Mary Sharon Vaughn (born May 2, 1947) is an American musician,

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 gen ...

and producer who was previously based in Sweden. She has written hits for artists such as

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album ''Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of ''Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and '' Stardust'' (197 ...

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George Jones George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for his long list of hit records, including his best-known song "He Stopped Loving Her Today", ...

Kenny Rogers Kenneth Ray Rogers (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particularly popular with country audiences but also charted mo ...

Keith Whitley Jackie Keith Whitley (July 1, 1954 – May 9, 1989) was an American country music singer and songwriter. During his career, Whitley released only two albums but charted 12 singles on the ''Billboard'' country charts, and 7 more after his death. ...

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, Agnes,

Kate Ryan Kate Ryan (born Katrien Verbeeck, 22 July 1980) is a Belgian singer and songwriter, and the winner of a World Music Award. She began her singing career in 2001 and later found fame with a string of dance hits. These included covers, mostly of M ...

Claire Richards Claire Anne Richards (born 17 August 1977) is an English singer who is best known for being in the pop group Steps. Richards was a contestant on the second series of ''Popstar to Operastar'' before being voted off in the semi finals. She pos ...

Boyzone Boyzone were an Irish boy band, created in 1993 by talent manager Louis Walsh. Before even recording any material, Boyzone made an appearance on RTÉ's '' The Late Late Show''. Their most successful line-up was composed of Keith Duffy, Steph ...

September September is the ninth month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars, the third of four months to have a length of 30 days, and the fourth of five months to have a length of fewer than 31 days. September in the Northern H ...

, and Dimash Qudaibergen.

Career

Vaughn moved to Nashville in her early 20s. In 1974, she charted two singles as a performer for Cinnamon Records: a duet with

Narvel Felts Albert Narvel Felts (born November 11, 1938) is an American country music and rockabilly singer. Known for his soaring tenor and high falsetto, Felts enjoyed his greatest success during the 1970s, most famously 1975's "Reconsider Me". Career H ...

titled "Until the End of Time", and "Never a Night Goes By". A year later, she signed with

Dot Records Dot Records was an American record label founded by Randy Wood (record producer), Randy Wood and Gene Nobles that was active between 1950 and 1978. The original headquarters of Dot Records were in Gallatin, Tennessee. In 1956, the company moved ...

and released a third single, "You and Me, Me and You". She was also the lead singer in the Lea Jane Singers, and worked with the

Jordanaires The Jordanaires were an American vocal quartet that formed as a gospel group in 1948. Over the years, they recorded both sacred and secular music for recording companies such as Capitol Records, RCA Victor, Columbia Records, Decca Records, ...

, the Nashville Edition and The Holladay Sisters. Vaughn’s first big songwriting success was " My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys", which was first recorded by Waylon Jennings in 1976 and further popularized in 1980 by Willie Nelson for the soundtrack of the movie

The Electric Horseman ''The Electric Horseman'' is a 1979 American western comedy-drama film starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda and directed by Sydney Pollack. The film is about a former rodeo champion who is hired by a cereal company to become its spokesperson a ...

. Her next songwriting hit was " Y'all Come Back Saloon" by

in 1977. Since then she has worked with country artists such as

Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, actress, philanthropist, and businesswoman, known primarily for her work in country music. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton made her album d ...

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and

. Vaughn has been nominated for the

Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame was established in 1970 by the Nashville Songwriters Foundation, Inc. in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. A non-profit organization, its objective is to honor and preserve the songwriting legacy that is u ...

three times, and was inducted in 2019. Vaughn has during the last couple of years had over 100 cuts with European artists and four number ones in Japan. She has worked with several Swedish Idol artists, including the winner Jay Smith (2010) and a number one hit for Ola. She has also worked with many Scandinavian songwriters and artists including Agnes,

Mutt Lange A mutt is a mongrel (a dog of unknown ancestry). Mutt may also refer to: People * Mutt, a derogatory term for mixed-race people Nickname * Larry Black (sprinter) (1951-2006), American sprinter * Mutt Carey (1886–1948), New Orleans jazz trump ...

Tony Nilsson Tony Nilsson is a Swedish singer-songwriter (born in Boden, Norrbotten County, Sweden in 1977). He is signed to Peermusic. A prolific composer of songs, he has contributed to a string of hits by well-known Swedish artists. Many of his songs have ...

, Vendela, Anders Hanson and

Emilia Emilia may refer to: People * Emilia (given name), list of people with this name Places * Emilia (region), a historical region of Italy. Reggio, Emilia * Emilia-Romagna, an administrative region in Italy, including the historical regions of Emi ...

. In 2009, her co-written song Release Me by Swedish pop artist Agnes reached #1 on the U.S Billboard Dance Club Songs Chart. In 2013, Vaughn received a

JASRAC The , often referred to as JASRAC, is a Japanese copyright collection society. It was founded in 1939 as a nonprofit organization, and is the largest musical copyright administration society in Japan. Overview JASRAC's main business activity i ...

Award as #1 of the Top 10 Foreign Works for her 2011 co-written song " Rising Sun" by the Japanese pop band

EXILE Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf ...

. During 2014, Vaughn competed as the songwriter of three songs in

Melodifestivalen Melodifestivalen (; literally "the Melody Festival") is an annual song competition organised by Swedish public broadcasters Sveriges Television (SVT) and Sveriges Radio (SR). It determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Song ...

. Vaughn has also co-written songs with

Ian Dench Ian Alec Harvey Dench (born 7 August 1964) is an English songwriter and musician. He was the guitarist and principal songwriter for EMF, who scored a major international hit reaching number 1 in the United States with " Unbelievable" in 1991. ...

and

Carl Falk Carl Anthony Falk-Gramer (née Falk; born 17 August 1980 in Stockholm), is a Swedish songwriter, record producer and musician and has worked with artists such as Demi Lovato, One Direction, 5 Seconds of Summer, Nicki Minaj, Ellie Goulding, Mado ...

. Vaughn moved to Sweden in 2008. In 2018, she was registered as having emigrated from

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. She returned to Orlando and then moved to Nashville in 2020 where she currently works.

Charted singles

Songs written

The following table lists a selection of songs from Vaughn's career as a songwriter:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaughn, Sharon American women country singers American country singer-songwriters Dot Records artists Living people Musicians from Stockholm American expatriates in Sweden People from Orlando, Florida Singer-songwriters from Florida Country musicians from Florida 1947 births 21st-century American women