The Songwriters Hall of Fame announced Timbaland as one of its 2024 inductees on Wednesday (January 17). The 2024 class featured Steely Dan, Hillary Lindsey, Dean Pitchford and R.E.M.
“I’ve said it before, but the music industry does not exist without songwriters delivering great songs first,” Songwriters Hall of Fame chairman Nile Rodgers said. “Without them there is no recorded music, no concert business, no merch … nothing, it all starts with the song and the songwriter. We are therefore very proud that we are continually recognizing some of the culturally most important songwriters of all time and that the 2024 slate represents not just iconic songs but also diversity and unity across genres, ethnicity and gender, songwriters who have enriched our lives and literally enriched music and the lives of billions of listeners all over the world.”
Past inductees include Timbaland’s longtime collaborators Missy Elliott and Jay-Z. The hitmaking producer told CBS he was surprised to be selected for the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
“It kinda caught me off guard because you know for me, I don’t never look at my work to be put up on a pedestal,” he said. “I just love to keep working and doing what God gave me the gift to do. It was kinda like caught off by surprise and I was like, ‘Oh wow!’ Because to be honest with you, when years go by as you get older, you don’t really never think—I never thought that was recognized like this. I know what I mean to the world but sometimes you just never think that you’re gonna get such an accolade such as this.”
Timbaland will be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame at the 2024 Induction and Awards Gala on June 13. The event will be held at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York.