Songwriter Gerry Goffin dies aged 75
The man behind 'Will You Love Me Tomorrow', 'Take Good Care
of My Baby' and 'The Loco-Motion' formed a brilliant
songwriting partnership with first wife Carole King
The lyricist Gerry Goffin, who with his then-wife and
songwriting partner Carole King wrote such Sixties hits as Will
You Love Me Tomorrow and The Loco-Motion, has
died at his Los Angeles home aged 75.
Mr Goffin, who married Ms King in 1959 while they were in their
teens, penned more than 50 top 40 hits, including
Pleasant Valley Sunday for
the Monkees,
Some
Kind of Wonderful for the Drifters
and
Take Good Care of My
Baby for Bobby
Vee.
The couple divorced in 1968, but Mr Goffin kept working,
co-writing
Savin' All My Love for
You, which became a hit for Whitney Houston.
Ms King said in a statement that Goffin was her “first love”
and had a profound impact on her
life.
She said: “Gerry was a good man with a dynamic force, whose
words and creative influence will resonate for generations to
come.
“His legacy to me is our two daughters, four grandchildren, and
our songs that have touched millions and millions of
people, as well
as a lifelong friendship.“
Mr Goffin was born in Brooklyn in 1939 and was a chemist who
loved music when he met Ms King. A whirlwind romance led to a
marriage and
their first hit, when she
was only 17, Will You Love Me Tomorrow
for the Shirelles.
Both quit their day jobs to focus on music.
The Goffin-King love affair is the subject of the Tony
Award-nominated
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical on
Broadway. Ms King, while backing the project, had avoided seeing
it for months because it dredged up sad memories. She finally
watched it in April.
The musical shows the two composing their songs at Aldon Music,
the Brill Building publishing company in Manhattan that also
employed Neil Sedaka, Howard Greenfield and Carole Bayer Sager.
The show ends just as King is enjoying fame for her
ground-breaking solo album Tapestry.
It also alleges Mr Goffin's womanising and depression were
causes of the breakup.
After their divorce, Mr Goffin garnered an Academy Award
nomination with Michael Masser for
the
theme to the 1975 film Mahogany for
Diana Ross. He also
earned
a Golden Globe nomination for So Sad the Song
in 1977 from the film Pipe Dreams.
Mr Goffin and Ms King were inducted into the Songwriters Hall
of Fame in 1987 and the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three
years later.
Mr Goffin is survived by his five children and Michelle, his
second wife.
List of songs written by Goffin and King
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a
list of songs by Gerry Goffin and Carole King who formed a
songwriting partnership for
Aldon Music at 1650 Broadway in New York. Their
partnership's first success was "
Will You Love Me Tomorrow",
recorded by
the Shirelles.
Hits,
charted songs and notable album tracks by Goffin and King
| Year |
Song |
Original artist |
U.S. Hot 100 |
Other versions, chart information and album notes |
| 1961 |
"Will You Love Me
Tomorrow" |
The Shirelles |
1 |
Carole King (in 1971), The
Four Seasons (in 1968, #24), Cher,
Roberta Flack, Amy Winehouse, Melanie, Jackie DeShannon, Len Barry, Bunny Sigler, Cissy Houston, The Platters, Neil Diamond (in 1993), Linda Ronstadt, Angus Tung (in Mandarin), Shirley Kwan and Alan Tam (in Cantonese), Dusty Springfield, Dave Mason and Debbie Gibson (both under the
title "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow"), The Rocky Fellers, Lorrie Morgan, and Minnie Driver (performed in
the film "Beautiful)", Françoise Hardy, Bryan Ferry. |
| 1961 |
"Take Good Care of My
Baby" |
Bobby Vee |
1 |
Dion and the Belmonts
(later in 1961), Bobby Vinton (in 1968), Smokie (in 1981), Bobby Vee, Stephen Collins, Dick Brave |
| "Some Kind of Wonderful" |
The Drifters |
32 |
Marvin Gaye (in 1968), Carole King (in 1971); not the
same song as the Grand Funk Railroad hit |
| "Halfway to Paradise" |
Tony Orlando |
39 |
Billy Fury (1962), Bobby Vinton (1968), Tina Charles (1977) |
| "Every Breath I Take" |
Gene Pitney |
42 |
No relation to the Police's "Every Breath You Take" |
| "Walkin' with My Angel" |
Bobby Vee |
53 |
Herman's Hermits |
| "Don't Ever Change" |
The Crickets |
- |
The Beatles (in 1963,
unreleased until 1994), Brinsley Schwarz (1973), Bryan Ferry (in 1973), Mud
(in 1982) |
| 1962 |
"Chains" |
The Cookies |
17 |
The Beatles (in 1963), Carole King (in 1980) |
| "Keep Your Hands Off
My Baby" |
Little Eva |
12 |
The Beatles (in 1964,
unreleased until 1994) |
| "The Loco-Motion" |
Little Eva |
1 |
The Chiffons (in 1963), Emerson
Lake & Powell (instrumental), Grand Funk Railroad (in 1974, #1), Carole King (in 1980), Kylie Minogue (in 1988, #3), Tina Turner, Dwight Yoakam. Originally
published as "Loco Motion". |
| "He Hit Me (It
Felt Like a Kiss)" |
The Crystals |
- |
The Motels (in 1982), Hole (in 1994), Grizzly Bear (in 2007) |
| "Go Away Little Girl" |
Steve Lawrence |
1 |
Mark Wynter, The Tams, Donny Osmond (in 1971, #1), The Happenings (in 1966, #12) |
| "Point Of No Return" |
Gene McDaniels |
21 |
|
| "It Might As Well Rain Until
September" |
Carole King |
22 |
Bobby Vee, Helen Shapiro |
| 1963 |
"Don't Say
Nothin' Bad (About My Baby)" |
The Cookies |
7 |
|
| "Old Smokey Locomotion" |
Little Eva |
48 |
|
| "I Can't Stay Mad at You" |
Skeeter Davis |
7 |
|
| "Hey Girl" |
Freddie Scott |
10 |
Donny Osmond (in 1972, #9),
George Benson (1977), Carole King (in 1980), Billy Joel (Greatest
Hits Volume III in 1997), Bob James & David Sanborn, Ray Charles & Michael McDonald
(duet, from Charles' album "Genius Loves Company"), Bobby Vee (as part of a medley
with The Temptations' hit My Girl
in 1968, #35), Righteous
Brothers (1966, on their album Soul & Inspiration) |
| "One Fine Day" |
The Chiffons |
5 |
Rita Coolidge (in 1979, #66),
Carole King (in 1980,
#12), Aaron Neville (in 1993), Natalie Merchant (in 1996) |
| "Up on the Roof" |
The Drifters |
5 |
Kenny Lynch (1964), King (in 1970), Laura Nyro (in 1970), James Taylor (in 1979, #28), Neil Diamond (in 1993), Billy Joe Royal, Peter Cincotti |
| 1964 |
"I Can't Hear You No
More" |
Betty Everett |
66 |
Dusty Springfield (in 1965), King
(in 1970), Helen Reddy (in 1976, #29) |
| "I'm into Something Good" |
Earl-Jean |
38 |
Herman's Hermits (later in
1964, #13, UK #1) |
| "Oh No Not My Baby" |
Maxine Brown |
24 |
Manfred Mann (in 1965), Dusty Springfield (in 1965), Aretha Franklin (in 1970), Rod Stewart (in 1973, #59), The Partridge Family (Bulletin
Board in 1973), King (in 1980 and
2001), Cher
(in
1992, #33 in the U.K.), Linda Ronstadt (in 1994) |
| 1965 |
"Some of Your Lovin'" |
Dusty Springfield |
|
(UK #8) |
| "Don't Forget About Me" |
Barbara Lewis |
91 |
Dusty Springfield (US #64) |
| 1966 |
"Don't
Bring Me Down" |
The Animals |
12 |
Tom Petty and
the Heartbreakers (in 1986) |
| "Road to Nowhere" |
Carole King |
- |
White Trash (1969) |
| "Take a Giant Step" |
The Monkees |
- |
From the 1966 US/UK number-one LP The Monkees, plus
Taj Mahal (1969) |
| "Sometime in the Morning" |
The Monkees |
- |
From the 1967 US/UK number-one LP More
of The Monkees |
| "Goin' Back" |
Dusty Springfield |
- |
(UK #10), Goldie (recorded in 1966 but
unreleased), The Byrds (in 1968, #89),
King (in 1970) and (in 1980), Larry Lurex (1973) Nils Lofgren,
Elkie Brooks, Johnny Logan, Diana Ross, Glen Shorrock &
Renee Geyer (Aust. 1983), Phil Collins (2010) |
| "I Can't Make It Alone" |
P.J. Proby |
- |
Dusty Springfield, Maria McKee (in 1993) |
| 1967 |
"Pleasant Valley Sunday" |
The Monkees |
3 |
The Weisstronauts (in 2008) |
| "Star Collector" |
The Monkees |
- |
From the 1967 US number-one LP Pisces,
Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. |
| "(You
Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" |
Aretha Franklin |
8 |
King (in 1971), Laura Nyro (in 1971), Rod Stewart (in 1974), Bonnie Tyler (in
1978), Mary J. Blige (in 1995, #95), Celine Dion (in 1995) |
| 1968 |
"Porpoise Song" |
The Monkees |
62 |
Bongwater (in 1988) |
| "I Wasn't Born to Follow" |
The Byrds |
|
King (in 1980), Tracy Grammer (in 2004), Beth Orton (in 2012). Byrds' single
released as "Wasn't Born to Follow". |
| 1970 |
"Hi-De-Ho (That Old Sweet Roll)" |
Blood, Sweat &
Tears |
14 |
Dusty Springfield (non-LP
B-side in 1969), King (in 1980) |
Songs by
Gerry Goffin with other songwriters
In addition to King, Goffin also collaborated with other
songwriters, notably
Barry Mann,
Russ Titelman,
Barry Goldberg and
Michael Masser. Works produced by
these collaborations include:
More recent works attributed to Goffin are:
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