Kinks’ Ray Davies, Donovan top 2014 Songwriters Hall of Fame list

The Kinks’ Ray Davies and Donovan lead the latest group of inductees to the Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York, where they will be welcomed in on June 12 along with fellow writers Graham Gouldman, Mark James and Jim Weatherly.

Davies and Donovan both rose to prominence during the British Invasion of the mid-1960s. Davies eventually created a body of work as literate and well-respected among songwriting aficionados as those of the Beatles and Bob Dylan for songs ranging from raucous rockers such as “You Really Got Me” and “All Day And All Of the Night,” to trenchant explorations of social issues like “Sunny Afternoon,” “Waterloo Sunset” and “Lola.”

Scotland-born Donovan P. Leitch became the quintessential British folk troubadour of the ‘60s, the transatlantic counterpart to Dylan with his genteel and witty pop hits including “Sunshine Superman,” “Mellow Yellow” and “Catch the Wind.”

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Graham Gouldman also had a hand in the music of the British Invasion, writing or co-writing “No Milk Today” for Herman’s Hermits, “For Your Love” for the Yardbirds” and “Bus Stop” for the Hollies before becoming a member of 10cc in the 1970s.

Texas songwriter James wrote “Hooked On a Feeling,” which became a hit for both B.J. Thomas and Blue Swede, and “Suspicious Minds,” one of the cornerstone numbers in the latter-day repertoire of Elvis Presley.

Weatherly has written many R&B, country and pop hits beginning with “Neither One of Us” for Gladys Knight and the Pips, who also recorded his “Midnight Train to Georgia” and “You’re the Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me.”

“Each of our 2014 inductees has been responsible for captivating the world with their creativity for decades, serving up a rich variety of songs for our global soundtrack,” Hall of Fame chairman Jimmy Webb said in a statement.

The induction ceremony will take place at the Marriott Marquis Hotel.

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