Rory Bourke may not be a household name to the average country music fan, but the songs he wrote will certainly ring a bell.
Bourke, a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, passed away at age 84 on Saturday, October 10, leaving behind a rich musical legacy.
A Songwriter’s Songwriter
A tribute in Music Row points out that Bourke wrote an impressive number of hit songs over the years, which were recorded by some of country music’s biggest artists.
Among those to record Bourke’s songs were Dolly Parton, Elvis Presley, Kenny Chesney, Bonnie Raitt, Charlie Rich and more.
He co-wrote such country classics as Charlie Rich’s “The Most Beautiful Girl,” George Strait’s “You Look So Good in Love” and Anne Murray’s “A Little Good News,” to name just a few.
“Between 1972 and 2015, there were 61 charted versions of his songs, 42 of which became top-20 successes. Also among those songs were 29 top-10 hits and 10 No. 1 smashes,” notes Music Row.
An Unlikely Start
When Bourke first came to Nashville, he started his career as a promotion executive at Mercury Records.
However, the aspiring songwriter was unfulfilled, and desired to become one of the many songwriters pitching their tunes on Nashville’s famed Music Row.
His big break came when he met another wannabe songwriter, Eddie Rabbit. Teaming up, they co-wrote “Patch It Up,” which wound up being recorded by Presley in 1970. The duo also wrote “Captured,” which was issued as a single in 1974 by singer Terry Stafford.
With that first blush of success, Bourke quit his job and embarked on a full-time career as a Nashville tunesmith. “There was no Plan B,” Bourke said of that risky move, via Music Row.
In 1971, Bourke was hired by Chappell Music as a staff songwriter, where he co-wrote “Neon Rose.” The song wound up becoming a top-10 hit for singer Mel Tillis, and marked the first time one of Bourke’s songs landed in the top 10. It would be far from his last.
Bourke later joined forces with songwriter Norro Wilson and producer Billy Sherrill to write “The Most Beautiful Girl,’ which became a No. 1 hit for Charlie Rich in 1973, hitting No. 1 in numerous countries and topping not only the country charts, but also the pop and easy-listening charts.
Top 10 Hits
His most successful songwriting partnership was with Charlie Black, with the pair co-writing an impressive string of hits during the late 1970s and into the ’80s.
In 1979, the duo’s “Shadows in the Moonlight” was recorded by Anne Murray, hitting No. 1. That led to Murray recording several more of their songs. including “Lucky Me,” “Another Sleepless Night” and “A Little Good News,” with the latter named CMA Single of the Year while winning Murray a Grammy Award.
Bourke collaborated with several other Nashville songwriters, resulting in Ronnie Milsap’s No. 1 hit “Where Do the Nights Go” and several top-10 hits, including George Strait’s “You Look So Good In Love,” Deborah Allen’s “Baby I Lied,” Janie Fricke’s “Let’s Stop Talkin’ About It” and Mickey Gilley’s “Too Good to Stop Now.”
Interestingly, it wasn’t country music that initially inspired his interest in songwriting, but movie musicals.
During a Q&A, Bourke said his inspiration was “every MGM movie musical ever made. Everybody seemed so happy. And a lot of them were written by the great songwriters of our time, Rogers and Hart, the Gershwins, people like that, I grew up with that music in my grandmother’s house … so that’s the first music I ever heard … that’s basically what made me want [to be a songwriter].”
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Famed Nashville Songwriter Behind Decades of Country Hits Has Passed Away at 84