‘Midnight Train to Georgia’ songwriter Jim Weatherly dies at 77



[ad_1]

And her love for the game led to her greatest success in music, first involving a young Farrah Fawcett and eventually a legendary recording of her track “Midnight Train to Georgia” by Gladys Knight and the Pips.

Weatherly, who also wrote songs for Ray Price, Glen Campbell, Kenny Rogers and others, died Wednesday at his home in Brentwood, Tennessee, near Nashville, family friend Charlie Monk told the newspaper. Tennessean.

He was 77 and his family told Monk Weatherly had died of natural causes.

Born in Mississippi, Weatherly played on the University of Mississippi football team in an unbeaten 1962 season, SEC championship, and national championship. The following year, he was the starting quarterback when the Rebels repeated themselves as SEC champions.

After college, he decided to pursue music instead of soccer. And a few years later in Los Angeles, Weatherly played flag football with a group of friends including TV actor Lee Majors from “The Six Million Dollar Man,” he recalls in an interview with the Nashville Songwriters Association International.

Weatherly called Majors’ house one day, and the actor’s girlfriend, who would become “Charlie’s Angel” star Farrah Fawcett-Majors, responded. She said she was about to take the “midnight plane to Houston” and visit her family.

“A little bell rang,” Weatherly told NSAI. “It sounded like a song title to me.”

He wrote “Midnight Plane to Houston” like a country song, never imagining it would become an R&B hit. By the time it reached Gladys Knight & the Pips, the title and style had changed, and it had become a No.1 Grammy classic.

“I’m amazed it lasted like this lasted,” Weatherly told the NSAI. “It’s a timeless record.”

Knight and the Pips also had hits with Weatherly’s tunes “Neither One of Us” and “Best Thing That Every Happened to Me.”

On Friday Knight tweeted, “I already miss Jim Weatherly. He was talking about life and love … We were just made for each other. We grew our lives together. I will miss him terribly and l ‘love always. “

As a performer, Weatherly had a pop and adult-contemporary hit with “The Need to Be” and a country hit with “I’ll Still Love You,” according to the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He was inducted in 2014. “Midnight Train” is among Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

[ad_2]

Source link