TERRY COX has had over 150 songs recorded for CDs, film and television since her first music publishing contract with Columbia Pictures Music as a staff lyric writer. In the meantime, her increasing work with Norwegian artist Jonas Fjeld, who she was introduced to by Sting's U.S. publisher in L.A., eventually landed her a deal directly with BMG Music Publishing in Sweden. This led to over a decade of travel to Scandinavia for ongoing collaborations and a number of Top Ten Hits with Swedish artists, producers and songwriters such as Stefan Andersson, Louise Hoffsten, Jennifer Brown, Carola, Meja Beckman, Tomas Ledin, Jorgen Elofsson, Anders Bagge, Tommy Ekman and many more. Her work in Scandinavia led to collaborations and recordings in the Netherlands, Germany, the UK, Japan, Italy, Spain, France, South America and beyond. She also worked with beloved Israeli artist and peace activist David Broza on several of his albums, which included writing original lyrics as well as adaptations of Spanish and Hebrew lyrics into English. Terry also signed directly with a number of other European and Japanese music publishers, and eventually acquired an overall foreign deal with Warner-Chappell Music. While all of this broadened her collaborations and recordings throughout the world, she was also signed simultaneously for the U.S. to BMG Music in Nashville after a #1 hit on the Christian music charts with Clay Crosse, who won a Grammy with The Rock That Was Rolled Away, which Terry wrote with Motown writer Arnie Roman, and Swedish artist Eric Bibb. The Nashville deal led to a number of U.S. recordings, including with Patti Austin, Grover Washington, Lalah Hathaway, Vanessa Williams, Hillary James and other pop, R&B and Christian artists, as well as in film and television. (See Discography for a list of recordings.)
Her first book, You Can Write Song Lyrics, an inspiring and practical book about the magic and mechanics of lyric writing, also features interviews with numerous artists, producers and writers. It was published by Writers Digest Books in 2001, sold 15,000 copies and continues to be resold by online sellers. She is currently working on her 10th book (as author Terah Cox), a compilation of lyrics and social commentary entitled Different Ships, Same Boat ~ Songs for the Soul of America: Hurt, Hope and Healing. Also as Terah Cox, she is writer-designer for the Heaven & Earth Works and "Words Matter" line of inspirational poetry and word-art, greeting cards and more.
Her first book, You Can Write Song Lyrics, an inspiring and practical book about the magic and mechanics of lyric writing, also features interviews with numerous artists, producers and writers. It was published by Writers Digest Books in 2001, sold 15,000 copies and continues to be resold by online sellers. She is currently working on her 10th book (as author Terah Cox), a compilation of lyrics and social commentary entitled Different Ships, Same Boat ~ Songs for the Soul of America: Hurt, Hope and Healing. Also as Terah Cox, she is writer-designer for the Heaven & Earth Works and "Words Matter" line of inspirational poetry and word-art, greeting cards and more.
Some words from Terry about writing words...
Since my thing is lyrics, but of course songs also need music, the immediate thing I love about lyric writing is the magic of collaboration -- the opportunity to create something neither or none of us would have created on our own. In the best collaborations, when everybody checks their egos at the writing door for the sake of the song, there is a kind of telepathic magic that can happen. If we feel the love, the song feels the love and can seem to 'write itself.' It's that shared creative high of birthing a song-baby, and one of us saying, like Lamont Dozier did after a writing session together, 'you know we didn't write that song, right?' Part of that magic is also the way each writer's expertise in music or lyrics crosses over -- so that while I may be the lyric writer, I will suddenly be coming up with melodic and song structure ideas and the music writer will be offering up lyric ideas and edits as well.
Something else magical for me about lyric writing: I love how in my 'official' role as the lyric writer I am called to attune (pun intended) to both the emotion and mechanics of the music -- as well as the feeling and languaging of the artist who will be singing the song and even the audience who will be hearing it. Especially in the case of writing English lyrics for artists whose native language is not English, I must pay attention to the sounds they like to sing. Those sounds are often present in their own 'dummy lyrics,' as well as the implied vowel sounds in the actual notes and melodic phrases of the music itself. It's hard to teach that to someone. It's like a deeper level of listening and hearing, but it's key to a finished song with lyrics and music that feel and sound [happily] 'married!'
Since my thing is lyrics, but of course songs also need music, the immediate thing I love about lyric writing is the magic of collaboration -- the opportunity to create something neither or none of us would have created on our own. In the best collaborations, when everybody checks their egos at the writing door for the sake of the song, there is a kind of telepathic magic that can happen. If we feel the love, the song feels the love and can seem to 'write itself.' It's that shared creative high of birthing a song-baby, and one of us saying, like Lamont Dozier did after a writing session together, 'you know we didn't write that song, right?' Part of that magic is also the way each writer's expertise in music or lyrics crosses over -- so that while I may be the lyric writer, I will suddenly be coming up with melodic and song structure ideas and the music writer will be offering up lyric ideas and edits as well.
Something else magical for me about lyric writing: I love how in my 'official' role as the lyric writer I am called to attune (pun intended) to both the emotion and mechanics of the music -- as well as the feeling and languaging of the artist who will be singing the song and even the audience who will be hearing it. Especially in the case of writing English lyrics for artists whose native language is not English, I must pay attention to the sounds they like to sing. Those sounds are often present in their own 'dummy lyrics,' as well as the implied vowel sounds in the actual notes and melodic phrases of the music itself. It's hard to teach that to someone. It's like a deeper level of listening and hearing, but it's key to a finished song with lyrics and music that feel and sound [happily] 'married!'
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This potentially magical synergy between words and music was described "deliciously" to me by multi-platinum Swedish artist Stefan Andersson when we were writing his album, 'Under a Low-Ceilinged Sky,' during two weeks on a wintry archipelago island off the coast of Sweden. He began to play me a song on the guitar that needed lyrics, and I instantly started 'hearing' the lyrics and began recording his guitar and 'dummy vocals' so I would have it to refer to. We split off into different rooms for a bit, and then we came back together in the kitchen so that he could try out the new lyrics. He sang for a few seconds, and then suddenly stopped playing and said, 'These words, they taste so good in my mouth!' That song, If I Could Be the Sun, made it to the album and also became the theme song for a long-running Swedish prime time soap opera, 'Skilda Världar.' The longtime hit from that album, Anywhere is Paradise, was recorded by several other European artists as well. Thanks Stefan! It was awesome working with you!
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