National Academy of Songwriters Stevie Wonder, Los Lobos, Willie Dixon, Atlantic Starr, Stephen Stills, Michael Bolton, Melissa Manchester, Stephen Bishop, Brian Wilson, Kim Carnes, Michael McDonald, and many others. Also performing over the years at the "Salute To The American Songwriter" concerts were songwriting legends such as Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Barry Mann, Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, Richard Sherman, John Bettis, Diane Warren, and many others. In 1988, the National 'Academy' of Songwriters teamed with VH-1 for the "Fourth Annual Salute To The American Songwriter" which was televised on VH-1 and Showtime in 1989. In 1996, the Los Angeles Songwriters Showcase (LASS)
Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller College while Leiber was a senior at Fairfax High. Stoller had graduated from Belmont High School. After school, Stoller played piano and Leiber worked in Norty's, a record store on Fairfax Avenue, and when they met, they found they shared a love of blues and rhythm and blues. In 1950, Jimmy Witherspoon recorded and performed their first commercial song, "Real Ugly Woman". Stoller's name at birth was Michael Stoller, but he later changed it legally to "Mike". Their first hit composition was "Hard Times", recorded by Charles Brown, which was a rhythm and blues hit in 1952. "Kansas City", first