Will Jennings, The two-time Oscar-winning songwriter who co-wrote Celine Dion's “My Heart Will Go On” along with chart-topping hits for Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood and Whitney Houston has died at the age of 80.
Jennings' acting manager confirms songwriter's death Hollywood ReporterHe died Friday at his home in Tyler, Texas, he said. The cause of death has not been determined, but Jennings had suffered from health problems in recent years.
“It was with great sadness that Will Jennings passed away,” Peter Wolf, the former J. Geils singer who collaborated with Jennings on two solo albums, tweeted Saturday. “He was a master, a brilliant mind and a gentle soul. It was a great honor to work with such a musical genius.”
Jennings was a Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee, with six of his songs reaching number one, and was a two-time Academy Award winner for Best Original Song, the first for co-writing “Up Where We Belong” – sung by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Barnes for the 1982 album “Up Where We Belong.” Officer and gentleman -And then for Titanic “My Heart Will Go On” was a huge hit, co-written with composer James Horner.
“My Heart Will Go On” also won Song of the Year and Record of the Year for the second time at the Grammy Awards; he previously won both awards in 1993 for co-writing Eric Clapton's “Tears in Heaven,” a tribute to the late guitarist's son that reached No. 2 on the U.S. singles chart.
Hit songs co-written by Jennings and Steve Winwood include a duo of their longtime classics—”Higher Love” and “Roll With It,” as well as the Top 20 hit “Back in the High Life Again”—as well as Barry Manilow's “Looks Like We Made It,” Whitney Houston's “Didn't We Almost Have It All,” and Tim McGraw's country chart-topper “Please Remember Me,” originally written for Rodney Crowell.
Jennings has also written songs with artists ranging from Jimmy Buffett and Roy Orbison to Mariah Carey, Laura Branigan, and Dionne Warwick.
