The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame (CSHF) is pleased to announce the song induction for the mega-hit (Let’s Give Them) Something to Talk About, written by Canadian singer-songwriter and composer Shirley Eikhard. The song was made famous by multi Grammy-winning icon Bonnie Raitt who released the recording in 1991’s “Luck of the Draw” album, propelling both Raitt and Eikhard to new heights of success.
“Shirley Eikhard is a Canadian treasure and multifaceted artist who has gifted us with her voice, her music, and her talents as a songwriter and composer,” said Vanessa Thomas, CSHF Executive Director. “A mainstay on radio nearly thirty years later, Bonnie’s recording of Something to Talk About is unparalleled and timeless; and takes its well-deserved place in the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.”
Shirley Eikhard, originally from Sackville, New Brunswick, earned JUNO Awards in 1973 and 1974 for Best Country Female Artist, and has had numerous country and pop hits, including You’re My Weakness and Smilin’ Wine. Her songs have been recorded by Cher, Anne Murray, Chet Atkins, Ginette Reno, Alannah Myles, and Rita Coolidge.
Eikhard wrote the blues-rock hit Something to Talk About in Nashville in the 1980s, and had offered the song to Anne Murray among other artists, all of whom expressed interest but ultimately did not record it. She had put the song on the back burner; and one day, received a surprise phone message from the American blues singer and guitarist Bonnie Raitt, replaying a recording of Something to Talk About that Raitt had just finished after discovering the song on a demo tape that Eikhard had sent her years earlier.
“I got home and there was this thing on my machine. There was Bonnie…I was numb,” recalled Eikhard. It may have taken seven years in the making for Eikhard to find the right artist to sing her song; but when Bonnie Raitt left that fateful voicemail, the rest is music history.
Raitt’s recording of Eikhard’s composition proved a spectacular success. The single, off Raitt’s “Luck of the Draw” album, peaked on Billboard’s Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts at No. 5 in October 1991, and at No. 8 on Cashbox. It placed even higher in Canada, at No. 3 on the RPM Top 100 chart and No. 4 on Adult Contemporary, and made the Top 20 on RPM’s 1991 year-end chart.
Something to Talk About netted Raitt the industry’s coveted Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, and drove the “Luck of the Draw” album to win the Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, boosted by multi-platinum sales in North America. At home in Canada, Something to Talk About also earned Eikhard a JUNO nomination for Songwriter of the Year, and later SOCAN Classics and BMI Awards for its status as a radio favourite.
The song has been performed by Britney Spears, Kelly Clarkson, David Clayton-Thomas, and Jennifer Love Hewitt; and Raitt’s edition was the cover soundtrack to the Hollywood film of the same title, starring Julia Roberts and Dennis Quaid. Eikhard also sang her own version that was used as the theme song for CBS’s Women of the House.
Following the televised virtual presentation of Eikhard’s song induction on October 6, the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame will add the song to its permanent and interactive exhibition at the National Music Centre in Calgary, that features a celebrated catalogue of inducted songs that fans can listen to, as well as displays, exclusive artifacts, and one-of-a-kind memorabilia celebrating Canada’s greatest songs and songwriters.
