Jackson Browne (born October 9, 1948, Heidelberg, Germany) is an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and guitarist who helped define the singer-songwriter movement of the 1970s. His interest in music led to his membership in the fledgling Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and to late-1960s stints in New York City as a backing musician for Nico of the Velvet Underground and for Tim Buckley. He was first noticed as a songwriter, and his compositions were recorded by performers such as Tom Rush, the Byrds, and Linda Ronstadt among others.

Browne became part of a coterie of musicians that established Los Angeles as the home of country rock, and cowrote several songs for the Eagles – most notably “Take It Easy”. After winning a cult following with his first three albums—the last two, including the highly regarded Late for the Sky, featured instrumentalist David Lindley — Browne had million-selling hits with The Pretender (1976) and the live album Running on Empty (1978). Browne’s 1977 album Running on Empty, however, is his signature work; it rose to number 3 on the album chart and remained there for over a year.

In 2004 Browne was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Three of Browne’s albums—For Everyman, Late for the Sky, and The Pretender—were selected by Rolling Stone magazine as among its choices for the 500 best albums of all time. and on 2015, Rolling Stone ranked him as 37th in its list of the “100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time”.  He has also been nominated for eight Grammy Awards.

Most recently, Jackson was honored with the 2024 American Music Honors from the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music celebrating artists who have demonstrated artistic excellence, creative integrity, and a longstanding commitment to the value of music in our national consciousness.