Will Jennings, Oscar-winning songwriter and co-writer of the iconic “Titanic” theme, “My Heart Will Go On,” has died at the age of 80. Multiple reports,
Jennings won the Academy Award for Best Original Song with composer James Horner for the heartwarming song from the 1997 disaster film, which was made legendary by Celine Dion.
He also won the prestigious award for “Up Where We Belong” was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song for “People Alone”, from “An Officer and a Gentleman”, and “The Competition”,
In 2006 he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
He also won two Grammy Awards for “My Heart Will Go On” and Eric Clapton's 1991 hit “Tears in Heaven.”
The song was written about the death of Clapton's four-year-old son Conor and appeared on the soundtrack to the film “Rush”.
Born on June 27, 1944, in Kilgore, Texas, Jennings made his debut in 1976 in “The Commitments”,, After which he collaborated with Richard Cate to write Barry Manilow's No. 1 hit song, “Looks Like We Made It”.
He was also a collaborator with Steve Winwood, and they worked on several songs. Arc of a Diver and Talking Back to the Nightwhich included the hit “Valerie”. Other joint hits with Winwood included “Higher Love” and “Back in the High Life Again”.
But it was the words of his heart-touching song “My Heart Will Go On” that made him a superstar.
He told Songfacts that the inspiration for the song's lyrics came from a “vibrant” woman he met two years ago who lived to be around 101 years old. Variety reported.
“And she came into my mind,” Jennings said. “And I realized she could have been on the Titanic. So I wrote everything from an older person's point of view, from all those years ago.”
Jennings also collaborated with Whitney Houston on “Didn’t We Almost Have It All,” Dionne Warwick on “I’ll Never Love Again” and other music legends, including Mariah Carey, Tim McGraw, B.B. King, Diana Ross, Faith Hill and Jimmy Buffett.
According to reports, Jennings died at his Texan home. The cause of death is not known.
