Cynthia Weil

Cynthia Weil (third from left), with Carole Bayer Sager , Carole King and Barry Mann (2012)

Cynthia Weil (born October 18, 1940 in Manhattan , New York) formed together with her husband Barry Mann one of the most successful American songwriter and music producer teams from the late 1950s to the 1990s.

Beginnings

Cynthia Weil was a trained actress and dancer. She discovered her talent as a composer of pop songs and went to the music publisher Frank Loesser Music Publishing . From there, she moved to Don Kirshner's famous music publisher, Aldon Music Publishing , in 1960 , making her one of the industry- renowned Brill Building authors. Here she met Barry Mann when he had just written The Way of A Clown for Teddy Randazzo, published in April 1960 . “My whole career started because I was chasing Barry Mann,” she confessed.

Weil's first song, however, came about from the collaboration with the famous couple Gerry Goffin and Carole King , whose demo recording was sung by a certain Jerry Landis (pseudonym of Paul Simon ). Teddy Randazzo did not publish the title Echoes until December 1962, but the composition dates back to 1959.

First common hits

Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil not only worked professionally as a team of authors, but became a couple and married on October 29, 1961. The newly wed couple's first joint composition in the same month was Bless You for Tony Orlando , who became the lead singer in 1970 Group Dawn had many successes. Usually the division of labor stipulated that Barry Mann composed the music and Cynthia Weil wrote the lyrics.

Crystals - Uptown

The couple's most successful collaboration to date was My Dad for Paul Peterson in November 1962 , which was also his best placement with a No. 6 in the charts. A classic was then with the title On Broadway on January 22, 1963 for the Drifters , where Mann can be heard on the piano and Dionne Warwick sings in the background choir. The play describes the dream of many teenagers to be discovered and famous on New York's famous theater street. The recording also includes a guitar solo by Phil Spector , who was one of the Brill Building's many talented writers / songwriters at the time. Spector founded his own record label Philles Records in November 1961 . His third single Uptown for the girl group The Crystals in March 1962 was penned by Mann / Weil. Two more compositions for Philles Records followed, until November 1964 with You've Lost That Lovin 'Feelin' for the Righteous Brothers, a top transatlantic hit (No. 1 in the USA and GB) came out. The pompous pop ballad, produced and arranged by Phil Spector from August to November 1964, has since been one of the most played songs of all time and one of the pop classics. Also (You're My) Soul and Inspiration for the false brothers that had not appeared more at Philles Records in February 1966 came from the now established writers-married couple. They did not hesitate to come up with time-critical songs. Kicks for Paul Revere & the Raiders criticized drug abuse the following month, We Gotta Get Out of This Place for the Animals served as an anthem against the Vietnam War in July 1965 .

The 1970s and 1980s

For BJ Thomas they wrote (I Just) Can't Help Believing in June 1970 , subsequently covered by a total of 40 performers (including by Elvis Presley ). They left the title Here You Come Again to Dolly Parton , which became a million seller after its release in October 1977 , Parton's first crossover hit and was named "Most Played Country Song of 1977" by BMI . Dan Hill brought her Sometimes When We Touch to US no. 3.

In cooperation with Tom Snow, Cynthia Weil wrote the lyrics for the contagious He's So Shy , published in July 1980 by the Pointer Sisters . In August 1981 Mann / Weil promoted the career of James Ingram with their composition Just Once , Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram sang as a duet the hit Somewhere Out There (US No. 2) published in December 1986 , which won two Grammy Awards in 1987 for “ best song of the year "and" best movie song "(for the animated film Feivel, der Mauswanderer ). Linda Ronstadt in a duet with Aaron Neville brought Don't Know Much to number 2 on the pop hit parade in September 1989 . The title Running With The Night was co-created with its performer Lionel Richie and after its publication in July 1983 it reached number 7 on the pop charts. With Tommy Lee James, Weil wrote Martina McBride's # 1 country song Wrong Again (October 1998).

Awards

According to the BMI , a total of 595 compositions are registered by copyright for Cynthia Weil; she is one of the great authors of American pop music. In December 1999 the BMI published the "Top 100 Songs of the Century", a list of the most played songs on radio and television. The list is led by You've Lost That Lovin 'Feeling , which has been performed over eight million times.

Cynthia Weil received 56 pop, country and R&B awards from the BMI, recognizing the compositions’s popularity through radio and television performances. It also received 60 Millionaire Awards for titles that have been performed more than a million times. She was inducted into the Songwriters' Hall of Fame in 1987. In 2015, Rolling Stone listed her and her husband at 88th of the 100 best songwriters of all time .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ken Emerson, Magic in the Air , 2005, p. 99 f.
2. ^ Ken Emerson, Magic in the Air , 2005, p. 103
3. ↑ Showbiz Scene with the list from Broadcast Music Incorporated ( Memento of the original from February 15, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ BMI entry about Cynthia Weil ( memento of the original dated December 8, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
5. ↑ The 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time. Rolling Stone , August 2015, accessed August 7, 2017 .