Gerry Goffin

Born on 11 February 1939 in Brooklyn, New York, died on 19 June 2014 in Los Angeles; Gerry Goffin was an American lyricist. At Queens College he met Carole King, whom he married in 1959; to her melodies he wrote the lyrics of numerous hits such as “Will You Love Me Tomorrow”, “One Fine Day” and “Don’t Bring Me Down”. With Michael Masser he received an Academy Award nomination in 1976 for “Theme From Mahogany (Do You Know Where You’re Going To)”; he also wrote “Saving All My Love for You”, the song that made Whitney Houston a star. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987 and, with King, into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990; in 2004 the two received the Recording Academy’s Trustees Award. On a gala recording by Doc Heilein and Friends, Miriam Schäfer sings “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman”, which he wrote with Carole King in 1967 for Aretha Franklin at the suggestion of Jerry Wexler.