Songwriters Hall of Fame Chairman Jimmy Webb announced today that Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff will be the 2014 recipients of the esteemed Johnny Mercer Award at the 45th Annual Induction and Awards Dinner slated for Thursday, June 12that the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. Songwriter duo Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff have been writing music together for more than 50 years. Their award-winning partnership has generated more than 3,500 songs, including 50 charting pop and R&B hit singles and 75 RIAA gold, platinum and multi-platinum certifications.
Their catalog includes hits such as The Supremes’, “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me,” “Don’t Leave Me This Way,” recorded by both Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes and Thelma Houston, Jerry Butler’s “Only The Strong Survive,” which was later recorded by Elvis Presley. “If You Don’t Know Me By Now,” which earned the songwriting duo its first Grammy® for Simply Red’s rendition, the O’Jay’s “For The Love Of Money,” and countless others including, “Me and Mrs. Jones,” “You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine,” and the theme song for Soul Train, “TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia).” The pair has won five Grammy’s® for their songwriting and collected 86 BMI Pop and R&B Awards. Gamble and Huff also have their own record label, Philadelphia International Records, which they formed in 1971.
