R.I.P. Allee Willis

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Grammy-winning songwriter Allee Willis is dead, 72 years old.

I guess most people have seen the Friends series and heard the song I Be There For You?

Willis is behind super hits like The Rembrandt’s Be There For You,the familiar tune of the popular TV series Friends, as well as songs like September and Boogie Wonderland by Earth, Wind & Fire. She is also behind the Broadway musical The Color Purple.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-9kPks0IfE

Allee Willis, the American Jewish songwriter who wrote the theme song for the hit television show Friends has died at age 72, her partner Prudence Fenton announced Wednesday on Instagram.

«Rest In Boogie Wonderland Nov 10,1947- December 24, 2019», Fenton wrote on her Instagram account in a post with a photo of Willis, referring to the 1979 hit she co-wrote for Earth, Wind and Fire.

Willis’ Instagram account also included a screenshot of an article about her death along with the caption, «We are extremely shocked and devastated to share this news».

In 2018, Willis became part of the songwriters’ Hall of Fame. She died Tuesday of a cardiac event, The New York Times reported, citing her publicist.

She won a Grammy in 1985 for her work on the soundtrack for Beverly Hills Cop, and was nominated for another two decades later for The Color Purple, according to the Recording Academy’s website.

Willis did not know how to play music, but learned to become a songwriter by listening to rhythms coming through the walls of Motown studios in Detroit, the city in which she grew up, according to the Times.

«I, very thankfully, have a few songs that will not go away», Willis told the newspaper.