Rod Temperton, who wrote Michael Jackson’s iconic song “Thriller,” has died at the age of 66.
CEO of Warner/Chappell, Jon Platt, wrote in a statement: “Rod Temperton, British Composer and Musician, died last week at the age of 66 in London following a brief aggressive battle with cancer.”
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Platt added, “His funeral was private. He was often referred to as ‘The Invisible Man.’ He was the sole writer of multiple successful songs such as ‘Thriller,’ ‘Off The Wall,’ ‘Rock With You,’ [George Benson’s] ‘Give Me The Night,’ [Michael McDonald’s] ‘Sweet Freedom,’ [Heatwave’s] ‘Always & Forever’ and ‘Boogie Nights’ to name just a few. His family is devastated and request total privacy at this, the saddest of sad times.”
Temperton once stated regarding Michael Jackson’s smash hit “Thriller”: “Something in my head just said ‘This is the title.’ You could visualize it on top of the Billboard charts. You could see the merchandizing of this one word; it jumped off the page at you. So I knew I had to write it as ‘Thriller,’ and I wrote all the words very quickly, then went to the studio and we did it.”
Michael Jackson’s album titled Thriller would go on to be the best-selling album of all time, with an accompanying video that revolutionized the music video genre.
In addition to writing songs for Michael Jackson, Temperton also wrote for artists including: Aretha Franklin, Karen Carpenter, Donna Summer, Herbie Hancock, Jones and McDonald, and Manhattan transfer, according to Rolling Stone.
R.I.P. Rod Temperton.
[H/T TMZ, Rolling Stone]
