Songwriter Cynthia Weil dies aged 82

Prolific songwriter Cynthia Weil has died at the age of 82.

Weil, who was best known for her songwriting partnership with her husband Barry Mann, passed away on Thursday night.

Their daughter, TV psychotherapist Dr. Jenn Mann, told TMZ, “My mother, Cynthia Weil, was the greatest mother, grandmother and wife our family could ever ask for. She was my best friend, confidant, and my partner in crime and an idol and trailblazer for women in music.”

Mann, who was married to Weil for almost 62 years, added, “I’m a lucky man. I had two for one, my wife and one of the greatest songwriters in the world, my soul and inspiration.”

According to the family, Weil’s “Grammy award winning lyrics touched the hearts and souls of hundreds of millions of people around the world, making her one of the most iconic songwriters of the 20th Century”.

Weil and Mann are best known for writing The Righteous Brothers’ You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin and (You’re My) Soul and Inspiration, Dolly Parton’s Here You Come Again, The Drifters’ and George Benson’s On Broadway, The Crystals’ Uptown and The Ronettes’ Walking in the Rain, among many others.

Together, they were nominated for the Best Original Song Oscar and won two Grammys for Somewhere Out There, performed by Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram, for 1986’s An American Tail.

They were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987 and were honoured with the Ahmet Ertegun Award from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010.

Weil and Mann appeared as characters in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, the biographical stage production about their good friend, fellow songwriter Carole King.