Songs She Wrote: Forty Hits by Pioneering Women of Popular Music

Women built the popular song industry of Tin Pan Alley, yet many of their stories have seldom been told. They blazed the trail for women in music today and set an inspiring example for generations to come.

Songs She Wrote celebrates women’s contributions to popular music by looking at dozens of well-known figures like Billie Holiday, Peggy Lee, and Dorothy Parker as well as unearthing more unknown women who made major contributions. The book explores the style and artistry of female songwriters, lyricists, and composers in the first half of the twentieth century and provides intriguing backstories and analysis of forty hits. Learn about Maria Grever (＂What a Difference a Day Made＂) who was the first female Mexican to achieve international acclaim and the fascinating story of African American lyricist Lucy Fletcher (＂Sugar Blues＂), among many others in this book.

Women in the popular music business went through struggles different from their male colleagues, making their triumphs all the more impressive. These individual and diverse sagas combine to convey an epic about women songwriters in the world of American popular music.

Michael G. Garber is an internationally respected expert on Tin Pan Alley and the American musical on stage and screen. He was a research fellow of the University of Winchester and the University of London, Goldsmiths College. He is the author of My Melancholy Baby: The First Ballads of the Great American Songbook, 1902-1913.