influential artists around.
After all, as Sam Sodomsky notes in his review of the upcoming box set, she was “only 19 when her debut album was released in 1966, she soon became famous for writing hits for other artists — one week in November 1969, three of the Top 10 songs in the country were her compositions, as interpreted by the 5th Dimension, Blood, Sweat and Tears, and Three Dog Night.
“Like so many of them, Nyro’s greatest legacy is in the wide range of artists she influenced: Joni Mitchell was inspired by her inventive piano playing; Elton John found his voice within her detail-rich songwriting; both Todd Rundgren and the members of…
