Will Jennings was a lyricist who won Academy Awards for “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion and “Up Where We Belong” by Joe Cocker (1944–2014) and Jennifer Warnes.
- Died: September 6, 2024 (Who else died on September 6?)
- Details of death: Died at his home in Tyler, Texas after a period of declining health at the age of 80.
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Will Jennings’ legacy
Jennings began writing songs professionally in the early 1970s, and before the decade was out, he had scored smash hits for multiple artists. Among the earliest to have major success with one of his songs was Barry Manilow, who had a No. 1 hit with “Looks Like We Made It.” Manilow also recorded Jennings’ “Somewhere in the Night;” both he and Helen Reddy (1941–2020) took it to the Top 20. Also in the ‘70s, Jennings began a long association with B.B. King (1925–2015), and he ultimately wrote the majority of the lyrics for three of King’s albums.
In the early 1980s, Jennings began working closely with Steve Winwood. He wrote lyrics for the Winwood albums “Arc of a Diver,” “Talking Back to the Night,” and “Back in the High Life,” including such hit songs as “Higher Love,” “While You See a Chance,” “Valerie,” “Roll With It,” and “The Finer Things.” Jennings often preferred to write a song with a specific singer in mind, rather than writing a song and finding a singer to record it, and whenever possible, he liked to spend time with the singer as he wrote their lyrics. This technique was used to full effect while he wrote for Winwood. Jennings stayed at Winwood’s home, and the two spent free time side by side, as well as penned songs together. This technique allowed Jennings to write songs that felt more authentic to the singer.
One particularly personal song that Jennings wrote while using this technique was Eric Clapton’s “Tears in Heaven.” Clapton had begun the lyrics to the song about the death of his young son, but he called in Jennings to help him finish it.
Other songs written or co-written by Jennings include the No. 1 hit “Didn’t We Almost Have it All” by Whitney Houston (1963–2012), “Please Remember Me” by Tim McGraw, “If We Hold on Together” by Diana Ross, and “Street Life” by The Crusaders. In 2006, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Jennings on writing “My Heart Will Go On”
“I had met this very vibrant woman who was about 101 years old when I met her. That was two years before. And she came into my mind. And I realized she could have been on the Titanic. So I wrote everything from the point of view of a person of a great age looking back so many years. And it was the love story that made the film, of course. It was magnificently done with special effects, the actors were good. But the love story was what it was.” — from a 2006 interview for Songfacts
Tributes to Will Jennings
Full obituary: The Hollywood Reporter
