Overview and History

Founded in 1998, as the dream of music publisher Frank Davies, the CSHF was created to honour and preserve Canada’s rich songwriting heritage. The idea came inadvertently, after Davies heard a presentation made by Tom Sandler, the son of Canadian songwriter Ruth Lowe, and learned that Lowe had written Frank Sinatra’s very first No. 1 hit song, “I’ll Never Smile Again.” The occasion left a strong impression on Davies. Although he was very familiar with Lowe’s song, he had no idea that the songwriter was a Canadian. “I came away believing that there must be many other Canadian songwriters from our past, and not-so-distant past, whose songs may be equally well-known, but whose lives and careers were not,” says Davies.

He decided that establishing a non-profit, bilingual, apolitical and national Hall of Fame was the only way to effectively deal with this lack of public and industry recognition of Canadian songwriters. With initial funding from Davies and his company, and then the Canadian Music Publishers Association (CMPA) and its member companies and individuals, the CSHF/PACC was founded in 1998. Shortly thereafter, the Songwriters Association of Canada (S.A.C.) was invited, and agreed, to become a partner in the venture. In late 2002, the Société professionnelle des auteurs et des compositeurs du Québec (SPACQ) joined the CSHF with a goal to provide their particular expertise and guidance in celebrating the achievements of Canada’s Francophone songwriters.

In December of 2011, SOCAN (the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada) acquired the CSHF. The Hall of Fame’s mandate aligns with SOCAN’s objectives as a membership-based songwriter and publisher organization that champions the work of its members coast to coast. SOCAN’s support and involvement in the CSHF ensures that the Hall of Fame will be able to continue to honour the achievements of Francophone and Anglophone songwriters, and to celebrate this rich and unique musical heritage for many years to come. The CSHF continues to be run as a separate organization, with its own Board of Directors.

Throughout its history, the CSHF has inducted more than 90 songwriters and 190 songs into the Hall of Fame. Legendary songwriters inducted at past ceremonies include; Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Gilles Vigneault, Leonard Cohen, Robert Charlebois, Gordon Lightfoot, Claude Dubois, Paul Anka, RUSH, Luc Plamondon, Bruce Cockburn, Beau Dommage, Randy Bachman, and Burton Cummings, among many others. Timeless classic songs heard and sung all over the world, such as “Universal Soldier,” “Born to be Wild,” “Gens du pays,” “My Way,” “Lindberg,” “American Woman,” “Four Strong Winds,” “Moi, mes souliers,” and “Hallelujah” have also been inducted.