Shirley Eikhard, the singer-songwriter who found fame writing the 1991 Grammy-winning hit Something to Talk About, performed by Bonnie Raitt, has died at the age of 67. The artist she died on Thursday in a hospital in Orangeville, Ontario, due to complications from the cancer she suffered, as confirmed by publicist Eric Alpe.
In addition to Raitt, the singer-songwriter also composed for other artists such as Cher, Emmylou Harris, Anne Murray or Chet Atkins. However, it was Something to Talk About, the song that brought her the most joy to her career, as it spent no less than twenty weeks on the prestigious Billboard Hot 100 chart, reaching number 5.
It also led to her winning the Juno Awards in 1973 and 1974 for Best Female Country Artist and won several BMI Awards. All of this led to her being inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in October 2020.
Until almost the end of his days, Eikhard was composing. Her most recent album, On My Way to You, was released in 2021. But it was not the only one, since between that date and 1972 she released a total of eighteen recordings, in which she could be heard playing the guitar, the piano, bass, drums, percussion, harmonica, banjo and mandolin. Instruments that she taught herself to play.
His musical gifts led him to work with artists like Cher, for whom he created the frenetic Lovers Forever and Born with the hunger. Eikhard also sang the theme song for Stanley Kramer’s 1976 film The Domino Principle, starring Gene Hackman and Candice Bergen, as well as the theme song for Ayn Rand’s The Passion in 2000.
