Prolific singer-songwriter Cynthia Weil has died aged 82.
Weil, who was best known for writing songs with husband Barry Mann, died Thursday night.
Their daughter, psychotherapist Dr. Jenn Mann, told TMZ, “My mother, Cynthia Weil, was the best mother, grandmother and wife our family could have asked for. She was my best friend, my confidante and a trailblazer for women in music.”
Mann, who has been married to Weil for nearly 62 years, added: “I’m a lucky man. I had a two for one, my wife and one of the greatest songwriters in the world.”
According to Weil’s family, “Her song lyrics have 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’, ‘Make Your Own Kind of Music” by Mama Cass Elliot, “The Drifters” and “On Broadway” by George Benson. She also wrote a song for the great Celine Dion, “Love Doesn’t Ask Why” which is found on the album “The Color of my Love” released in 1993.
Together they were nominated for the Oscar for Best Original Song and won two Grammys for “Somewhere Out There,” performed by Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram, for An American Tail in 1986.
They were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987 and received the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Ahmet Ertegun Award in 2010.
