Trisha Yearwood is accompanied by her husband, Garth Brooks, as she sings "Wind Beneath My Wings," a song written by Larry Henley, as Henley is inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NASHVILLE — Kim Williams hesitated only slightly when asked who he thinks has been the best interpreter of his songs before the start of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
“That’s tough, but I’d say it would have to be Garth Brooks because I wrote them with him,” Williams said. “He was part of the songs, too, before he sang them. We had so much fun writing together.”
They had a load of fun together Sunday night, too.
Brooks and his wife Trisha Yearwood were on hand to help celebrate this year's inductees — Williams, Tony Arata, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and Larry Henley. Brooks saluted Williams and Arata, while Yearwood paid tribute to Carpenter and Henley, the writer of the enduring hit “The Wind Beneath My Wings.”
“Over 200 artists have recorded ‘The Wind Beneath My Wings,’ so it's kind of how do you do a new twist?” Yearwood said before the ceremony. “And with Chapin, I've just known her a long, long time, so it was a no-brainer when she asked me.”
Brooks sang “New Way To Fly,” “Papa Loved Mama,” and “Three Wooden Crosses” to Williams, then sang Arata's “The Dance.”
The Nashville Songwriters Association International also gave out its yearly songwriting awards.
Taylor Swift won the songwriter/artist of the year award for the fifth time in six years and remains at 22 that award's youngest winner.
Dallas Davidson was named songwriter of the year. And Dolly Parton’s enduring hit “I Will Always Love You,” which reached No. 1 again this year after Whitney Houston’s death, was named song of the year.
DeVito, Perlman split
LOS ANGELES — Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman are breaking up.
A spokesman for DeVito says the couple is separating after 30 years of marriage.
DeVito and Perlman married in 1982 and have three adult children. The couple worked together on TV's Taxi from 1978 to 1982.
Together, the couple established the production company Jersey Films, which counts Pulp Fiction, Erin Brockovich, and Out of Sight among its credits.
DeVito stars in TV's It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Perlman is best known for her long-running role on Cheers.
‘Switched’
NEW YORK — Playing a deaf teen on the ABC Family drama Switched at Birth has put Katie Leclerc on Hollywood's radar.
“I was acting for about 10 years before I got Switched, the 25-year-old actress said in a recent interview. “It was all minor things, nothing of note. And when I went into the audition for Switched, I was aware of the potential and that this is something that could really launch me.”
Leclerc plays Daphne Vasquez, a teen who lost her hearing as a child after a bout with meningitis. Daphne was switched as a newborn in the hospital with another baby. She grew up with a single mother in a working-class neighborhood while the other child grew up in a wealthy family with two parents and a brother.
Since the premiere of Switched at Birth last year, Leclerc has landed roles on The Big Bang Theory and CSI, a sci-fi film, the lead in an upcoming Hallmark Channel movie, and a part on a Web series called Synthesized Life.
She was familiar with American Sign Language before playing Daphne. Her sister has an inner ear disorder called Meniere's Disease that can cause hearing loss and vertigo. Leclerc learned ALS in high school and realized afterward that she also has Meniere's.
Switched at Birth airs Mondays.