Will Jennings, a co-writer of the iconic song My Heart Will Go On, has died at the age of 80, it has been confirmed.
Jennings famously penned Celine Dion’s 1997 tune, which featured in the Titanic movie, and also wrote Eric Clapton’s Tears in Heaven.
As well as working with Dion and Clapton, Jennings collaborated with many other high-profile stars, including Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Dionne Warwick, Barry Manilow, Diana Ross, and Tim McGraw, to name just a few.
Their hits included Houston’s number one Didn’t We Almost Have It All and Manilow’s chart-topper, Looks Like We Made It.
Following his death, his publisher confirmed the sad news to Variety this morning.
He was unwell for a while before he died, but his cause of death is currently unknown.
As music lovers paid tribute to Jennings, Pete Wolf shared an emotional message on Instagram.
He wrote alongside a snap of the pair together: A Lot of Good Ones Gone… A sad time, the passing of Will Jennings, a maestro, brilliant mind and a gentle spirit.
‘Will shared his talents with me, ever patient and generous, he was a treasured friend and teacher, enriching my life in so many ways.
‘It was an enormous honour to have worked with such a musical genius for so many years.’
Wolf was then flooded with comments sending their condolences, with one hailing Jennings as ‘a great lyricist’.
Jennings enjoyed a decorated songwriting career as he had plenty of prestigious awards to his name.
In 1982, he won his first Oscar for best original song withJoe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes’ Up Where We Belong from An Officer and a Gentleman.
Then, in 1997, he earned another Oscar for My Heart Will Go On thanks to its epic feature in the hit film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.
My Heart Will Go On also won Jennings one of his three Grammys. He’s been nominated for six in total.
Speaking about the song, Jennings previously Songfacts that a meeting with a ‘very vibrant woman who was about 101 years old’ inspired the writing process.
Two years after their encounter, she entered his mind as he realised ‘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,’ he mused.
‘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.’
Jennings was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2006, and was later made a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
In 2023, Jennings’ song catalogue was acquired by All Clear Music and the Fuji Music Group. While details of the sale were not made public, Billboard estimated its value between $60-70million (£45.7-£53.3m)
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