Mississippi man cowrites song recorded by Cher; reaches No. 1 on Billboard

An Ocean Springs man is part of a songwriting team that landed a No. 1 spot on Billboard with a single recorded by Cher, "DJ Play a Christmas Song."

Brett McLaughlin, who goes by the professional name of Leland is a seasoned singer-songwriter who now lives in Los Angeles.

Nonetheless, Leland was excited to learn that Cher would be performing the song at the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City.

"I’ve always wanted to have a song I’ve written performed in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and never could have imagined it would be with the icon Cher," he wrote on Facebook.

The song spent four weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary radio airplay chart. Cher is slated to perform the song on TV

It is not the first time Leland has made the national spotlight for his songwriting. He co-wrote "Revelation" with Jonsi and Troye Sivan for the movie "Boy Erased."

The song was nominated for a Golden Globe in 2019 for Best Original Song in a Motion Picture, which ultimately was awarded to Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper's "Shallow" from "A Star is Born."

Leland also has cowritten top songs for such artists as Kelsea Ballerini ("Miss Me More") and Selena Gomez ("Fetish") and landed a Top 40 of his own with the song, "Mattress."

In addition to his chart-topping songwriting skills, Leland is part of the songwriting team for "RuPaul's Drag Show," which has also produced a number of hits.

Leland grew up in Ocean Springs before moving to Nashville, where he graduated from Belmont University.

Hitmaking Mississippi songwriters you may not know

Mississippi has a wealth of hitmaking musicians and songwriters, with more Grammy Award winners per capita than any other state, which isn't surprising since the state is known as the birthplace of American music.

Since it would be impossible to list every Mississippi artist who has written or performed a hit song, we're sharing a sample of a few who you may not have heard of and just a handful of the songs they've contributed to.

• Natchez native Glen Ballard cowrote Alanis Morrisette's "You Oughta Know" and "Ironic."

• Waynesboro native Tena Clark wrote Patti Labelle's "Way Up There" for NASA, and cowrote Dionne Warwick's "Reservations for Two," LeAnn Rimes' "We're Running Out of Time" and "I'll Be Okay" from the movie, "My Best Friend's Wedding."

• Meridian native Ben Johnson cowrote Weezer's "All My Favorite Songs," "On Me" by Thomas Rhett and Kane Brown, featuring Ava Max and "Believe" by Meek Mill featuring Justin Timberlake.

• Biloxi native Bob Morrison cowrote Kenny Rogers' "You Decorated My Life" and Johnny Lee's "Lookin' for Love."

• Hattiesburg native Craig Wiseman cowrote Blake Shelton's "Came Here to Forget," Kenny Chesney's "The Good Stuff" and Tim McGraw's "Live Like You Were Dying."

Who is your favorite Mississippi songwriter? Contact Lici Beveridge at lbeveridge@gannett.com. Follow her on X @licibev or Facebook at facebook.com/licibeveridge.

This article originally appeared on Hattiesburg American: Mississippi man writes song that Cher turns into a hit