The Songwriters Hall of Fame is a place I hold in high regard. They’re better than the Rock and Roll Hall because they seem to be less commercial. They have a very eclectic group of members and yet Jon Anderson of Yes fame, and much more, hasn’t been voted in.

On the last ballot Elvis Costello, Deborah Harry and Chris Stein (Blondie) made it, Madonna, John Mellencamp, Tom Petty and Steve Miller to name a few.

Costello and Petty got in. Anderson has 14 solo albums. He recently published the acclaimed Anderson/Stolt project this past March. He was the engine of Yes, Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman and Howe and now Anderson, Rabin and Wakeman (album due in 2017).

He’s collaborated with Vangelis, Elliot Easton (The Cars), Jean-Luc Ponty (Anderson/Ponty), Kayne West has sampled him when he worked with Mike Oldfield. He’s worked with Dream Theatre, Rodger Hodgson (Super Tramp) and Tangerine Dream.

He wrote a lot of songs with the late, great, Chris Squire, Trevor Rabin, Rick Wakeman, Trevor Horn and Steve Howe. Has that hurt his chances? I think he’s done enough on his own to overcome that.

As a part of Yes he’s sold 13.5 million albums in the U.S. alone. He’s impacted a lot of fans lives including mine. His music has always been positive in nature and at the age of 71 he’s still full of hope. He’ll be 72 on October 25th.

I intend to contact the Songwriters Hall of Fame and see what I need to do to get him on the next ballot. He’s done more in his career than most could ever accomplish and he’s not done yet. To me this is a no-brainer but let’s wait and see.

Anderson/Ponty, photo by Sportsology