Nashville, TN (July 13, 2022) Mojo Music & Media is delighted to announce that we have acquired the songwriter rights and co-publishing interests of acclaimed songwriter Sharon Vaughn.
The deal with Vaughn spans 25 years of the prolific songwriter’s work and brings 28 Country chart singles released between 1977 and 2004 including such standards as Willie Nelson’s “My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys”, Waylon Jennings’ “Broken Promise Land” and The Oak Ridge Boys’ breakout single “Y’All Come Back Saloon”. Also included are such Top 10 hits as Reba McEntire’s “I’m Not That Lonely Yet”, Patty Loveless’ “Lonely Too Long”, Randy Travis’ “Out Of My Bones” and Trisha Yearwood’s “Powerful Thing”.
According to Mark Fried, Mojo’s Co-Founder and CEO, “Sharon came to Nashville with $50 and a dream and won over Music Row’s biggest names through sheer will, drive and talent. She’s inspired a generation of women to pursue songwriting, no matter the challenges, always emphasizing the importance of art, craft and storytelling. We’re honored she’s chosen us to caretake and promote her truly iconic body of work.”
Said Sharon Vaughn, “It is gratifying to know that the works I created over the past decades have found a good home. I feel Mojo will respect and enrich my catalogues and through their efforts my songs will realize their potential”.
Sharon Vaughn was in her early 20’s when she first came to Nashville from Orlando, Florida, beginning her professional career as a background singer and eventually charting two singles as an artist. After a stint as an on-air TV personality, she pivoted to songwriting and quickly landed her first major cut with “Y’all Come Back Saloon”, the first single and title track from the Oak Ridge Boys’ 1977 debut Country music album. The song is widely credited as helping cross the Oak Ridge boys over from Gospel and establishing them as a leading Country vocal group. Around the same time, Waylon Jennings cut her self-penned “My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys” on the 1976 release Wanted! The Outlaws, a collaboration with Willie Nelson, Jessi Colter and Tompall Glaser, which became Country music’s first certified Platinum album. Willie Nelson’s version, recorded for the soundtrack of Universal’s Robert Redford-starring Electric Horseman, topped the Country singles chart in 1980. Vaughn’s “Broken Promise Land”, written with her husband Bill Rice, was recorded by Jennings in 1985 and released as a single from his Best Of Waylon hits collection the following year, becoming a bonafide standard thanks to numerous covers including John Schneider’s Top 20 version in 1985 and Mark Chesnutt’s Top 10 cover in 1990. Vaughn’s hit streak continued through the 80’s with Reba McEntire’s “I’m Not That Lonely Yet” and Leon Everette’s “Soul Searchin” and “I Coulda Had You” and into the 90’s with Patty Loveless’ “Lonely Too Long”, Randy Travis’ “Out Of My Bones” and Trisha Yearwood’s “Powerful Thing”, all of which landed among the Top 5 Country singles.
Earning her stripes as a true renaissance woman, Vaughn moved to Sweden in 2008, immersing with successful songwriters and producers across Europe and Asia and landing more than 100 cuts, including 4 chart-topping singles in Japan, a #1 dance record in the US and having several of her songs performed in the Eurovision Song Contest. She also co-wrote The Sweet Potato Queens, a musical, with award-winning composer Rupert Holmes and renowned writer/artist Melissa Manchester. Her post- 2008 catalog is represented by BMG Scandinavia.
Vaughn has won numerous ASCAP Country Awards and was inducted into the NSAI Songwriters Hall Of Fame in 2005 and the Nashville Songwriters Hall Of Fame in 2019. She remains an active songwriter and an advocate for songwriting, serving on the Board of the NSAI and participating in conferences, showcases and mentoring groups geared toward rising writers.