Rory Michael Bourke (born July 14, 1942 in Cleveland, Ohio is an American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, o ...

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

and music publisher. Bourke moved to

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...

in 1964 and worked for a period in the promotional department of

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...

. His songwriting career took off in the early 1970s and he soon racked up tracks recorded by Charlie Rich,

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

, Lynn Anderson,

Billy Crash Craddock Billy Wayne "Crash" Craddock (born June 16, 1939) is an American country and rockabilly singer. He first gained popularity in Australia in the 1950s with a string of rockabilly hits, including the Australian number one hits " Boom Boom Baby" ...

Olivia Newton-John Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British-Australian singer, actress and activist. She was a four-time Grammy Award winner whose music career included 15 top-ten singles, including 5 number-one singles on the ...

, and many others. His most successful song was " The Most Beautiful Girl", cowritten with

Billy Sherrill Billy Norris Sherrill (November 5, 1936 – August 4, 2015) was an American record producer, songwriter, and arranger best known for his association with country artists, notably Tammy Wynette and George Jones. Sherrill and business partner G ...

and Norro Wilson, recorded by Rich and a number-one record in both the country and pop fields. He co-wrote "Patch It Up" with Eddie Rabbitt and wrote "Your Love's Been A Long Time Coming," both of which were recorded by

. Bourke's other hit songs include " A Little Good News," (

Anne Murray Morna Anne Murray (born June 20, 1945) is a retired Canadian singer. Her albums, consisting primarily of pop, country, and adult contemporary music, have sold over 55 million copies worldwide during her over 40-year career. Murray was the firs ...

), " You Look So Good in Love" (

George Strait George Harvey Strait Sr. (born May 18, 1952) is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and music producer. Strait is considered one of the most influential and popular recording artists of all time. In the 1980s, he was credited fo ...

), "I Know a Heartache When I See One" (

Jennifer Warnes Jennifer Jean Warnes (born March 3, 1947) is an American singer and songwriter. She has performed as a vocalist on a number of film soundtracks. She has won two Grammy Awards, in 1983 for the Joe Cocker duet " Up Where We Belong" and in 1987 fo ...

), and " Come Next Monday" ( K. T. Oslin). Most of his songs were written in collaboration with other songwriters. Charlie Black is a frequent writing partner and he has also written hits with Oslin, Mike Reid, Eddie Rabbitt, Deborah Allen, and a number of others. Bourke was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1989. His awards include three times as

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

's "Writer of the Year" (1975, 1979, 1983) and three

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

nominations for Best Country Song. He has also won 11 BMI performance award and over 45 ASCAP performance awards.Rory Bourke: History
. Rorybourke.com. Retrieved January 31, 2011.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bourke, Rory 1942 births American country songwriters American male songwriters American music publishers (people) Musicians from Cleveland Living people Musicians from Nashville, Tennessee Songwriters from Tennessee Songwriters from Ohio