The Brill Building

The Brill building was the epicenter of the music industry during The Golden Years of Rock. It's located in the heart of New York City at 1619 Broadway, just South of Times Square. Over time it housed hundreds of music businesses including publishers, promoters, and distributors. Most importantly, it housed many of the creative geniuses who composed and penned Rock lyrics. The Brill's charged and competitive atmosphere produced many of the early trends in Rock music.

Carole King described the atmosphere at the Brill Building:

"Every day we squeezed into our respective cubby holes with just enough room for a piano, a bench, and maybe a chair for the lyricist if you were lucky. You'd sit there and write and you could hear someone in the next cubby hole composing a song exactly like yours. The pressure in the Brill Building was really terrific - because Donny (Kirshner) would play one songwriter against another. He'd say: 'We need a new smash hit' - and we'd all go back and write a song and the next day we'd each audition for Bobby Vee's producer." —quoted in The Sociology of Rock by Simon Frith (1978, ISBN 0094602204).

Famous Brill talent and residents include:

Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller	Howard Greenfield
Carole King and Gerry Goffin	Billy Joel
Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil	Kris Kristofferson
Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich	Joni Mitchell
Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman	Neil Sedaka
Hal David and Burt Bacharach	Carly Simon
Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart	Paul Simon
Paul Anka	James Taylor
Jim Croce	Gene Pitney
Bobby Darin
Hal David
John Denver
Neil Diamond