You Write The Songs (Jayverse)

You Write the Songs was a musical competition show where three aspiring songwriters (either amateur or professional) competed on this weekly series for $100,000, The Series aired on UBC ran from December 7, 1986 to August 30, 1992.

Personnel

Host: Ben Vereen

Announcer: John Leader

Featured Singers

Catte Adams

Peggi Blu

Sam Harris

Kenny James

Michael Lennon

Monica Pege

David Slater

Angela Teek

Format

Each week three amateur songwriters had their original song performed by the shows regular singers, all of whom were alumni of Star Search, by a panel of five judges, including a singer, a record company executive, a record producer, a disc jockey and one of his listeners. The winning song won $1,000 and returned to compete on the next show against two new songs. The five songs with the highest scores at the end of the season competed in the finals for a grand prize of $100,000.

Among the celebrities who appeared were Smokey Robinson, Whitney Houston, Melissa Manchester, and Neil Sedaka.

Trivia

You Write The Songs did aired as a Winter and Summer replacement for Star Search which coincidentally is created by Al Masini.

The songs that competed for the first season championship in 1987 were “Am I Losing You” (written by Larry Hart), “Jericho” (written by Susan Pomeranz), “First Time on a Ferris Wheel” (written by Harriet Schock & Mischa Segal), “For So Long” (written by Chris McCollum & Monroe James) and the winner, “Everybody Needs a Dream” (written by Tom Grose).

Each program also included a musical salute and chat with a popular songwriter like: Donna Summer, Stevie Wonder, Kenny Loggins or Burt Bacharach.

You Write The Songs had aired a Christmas Special which aired on December 1989 & 1990 titled "Christmas with Ben Vereen and Friends" hosted by Vereen and featuring The New Song Singers and Special Guests including Some Alumni on Star Search as well as John Schneider (who hosted Star Search), Marilyn McCoo, Andrae Crouch among others.