Will Jennings

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Wilbur H. "Will" Jennings (born June 27, 1944 in Kilgore , Texas ) is an American songwriter , best known for his lyrics to Up Where We Belong and My Heart Will Go On .

Life

Jennings attended Stephen F. Austin State University , after graduating in 1967 he taught at the University of Wisconsin in Eau Claire . In 1977 he wrote the number one hit Looks Like We Made It for Barry Manilow with composer Richard Kerr . Two years later they both composed the track Somewhere in the Night with which Manilow was placed ninth on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1978 . In 1981 Jennings was nominated for an Oscar for the first time , he had contributed the text to Lalo Schifrin's music for the title People Alone from the soundtrack to The Grand Finale . In the same year Jennings worked with Steve Winwood on his album Arc of a Diver and was involved in most of the tracks on the album. Also in 1981 Jennings contributed lyrics to the last album by Udo Jürgens , which was produced entirely in English . a. for the title track Leave a little love . The following year, Winwood's Talking Back to the Night appeared with the hit single Valerie , which was again a hit in the 2004 version of Eric Prydz . Jennings received his first Oscar in 1983 for his text to Up Where We Belong from the film An Officer and Gentleman with Richard Gere and Debra Winger in the leading roles, sung by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes . The title also received the Golden Globe Award and the BAFTA Award .

In 1986 there was another collaboration with Winwood with the two Grammy Award winning album Back In The Highlife , the track Higher Love reached number one on the Billboard charts. In 1991 Jennings wrote the ballad Tears in Heaven with Eric Clapton , which was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and a Grammy . 1997 Jennings wrote together with the film composer James Horner for the feature film Titanic the title My Heart Will Go On , which was interpreted by Celine Dion . The single reached the top of the charts in the USA, Great Britain and Germany , and the soundtrack album stayed in the German charts for a whole year. The title was awarded the Oscar, the Golden Globe Award, the Golden Satellite Award , the ASCAP Award and the Grammy. Jennings texted titles have been used in feature films since the early 1980s. Some of these were specially written for the soundtrack, and some of the titles that had already been published were included in the soundtracks. In particular, the successful titles Up Where We Belong and My Heart Will Go On were picked up again after their chart successes for the soundtrack of later films.

In addition to his successful work in the film industry, Jennings contributed texts for many artists. These include Bon Jovi , Keith Jarrett , Whitney Houston , Roy Orbison and Otis Rush .

Filmography (selection)

Awards

  • 1981: Oscar nomination for People Alone (The Grand Finale)
  • 1983: Oscar for Up Where We Belong (An Officer and a Gentleman)
  • 1983: Golden Globe Award for Up Where We Belong (An Officer and a Gentleman)
  • 1984: BAFTA Award for Up Where We Belong (An Officer and a Gentleman)
  • 1992: Golden Globe Award nomination for Dreams to Dream (Feivel, the mouse wanderer in the wild west)
  • 1993: Golden Globe Award nomination for Tears in Heaven (Feverish)
  • 1993: Grammy nomination for Tears in Heaven (Feverish)
  • 1998: Oscar for My Heart Will Go On (Titanic)
  • 1998: Golden Globe Award for My Heart Will Go On (Titanic)
  • 1998: Golden Satellite Award for My Heart Will Go On (Titanic)
  • 1999: ASCAP Award for My Heart Will Go On (Titanic)
  • 1999: Grammy for My Heart Will Go On (Titanic)
  • 2002: Golden Satellite Award for All Love Can Be (A beautiful Mind - Genie und Wahnsinn)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Will Jennings Interview (English)
personal data
SURNAME Jennings, Will
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Jennings, Wilbur H. (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American songwriter
DATE OF BIRTH June 27, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH Kilgore , Texas