Will Jennings, the Oscar-winning lyricist for songs such as ‘My Heart Will Go On’, ‘Tears in Heaven’ and ‘Up Where We Belong’, has died at the age of 80.
The news was confirmed by his caregiver Martha Sherrod, who told The Hollywood Reporter that he passed away on Friday (September 6) at him home in Tyler, Texas. He had been in declining health for five years.
Jennings won three Grammys, two Golden Globes and two Oscars, the latter coming for Celine Dion’s signature song for Titanic in 1997, and ‘Up Where We Belong’, recorded by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes for An Officer and a Gentleman in 1982.
Wilbur Hershel Jennings was born on June 27, 1944 in Kilgore, Texas, and after a period teaching at Austin State University, he made his first inroads into the entertainment industry in the mid-1970s.
Some of his earlier success came writing alongside composer Richard Kerr, including multiple hits for Barry Manilow, including ‘Looks Like We Made It’ and ‘Somewhere In The Night’.
He found his niche writing lyrics for songs for films, earning his first Oscar nomination for ‘People Alone’, from the Richard Dreyfuss drama The Competition in 1980, which he wrote alongside Lalo Schifrin.
‘Up Where We Belong’ earned him his first Academy Award, alongside Jack Nitzsche and Buffy Sainte-Marie, and from there Jennings became in high demand as a lyricist, writing for artists including Roy Orbison, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houstin, B.B. King and Diana Ross.
In the early 1990s, he wrote ‘Tears In Heaven’ alongside Eric Clapton for the film Rush, before later teaming up with James Horner for ‘My Heart Will Go On’, which remains one of the best-selling singles of all time.
Jennings and Horner later teamed up again on ‘Where Are You Christmas?’, from the Jim Carrey film How the Grinch Stole Christmas., and ‘All Love Can Be’, for A Beautiful Mind.
Jennings was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2006. He is survived by his wife Carole and his sisters Joyce and Gloria.