Will Jennings, known for his Academy Award-winning Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes’ 1983 duet “Up Where We Belong” and Céline Dion‘s “My Heart Will Go On” from Titanic, and more hits, died at his home in Tyler, Texas on September 6, 2024, at the age of 80. No cause of death was revealed, but Jennings had reportedly been struggling with health issues in recent years.
Througout the early ’70s, Jennings began writing some songs for a handful of artists, before it picked up in the late 1970s with Barry Manilow‘s 1977 hit “Looks Like We Made It.” By 1980, Jennings started co-writing a steady stream of consecutive hits for Steve Winwood, from “While You See a Chance” in 1980, which went to No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and later hits including “Back in the High Life Again,” and No. 1s “Bring Me a Higher Love”and “Roll With It.”
Born on June 27, 1944, in Kilgore, Texas, Jennings started his career as a professor at Tyler Junion College in Texas, then went to Austin State University before teaching at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire for three years before becoming a hit songwriter in Hollywood.
Already a sought-after songwriter by the ’80s, in 1983, Jennings picked up his first Academy Award and a Golden Globe with co-writers Buffy Sainte-Marie and Jack Nitzsche for “Up Where We Belong,” which was performed by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes for the 1982 movie An Officer and a Gentleman.
In 1991, Jennings co-wrote Eric Clapton‘s “Tears in Heaven,” which appeared on the Rush film soundtrack and was dedicated to Clapton’s son Conor who died at age 4 that year after falling from an apartment window in New York City. The song became Clapton’s best-selling single in the U.S. and won three Grammy Awards for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.
[RELATED: The Man Who Helped Eric Clapton Finish “Tears in Heaven”]
By 1997, Jennings picked up his second Oscar, along with a Golden Globe, and a Grammy for writing “My Heart Will Go On” performed by Dion for the Oscar-winning film Titanic. He and James Horner also contributed “All Love Can Be,” sung by Charlotte Church for the 2001 Oscar-winning A Beautiful Mind, starring Russell Crowe.
Throughout his career, Jennings wrote songs for Roy Orbison, B.B. King, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Rodney Crowell, Bonnie Raitt, Jimmy Buffet, Emmylou Harris, Mariah Carey, and Faith Hill, among others. He also co-penned Whitney Houston‘s 1987 No. 1 “Didn’t We Almost Have It All” and co-wrote “Please Remember Me” with Crowell, which topped the Country chart for Tim McGraw in 1997.
“A sad time, the passing of Will Jennings, a maestro, brilliant mind and a gentle spirit,” wrote former J. Geils Band singer Peter Wolf, who collaborated on his solo albums Fool’s Parade (1999) and Sleepless (2002) with Jennings. “It was an enormous honor to have worked with such a musical genius.”
Musician Christopher Cross added, “I’m deeply saddened to learn of the passing of my friend and collaborator Will Jennings. Working with Will was a master class in lyric writing for me. He was the consummate wordsmith and his gift to the world is eternal.”
In 2006, Jennings was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
“I almost subconsciously used music for myself as a healing agent, and lo and behold, it worked,” said Jennings. “I have got a great deal of happiness and a great deal of healing from music.”
Jennings is survived by his wife, Carole, and his sisters, Joyce and Gloria.
Main Photo: Will Jennings (l) with wife Carolyn, Berliner Studio/BEImages/Bei/Shutterstock
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