His song "Into The Night" is one of the most-played of all time. For Benny, it took him to hell and back.
Keyboard great David Sancious talks about his work with Sting, Seal, Springsteen, Clapton and Aretha, and explains what quantum physics has to do with making music.
Have you got the smarts to know which of these graduation song stories are real?
Songwriters have used cards and card games to make sense of heartache, togetherness, and even Gonorrhea.
The Jayhawks' song "Big Star" has special meaning to Gary, who explains how longevity and inspiration have trumped adulation.
"Paranoid" reflects a feeling Black Sabbath bass player Geezer Butler often felt after using drugs.
Before it was part of a Pink Floyd album title, James Taylor put the line "still I'm on the dark side of the moon" in his 1968 song "Carolina In My Mind." He was living in London and missing his home in North Carolina.
Stevie Nicks wrote "Landslide" before she joined Fleetwood Mac. She was considering going back to school when she and her boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham were asked to join the group.
In The Beatles' "When I'm 64," Paul McCartney asks a woman if she'll still be there for him when he's 64. In 2006, he got his answer when shortly before his 64th birthday, he and Heather Mills separated.
"Achy Breaky Heart" was originally recorded in 1991 by The Marcy Brothers as "Don't Tell My Heart." That original version had the lyrics: "Don't tell my heart, my achy, breakin' heart..."
Avril Lavigne's 2011 song "Darlin" was written much earlier; she says it's the second song she ever wrote, composed when she was an unsigned 15-year-old living in Napanee, Ontario. The song reflects those years when she was "trying to figure it all out."
