And the Good evening everyone.

everyone.

Thanks for that warm welcome.

I'm Simon Barber. This is my co-host Brian O'Connor.

Together we are So the Jerker. We welcome you to the Queen Elizabeth Hall for this

very special podcast recording of So the Jerker on songwriting in association with meltdown.

We did ask for a big room, but this one will have to suffice.

In case you were unaware, we began the So the Jaker podcast in our hometown of Liverpool in 2011 and since

then we've accumulated, oh represent, and since then we've accumulated over 150 interviews

with world-renowned songwriters. Some of our past guests

include Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, Alicia Keys, Diane Warren, Johnny Mar, and one of the

gentlemen was speaking to this evening.

That gentleman is a songwriter, composer, guitarist and record producer

who sold 500 million albums and 75 million singles.

That was Some car boot sale. He's the chairman of the

song races hall of fame an inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and a

multiple Grammy winner. There are numerous other plaudits but we do only have an hour.

With his late musical partner Bernard Edwards, he helped forge a sleek,

sophisticated disco funk blueprint in the form of Sheik,

and his glittering recording and production career encompasses the legs of David Bowie, Sister

Sledge, Madonna, Diana Ross, Carly Simon, Duran, and Dathbunk, to name but a few.

Last year he was appointed Chief Creative Advisor at the legendary Abbey Road studios in London

...