Anecdotes

Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2006.

Before Celine Dion powerfully sang the romantic theme song from the motion picture Titanic, East Texan native Will Jennings had penned the dramatic lyrics for "My Heart Will Go On." The song earned Jennings his second Academy Award for Best Original Song, having won the Oscar fifteen years prior for "Up Where We Belong" from the movie An Officer and a Gentleman.

In addition to Eric Clapton and Celine Dion, other artists who have performed the works of Jennings include Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, B.B. King, Rodney Crowell, Emmylou Harris, Jimmy Buffet, Barry Manilow, Roy Orbison, Steve Winwood, Dionne Warwick, Joe Cocker, Jennifer Warnes, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill and more.

Jennings would go on to write more than 500 songs which would be performed around the world by some of the most talented artists of our time.

In 2019, TJC honored Jennings with its "Legends of TJC" award and announced the naming of the Carole and Will Jennings Lobby in the Rogers Palmer Performing Arts Center on the College's central campus. The couple met during the time they attended TJC and have been married since 1965.

After attending the University of Texas in Austin, Jennings transferred to Stephen F. Austin State University where he completed his bachelor's and master's degrees. He then returned to TJC to serve as an English professor, and later taught at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

Richard Kerr and Jennings wrote "Somewhere in the Night " which was a US Top 20 hit for both Helen Reddy and Barry Manilow.

He received a BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) award for "Up Where We Belong" with Jack Nitzsche and Buffy Sainte-Marie.

Together with Joe Sample, Jennings wrote "Street Life" (a world-wide hit for the Crusaders with singer Randy Crawford) and several songs for various albums by the Crusaders for guest vocalists, including Joe Cocker ("I'm So Glad I'm Standing Here Today"), and Bill Withers ("Soul Shadows"). Jennings and Sample also wrote the better part of three albums for B.B. King, Midnight Believer in 1978, Take It Home in 1979, and There is Always One More Time in 1991.

One collaboration was with Eric Clapton, on the well-known "Tears in Heaven," a tribute to Clapton's four-year-old son, who died in 1991. Monica Mancini, daughter of composer Henry Mancini, knew that Clapton was struggling with the song and suggested he work with Jennings.

He graduated from Tyler Junior College and taught English at the college. In 1967, Jennings earned his B.A. from Stephen F. Austin State University, located in Nacogdoches, Texas. He then taught at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire for three years.

Teaming with James Horner and Mariah Carey, Jennings wrote the lyrics for the central song in How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, "Where Are You Christmas?", sung by a character within the film and by Faith Hill at the end of the film.

Jennings also wrote several songs for Roy Orbison's King of Hearts album.

In tandem with Jack Nitzsche and Buffy Sainte-Marie, Jennings earned his first Oscar for "Up Where We Belong," sung by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes for the blockbuster film, An Officer and A Gentleman.

His biggest song remains 1997's Titanic theme "My Heart Will Go On." Written with composer James Horner and sung by Celine Dion, the song earned a boatload of Oscars, Grammys and Golden Globes on its way to becoming the most-played radio hit in history.

He has been inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame and has won several awards including three Grammy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and two Academy Awards.

From his biography from the Songwriters Hall of Fame in which he was inducted in 2006: The Grammy and Academy Award winning songwriter began his Hollywood career with 1976's The Commitment, soon after teaming with composer Richard Kerr to write Barry Manilow's 1977 hit "Looks Like We Made It." Two years later, Manilow returned to the top 10 with the duo's "Somewhere in the Night.".

In Nashville, Jennings wrote hits with Rodney Crowell, including "Many a Long & Lonesome Highway", "What Kind of Love" and "Please Remember Me", a number one country hit for Tim McGraw.

Deana Martin recorded one of Jennings' songs, "I Know Who You Are", on her 2016 album Swing Street.

With Steve Winwood, Jennings wrote a series of albums including Arc of a Diver, Talking Back to the Night and Back in the High Life, an album that contained the hits "Higher Love", "The Finer Things", and "Back in the High Life Again". Winwood won the Record Of The Year and Outstanding Male Vocal Performance. Both Jennings and Winwood were nominated for the Song of the Year award for "Higher Love.".