DOUGLAS MCGRATH (Book) was a filmmaker and playwright. Most recently, he directed the HBO documentary “Becoming Mike Nichols.” He collaborated with Woody Allen on the screenplay for Bullets Over Broadway, for which they were nominated for an Academy Award. He wrote and directed the Oscar-winning Emma from the Jane Austen novel; Company Man; Charles Dickens’s Nicholas Nickleby, which won the Best Ensemble Cast from the National Board of Review; Infamous; and the HBO documentary, “His Way,” nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Nonfiction Special. His play Checkers opened the 30th anniversary season of New York’s acclaimed Vineyard Theatre. His book for Beautiful: The Carole King Musical was nominated for Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards. He began his creer as a writer for “Saturday Night Live” in what was incontestably the worst year in the show’s history. He has written essays on the arts and politics for the New Republic, the New Yorker, The Nation, The New York Times and Vanity Fair. Douglas McGrath passed away on November 4, 2022.

GERRY GOFFIN (Words and Music) Born in Brooklyn in 1939, Gerry Goffin met Carole King at Queens College, and their musical collaboration began almost immediately. They married in 1959, and that same year wrote their first hit song “Will You Love Me Tomorrow?” (The Shirelles). The duo penned more than 50 Top-40 hits including “The Locomotion,” “Natural Woman” and “Up on the Roof.” In 1987, Goffin and King were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. Goffin has left an indelible mark on American music.

CAROLE KING (Words and Music) Pop music would be very different without the contributions of Carole King, who at age 17 wrote her first #1 hit with Gerry Goffin, “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” for the Shirelles. The dozens of chart hits Goffin and King wrote during this period became legendary, but it was 1971’s Tapestry that took King to the pinnacle, speaking personally to her contemporaries and providing a spiritual musical backdrop to the decade. More than 400 of her compositions have been recorded by over 1,000 artists, resulting in 100 hit singles and six Grammys.

BARRY MANN (Words and Music) has written the melodies of some of the most influential pop songs in musical history. In addition to “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” the most-played song of the last century, and the songs heard in Beautiful, he composed later standards like “Somewhere Out There” (winner of two Grammys), “Here You Come Again,” “Sometimes When We Touch,” “Just Once” and “Don’t Know Much.” Together he and Cynthia Weil have amassed an incredible 112 pop, country, and R&B awards from Broadcast Music Inc. for significant radio air play. He has been inducted into both the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

CYNTHIA WEIL (Words and Music) was the acclaimed lyricist of classic songs such as “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” the most-played song of the 20th century. In addition to the songs heard in Beautiful, she set the words to later standards including “Somewhere Out There,” “Here You Come Again,” “He’s So Shy,” “Just Once” and “Don’t Know Much,” to name just a few. Weil was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, honored with multiple Grammy nominations and two Grammy awards for “Somewhere Out There” as the Motion Pictures Song of the Year and Song of the Year. Weil passed away on June 1, 2023.

SONY/ATV MUSIC PUBLISHING, established in 1995 as a joint venture between Sony and Michael Jackson, is the world’s leading music publisher. Sony owns or administers more than two million copyrights, including those from such iconic music catalogs as EMI Music Publishing, Leiber & Stoller, Mijac Music, Motown and Famous Music. Sony controls many of the best-known songs ever written, including “New York, New York,” “All You Need Is Love,” “You’ve Got a Friend,” “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” “Over the Rainbow” and “Stand By Me.” In addition, Sony represents the copyrights of such legendary artists as The Beatles, Leonard Cohen, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Queen, The Rolling Stones, Sting, The Supremes, Hank Williams and Stevie Wonder, among others. Its ever-growing list of chart-topping artists and songwriters includes Alicia Keys, Lady Gaga, P!nk, Shakira, and Taylor Swift.