The American lyricist wrote more than 500 songs for some of the world's most legendary singers, including Céline Dion, Whitney Houston and Barry Manilow - and became known as a maestro of cinematic ballads. Will Jennings, the American lyricist behind Oscar-winning songs such as 'My Heart Will Go On' and 'Up Where We Belong', has died aged 80 at his home in Tyler, Texas. The news was shared by Jennings' caregiver to the Hollywood Reporter, with no cause of death given.
Born in 1944 in a small Texan town, Jennings first found success in Nashville, writing lyrics for country music and earning his first No 1 with 'Feelins’' by Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn in 1975. Re-locating to Los Angeles, he pivoted into pop and hit it off in Hollywood after collaborating with the composer Richard Kerr to co-write Barry Manilow's 1977 US No 1 'Looks Like We Made it'. This led to a prolific career, in which he wrote more than 500 songs for some of the world's most legendary singers, including: B.
B. King, Whitney Houston, Jimmy Buffett, Roy Orbison, Dionne Warwick, Joe Cocker and Mariah Carey. His hits include the iconic disco track 'Street Life', sang by the Crusaders, 'I’ll Never Love This Way Again' by Dionne Warwick, and the 1987 Whitney Houston chart-topper 'Didn’t We Almost Have It All'.
It was for his collaborative work on famous film soundtracks that Jennings became best known, however, winning his first Academy Award in 1983 for 'Up Where We Belong', written for . A 1991 colla.
