![]() ![]() Mann and Weil’s musical “They Wrote That?” had a brief run in 2004. Mann and Weil were supporting characters in the hit Broadway musical about King, “Beautiful,” which opened in 2013 and documented the intense friendship and rivalry between the two married couples. Weil and Mann were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987 and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2010, with King introducing them at the Rock Hall ceremony. Rick Maiman / Sygma via Getty Images file Songwriters Barry Mann and his wife Cynthia Weil win the awards for Song of the Year and Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television with their song Somewhere out There, in 1999. She also had a knack for lyrics about ambition and aspiration, such as “On Broadway” and its unforgettable opening line, “They say the neon lights are bright/on Broadway.” The Animals had a hit with her tale of working class frustration, “We’ve Got to Get Out of This Place.” The Crystals’ “Uptown” was a 1961 hit that touched upon race and class in ways not often heard in rock’s early years. She and Mann wrote one of rock’s first anti-drug songs, “Kicks,” a hit for Paul Revere and the Raiders in 1966. Her talents reached well beyond love ballads. (BMI), no other song was played more on radio and television in the 20th century. “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” topped the charts in 1965 and was covered by numerous other artists. Their most famous song, a work of history overall, was “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” an anthem of “blue-eyed soul” produced by Spector as if scoring a tragedy and sung with desperate fury by the Righteous Brothers. “Don’t Know Much,” a Linda Ronstadt-Aaron Neville duet they helped write, was a top 5 hit that won a best pop performance Grammy in 1990. “Somewhere Out There,” a collaboration with James Horner for the soundtrack of “An American Tail,” won Grammys in 1987 for best song and best song for a movie or television, and was nominated for an Academy Award and Golden Globe. Weil and Mann were key collaborators with producer Phil Spector on songs for the Ronettes (“Walking in the Rain”), the Crystals (“He’s Sure the Boy I Love”) and other performers, and also provided hits for everyone from Dolly Parton to Hanson. My mom always said that when things were good they had each other, and when things weren’t as good they had their music.” Songwriters Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann, 1965 in New York. “My parents inspired each other to write great songs. “I grew up around a lot of music and two incredible, brilliant, creative geniuses,” Jenn Mann said. ![]() With such hit-making combinations as Carole King and Gerry Goffin and Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, the Brill Building song factory turned out many of the biggest singles of the ’60s and beyond. Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann, married in 1961, were one of popular music’s most successful teams, part of a remarkable ensemble recruited by impresarios Don Kirshner and Al Nevins and based in Manhattan’s Brill Building neighborhood, a few blocks from Times Square. ![]()
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