Gerry Goffin

Gerry Goffin took up lyric writing during his boyhood in Queens, New York. While enrolled at Queens College in 1958, he encountered composer Carole King, married her, and formed a songwriting partnership that lasted a decade. During those years the pair produced a remarkable run of hits, four of them reaching the top of the charts: the Shirelles’ “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” and Bobby Vee’s “Take Good Care of My Baby,” both in 1961; Little Eva’s “The Loco-Motion” in 1962; and Steve Lawrence’s “Go Away Little Girl” in 1963. Additional successes included “Up On the Roof” and “(You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman.” The Beatles’ arrival in the United States in 1964 accelerated a shift toward self-contained singer-songwriters, an avenue King pursued successfully in the following decade. Goffin ventured into performance with the 1973 album It Ain’t Exactly Entertainment, yet he primarily continued supplying lyrics for others. In 1976 he shared an Academy Award nomination with Michael Masser for “Theme From Mahogany (Do You Know Where You’re Going To?),” which became a number-one single for Diana Ross. Ten years later the same team delivered Whitney Houston’s first chart-topping hit, “Saving All My Love for You.” Goffin entered the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 and issued a second album, Back Room Blood, in 1996.