Mike Reid

Induction Year: 2005

Birth Name: Michael Barry Reid

Birth Date: 05-24-1947

Place of Birth: Altoona, Pennsylvania

An NCAA All-American and All-Pro NFL defensive lineman, Mike Reid was as dominant a force in commercial country music of the 1980s and early '90s as he was on the gridiron in the 1960s and '70s. Reid penned 12 #1 country hits, including one as a solo artist (1990's "Walk on Faith"), and he provided hit vehicles for Ronnie Milsap, Conway Twitty, Don Williams, Wynonna, Tim McGraw and others. Yet his best-known composition may be the pop hit "I Can't Make You Love Me," a stirring ballad of resignation that Bonnie Raitt took into the pop Top 20 in 1991 and that has since been re-recorded dozens of times.

A serious-minded piano player even during his time playing football at Penn State University and with the Cincinnati Bengals, Reid devoted himself completely to music upon his 1975 retirement from sports. He moved to Nashville in 1980 and signed with Milsap's publishing firm in 1982. Milsap quickly began recording Reid's songs. "Inside" hit #1 on the country chart in early 1983, and "Stranger in My House" (which won Reid a Grammy for Best Country Song) went to #5 later that year. In 1985, Milsap's recording of Reid's "Lost in the Fifties Tonight" was a #1 country hit and a #8 adult contemporary record, and it was the most-played country song of the year. "Lost in the Fifties Tonight" was named ASCAP's Country Song of the Year in 1986.

By the mid-1980s, Reid songs were radio staples, and he notched hits with Milsap ("She Keeps the Home Fires Burning," "In Love," "How Do I Turn You On," Conway Twitty ("Fallin' for You for Years"), Don Williams ("I Wouldn't Be a Man") and more. A soulful vocalist, Reid was featured as Milsap's duet partner for 1988's "Old Folks," and Reid's recording-artist deal with Columbia Records resulted in the chart-topper "Walk on Faith."

Three other Top 20 solo hits followed for Reid, but his prime mark on popular music would be as a songwriter. More than two decades after its creation, "I Can't Make You Love Me" remains in Raitt's set list at every concert, and it has been recorded by George Michael, Kenny Rogers, Nancy Wilson, Kelly Clarkson, Adele and others. Continuing his renaissance ways, Reid went on to compose theatrical and operatic works, winning a Richard Rodgers Development Award from the Academy of Arts and Letters for 1997's The Ballad of Little Jo.

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Song Catalog

 

"Everywhere"

(written with Craig Wiseman)

Tim McGraw1997 #1 country
 

"Fallin' for You for Years"

(written with Troy Seals)

Conway Twitty1987 #2 country
 

"How Do I Turn You on"

(written with Robert Byrne)

Ronnie Milsap1987 #1 country

"I Can't Make You Love Me"

(written with Allen Shamblin)

Bonnie Raitt1991 #6 adult contemporary, #18 pop
Nancy Wilson1994 
Kenny Rogers1999 
Patti LaBelle2005 
Angela Hacker2007 
Boyz II Men2009 
Bon Iver2011 
Adele2011 
 

"I Never Quite Got Back (From Loving You)"

(written with Don Pfrimmer)

Sylvia1984 #3 country
 

"I Wouldn't Be a Man"

(written with Rory Bourke)

Don Williams1988 #9 country
Kirk Whalum1995 
Billy Dean1996 #45 country
Josh Turner2011 #18 country, #92 pop
 

"In Love"

(written with Bruce Dees)

Ronnie Milsap1986 #1 country

"In This Life"

(written with Allen Shamblin)

Collin Raye1992 #1 country, #21 adult contemporary
Bette Midler1995 
 

"Inside"

Ronnie Milsap1982 #1 country

"Lost in the Fifties Tonight (In the Still of the Night)"

(written with Fred Parris, Troy Seals)

ACM Song of the Year, ASCAP Country Song of the Year

Ronnie Milsap1985 #1 country, #8 adult contemporary
 

"Old Folks"

Ronnie Milsap & Mike Reid1988 #2 country
 

"Prisoner of the Highway"

Ronnie Milsap1984 #6 country
Mark Wills2003 
 

"She Keeps the Home Fires Burning"

(written with Don Pfrimmer)

Ronnie Milsap1985 #1 country
 

"Show Her"

Ronnie Milsap1984 #1 country
 

"Still Losing You"

Ronnie Milsap1984 #1 country

"Stranger in My House"

Grammy for Best Country Song

Ronnie Milsap1983 #5 country, #23 pop
 

"To Be Loved by You"

(written with Gary Burr)

Wynonna1996 #1 country
 

"To Me"

(written with Mack David)

Barbara Mandrell & Lee Greenwood1984 #3 country

"Walk on Faith"

(written with Allen Shamblin)

Mike Reid1990 #1 country
 

"Where Do the Nights Go"

(written with Rory Bourke)

Ronnie Milsap1988 #1 country

Other Media

Mike Reid

Induction Year: 2005