Gerry Goffin and Carole King

Induction Year: 1990

Induction Category: Non-Performer

"Songwriting partners Gerry Goffin and Carole King composed a string of classic hits and cherished album tracks for a variety of artists during the Sixties. A brief sampling: “Up On the Roof” (), “One Fine Day” (the Chiffons), “I’m Into Something Good” (Herman’s Hermits), “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” (), “Take Good Care of My Baby” (Bobby Vee), “Chains” (the Cookies), “Don’t Bring Me Down” (), “Take a Giant Step” (the Monkees) and “Goin’ Back” (). The prolific duo, who remained married for much of the Sixties, even tapped their babysitter to sing one of the songs they’d written, and the result was a Number One hit and a new dance craze: “The Loco-Motion,” by Little Eva.

Goffin and King met while attending Queens College in 1958 and spent evenings together writing songs. After their college days had ended, the newlywed couple got hired by Don Kirshner to write songs for his Brill Building song publishing firm, Aldon Music. With King composing music on piano and Goffin penning lyrics, the pair banged out hits to order from a cubicle in a work environment that has all but vanished from the music business. Their success was so substantial that Kirshner set up a new label, Dimension, as a vehicle for Goffin-King songs, and the team moved into production and arranging as well. The pair kept abreast of stylistic changes on the vibrant Sixties scene, writing with vividness and versatility for British Invasion groups and R&B artists alike. They were paid a high compliment by , who recorded their song “Chains” (previously a hit for the Cookies) and cited Goffin-King as songwriting influences.

In 1968, Goffin and King divorced and went their own ways. Goffin continued to write for and with others, while King evolved into a masterful interpreter of her own increasingly mature songs. She became one of the most popular singer/songwriters of the Seventies with the release of Tapestry, which contained such mellow classics as “It’s Too Late” and “You’ve Got a Friend.” A tour de force of confessional songwriting and understated performances, Tapestry held down the top spot on the album charts for 15 weeks, earning King a Grammy for Album of the Year in 1971. She followed it with a dozen more high-charting albums that kept her star in the ascendant during a charmed decade whose moods she helped capture in words and music.”

TIMELINE

February 11, 1939: Gerry Goffin was born.

February 9, 1942: Carole King was born.

1960: Aldon hires teenage newlyweds Carole King & Gerry Goffin. Pomus & Shuman’s “Save the Last Dance for Me,” recorded by , reaches #1.

January 30, 1961: Goffin & King’s “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,” recorded by , reaches #1 after being released on Scepter Records.

September 7, 1961: “Every Breath I Take,” by , just misses the Top Forty. The song, written by Gary Goffin and Carole King, features a monumental production.

1963: Gerry Goffin and Carole King’s “Go Away Little Girl,” recorded by Steve Lawrence, reaches #1.

1967: Gerry Goffin & Carole King’s “Pleasant Valley Sunday,” recorded by the Monkees, reaches #3.

1990: Gerry Goffin and Carole King inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.