A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was unveiled Thursday honoring Glen Ballard for a career that included co-writing and arranging Michael Jackson's 1987 song "Man in the Mirror" and winning six Grammys, including three for his work on Alanis Morissette's "Jagged Little Pill."
"The names up and down these streets are of the all-time greats, the legends of the creative community," Ballard told the crowd gathered for the ceremony at 6253 Hollywood Blvd., near Vine Street. "To have my name added to this collection is really unexpected. It's humbling and its absolutely delightful.
"Capitol Records behind me, where I've made so many records, the Pantages Theatre -- I've made several shows. The shadow of Paramount Pictures and Netflix. Literally this neighborhood is my home," he said. "And it represents the diversity of my career across musical theater, feature films, records and television. So in the words of Dorothy from `Wizard of Oz,' if I ever go looking for my heart's desire, I won't have to look any further than my own backyard."
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The pop group Wilson Phillips -- Carnie Wilson, Wendy Wilson and Chynna Phillips -- and actor Roger Bart joined Ballard in speaking at the ceremony.
Ballard produced Wilson Phillips' self-titled 1990 debut album, which rose to second on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Bart portrays Emmett Brown in "Back to the Future: The Musical," on Broadway after portraying the role in London. Ballard wrote the lyrics for the musical, whose London production won the Laurence Olivier Award for best new musical in 2022. The Olivier Awards are the British equivalent of the Tony Awards.
The star is the 2,784th since the completion of the Walk of Fame in 1961 with the initial 1,558 stars.
Ballard was born in Natchez, Mississippi, where he began writing songs and performing in local bands. Ballard received a bachelor's degree in English, journalism and political science from the University of Mississippi in 1975, then came to Los Angeles, working for Elton John and Quincy Jones early in his career, then becoming a staff songwriter at Universal.
The artists Ballard has written songs for include Christina Aguilera, Dave Matthews, George Strait, Josh Groban, Aretha Franklin, Barbra Streisand, Aerosmith, Van Halen, Chaka Khan, Andrea Bocelli, Katy Perry, Ringo Starr, George Benson, Shakira and Idina Menzel.
Ballard won the first of his six Grammys in 1991 for best instrumental arrangement accompanying vocal(s) for "The Places You Find Love" from the studio album by Jones, "Back on the Block."
Ballard received three other nominations that year -- producer of the year (non-classical), losing to Jones; album of the year for "Wilson Phillips," losing to "Back on the Block," and the songwriter's award, song of the year, for "Hold On," from "Wilson Phillips," losing to Julie Gold, who wrote "From a Distance" for Bette Midler's album, "Some People's Lives."
Ballard received his next nominations and Grammys in 1996, winning for producing the album of the year and best rock album, "Jagged Little Pill," and for best rock song for joining Morissette in writing the album's lead single "You Oughta Know."
Ballard was also nominated that year for song of the year for the track of "You Oughta Know," losing to Seal, who wrote, "Kiss from a Rose," and producer of the year, losing to Babyface.
Ballard received a record of the year nomination in 1997 for producing the track "Ironic" from "Jagged Little Pill," losing to Babyface for "Change the World" from Eric Clapton's soundtrack of the 1996 romantic fantasy drama film, "Phenomenon."
Ballard won a best long form music video Grammy in 1998 for being part of the producing team for "Jagged Little Pill Live," which chronicled Morissette's "Jagged Little Pill" world concert tour.
Ballard won a best song written for a motion picture, television or other visual media Grammy in 2006 for joining Alan Silvestri in writing "Believe" for the 2004 animated adventure film, "The Polar Express."
Ballard and Silvestri also received Oscar and Golden Globe Award best original song nominations for "Believe," losing to Jorge Drexler for "Al otro lado del río" from "The Motorcycle Diaries," at the 2004 Oscars and Mick Jagger and David A. Stewart for "Old Habits Die Hard" from "Alfie" at the Golden Globe Awards.
Ballard joined Morissette in writing the music for the musical adaptation of "Jagged Little Pill," which ran for 171 performances on Broadway from 2019 to 2021, with an interruption due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Ballard co-wrote the score and was an executive producer for the 2020 Netflix musical drama, "The Eddy."
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