Legendary Songwriter Cynthia Weil Passed Away At 82

Cynthia Weil, an 82-year-old songwriter known for her collaborations with her husband Barry Mann, in the Brill Building, passed away on Thursday.

A Legendary Woman in the Music Industry

Throughout her career, she contributed to the creation of numerous chart-topping songs. TMZ received confirmation of the news from Jenn Mann, her daughter, who said:

“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.”

Barry Mann included:

“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.”

Weil-Mann Story

Weil, originally from Brooklyn, was initially trained in acting and dancing before shifting her focus to songwriting. She married Mann, who was also from New York, in 1961, and they soon became one of the most notable writing pairs associated with the renowned Brill Building. Collaboratively, they composed successful songs such as “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” “On Broadway,” “Make Your Own Kind of Music,” “Walking in the Rain,” “You’re My Soul and Inspiration,” “Here You Come Again,” and numerous others.

From Demos to Hits

Various notable artists such as the Righteous Brothers, Cass Elliot, the Crystals, the Animals, Elvis Presley, Dusty Springfield, Dolly Parton, the Monkees, and Chaka Khan, among many others, had their songs captured on record by them.

Weil told Songwriter Universe in 2006:

“We worked nonstop.
“We wrote and cut demos, six days a week, for a three-year period. It seemed like the only friends we had were [Gerry] Goffin and [Carole] King because they were the only people we knew who had the same schedule as we did.”

The Dual Hall of Fame Honors

In 1987, Weil and Mann were honored with induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Later in 2010, they were bestowed with the Ahmet Ertegun Award by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, an honor that made Weil the first woman to be recognized in this manner.

In an interview with writer Gary James, Weil discussed her approach to songwriting:

“You know, I don’t know where it comes from. When we’re writing, we don’t think in terms of hits. We think in terms of songs and good songs that make us feel good about writing. If they happen to be hits, that’s great. At the very beginning when we were with all the music when we were kids in New York in the ’60s, there was a great camaraderie and a great competition up there, so it was much more than thinking about hits and there was more [than] living your life by the charts.”