Albert Hammond has been writing hit songs for over forty years. This is not to just to say that it has been forty years since his first hit. This is to say that there has not been a single decade in which Albert has not written multiple hits songs since he scored his first hit with “Little Arrows” at the age of 24. His songs have been responsible for the sale of over 360 million records worldwide including over 30 chart-topping hits. Many of his most beloved songs, like “The Air That I Breathe” and “When I Need You,” have become hits multiple times with various artists, decade after decade.
Albert achieved early success as an artist with his song “It Never Rains in Southern California,” and he has since built a multi-faceted career as an artist, songwriter and producer in both English-speaking and Latin markets. What sets Albert Hammond apart as a songwriter, earning him induction into the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame in 2008, is that Albert doesn’t just write hits—he writes classics. He is one of very few songwriters of our time whose songs not only have the mass appeal to make them pop hits, but whose very same songs also have the timelessness and depth that over time turns them into standards. Few writers can successfully walk this line and deliver hits for the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and today. Albert’s songs are the kind of songs that turn one-hit wonders into career artists and keep records selling and spinning on radio decades after their first release.
Albert’s songs have repeatedly topped the international pop, R&B, country, adult contemporary and Latin charts, sometimes simultaneously. Included among these are the #1 hits “When I Need You,” “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” (nominated for an Oscar, Golden Globe and Grammy), “One Moment in Time,” and “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before.” Anthems like “One Moment in Time,” which was written as the theme song for the 1988 Olympic games and won Albert his first Emmy, and “Cantare, Cantaras,” the Spanish-market equivalent of “We Are the World,” which Albert co-wrote and produced, are just two examples of Albert’s ability to create lasting theme songs that live on in our collective consciousness.
Albert is a master collaborator, lending his talents on guitar, piano and vocals to some of the business’s most successful songwriting teams. He and longtime writing partner Mike Hazlewood co-wrote many of Albert’s hits, including the classic “The Air that I Breathe.” Albert also co-wrote multiple hits with Diane Warren, among them Chicago’s “I Don’t Wanna Live Without Your Love,” Starship’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now,” Roy Orbison’s “Careless Heart,” Joe Cocker’s “Don’t You Love Me Anymore” and three-time hit “Don’t Turn Around,” recorded by Ace of Base, Neil Diamond and Aswad. Albert has also written hits with Hal David (“99 Miles from L.A.,” “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before”) and John Bettis (“One Moment in Time,” “When You Tell Me That You Love Me,” and The Carpenters’ hit “I Need To Be In Love”).
The artists who have recorded Albert’s songs are undoubtedly some of the greatest of our time—including Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, Elton John, Joe Cocker, Diana Ross, Johnny Cash, K.D. Lang, Julio Iglesias and Josh Groban, to name just a few.
In 2008, Albert was inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame and has also received the OBE (Order of the British Empire) from Queen Elizabeth II. His home country of Gibraltar will be honoring Albert with a commemorative postage stamp series which will feature his image and highlight his biggest international hits.
