The Grammy-winning Canadian songwriter Shirley Eikhard passed away

Shirley Eikhard, a singer-songwriter, was the author of Bonnie Raitt's 1991 breakthrough song "Something to Talk About." She was 67.

Her representative for Eikhard, Eric Alper, told the Associated Press that she passed away recently at the Headwaters Health Care Centre in Orangeville, Ontario.

For Rita Coolidge, Emmylou Harris, Cher, Anne Murray, Ginette Reno, Chet Atkins, and Alannah Myles, the Canadian native wrote tunes. Her most well-known song, "Something to Talk About," was nominated for record of the year and won Raitt the 1992 Grammy Award for best pop vocal performance.

Murray was interested in recording the blues-rock hit that Eikhard had written and presented to her in 1985, but she declined after her producers turned it down. Despite the absence of Eikhard's song, Murray nonetheless gave her 1985 album the title "Something to Talk About."

Eikhard offered the tune to other musicians, but they all declined. Raitt taped it and told Eikhard about it over voicemail years later. The American vocalist later claimed that she was impressed when she heard the song on a demo that Eikhard had sent.

"When I went home, my computer had this item on it. Bonnie was there. I felt cold, "In a news statement honouring the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, Eikhard recounted.

The song, which played for 20 weeks and peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100, was the debut single from Raitt's 1991 album "Luck of the Draw."

The title of the 1995 Warner Bros. film starring Dennis Quaid and Julia Roberts was inspired by "Something to Talk About."

While Murray recorded "It Takes Time" in 1971, it became a hit in Canada. Eikhard wrote "It Takes Time" when he was only 15 years old. In 1972, Eikhard released her first album under her own name. "Pickin' My Way," the lead song from Atkins' 41st studio album, was one of Eikhard's earliest hits.

The frantic dance music "Lovers Forever," which Cher and Eikhard co-wrote for the 1994 movie "Interview with the Vampire," didn't make the final soundtrack cut. However, Cher did add "Lovers Forever" on her 2013 album "Closer to the Truth."

Born With the Hunger was written by Eikhard for Cher's "not.commercial" album in 2000.Only two of the tracks on the album were not written by Cher.

She sang the anthems for "The Passion of Ayn Rand," a 2000 movie, and "The Domino Principle," a 1976 movie starring Gene Hackman and Candice Bergen and directed by Stanley Kramer.

For "Something to Talk About," Eikhard was honoured by being inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2020. At a virtual induction ceremony that was carried on Canada's Global News network, Raitt joined Eikhard.

The "I Can't Make You Love Me" singer paid homage to Eikhard on Instagram on Friday.

With a black and white photo of Eikhard, Raitt wrote, "I'm terribly grieved to hear of the demise of my friend Shirley Eikhard, the lovely Canadian singer/songwriter who composed my smash song, "Something to Talk About."

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