Laura Nyro.
Twenty years after her death, the rhythmic and shifting life of a songwriter who composed for the stars – but sidestepped celebrity herself – is still tangible in the melodic convolutions of her songs. Laura Nyro (18/10/1947 – 8/4/1997) was an American songwriter, singer, and pianist. She achieved critical acclaim with her own recordings, particularly the albums Eli and the Thirteenth Confession (1968) and New York Tendaberry (1969), and had commercial success with artists such as Barbra Streisand and The 5th Dimension recording her songs. Her style was a hybrid of Brill Building -style New York pop, jazz , gospel , rhythm and blues , show tunes , rock, and soul . Between 1968 and 1970, a number of artists had hits with her songs: The 5th Dimension with " Blowing Away ", " Wedding Bell Blues ", " Stoned Soul Picnic ", " Sweet Blindness ", " Save the Country ", and "Black Patch"; Blood, Sweat & Tea