All Clear Music, Fuji Music Group Acquire Will Jennings’ Catalog
Will Jennings
All Clear Music and Fuji Music Group has acquired 100% interest of the publishing rights and writer’s share of songwriter Will Jennings’ catalog.
Jennings has penned timelessly beloved songs for an eclectic range of artists such as Steve Winwood, Whitney Houston, Roy Orbison, B.B. King, Celine Dion and Tim McGraw, among others. His iconic hits include “Back in the High Life Again,” “While You See a Chance,” “Please Remember Me,” “Where Are You Christmas,” “Somewhere in the Night,” “Higher Love,” “Up Where We Belong,” “Tears In Heaven,” “Can’t We Go On Together,” “People Alone” and “Street Life.”
Jennings’ biggest hit remains the 1997’s Titanic theme “My Heart Will Go On.” The song, written by Jennings and composer James Horner and sung by Celine Dion, earned numerous Oscars, Grammys and Golden Globes, and became the most-played radio hit in history according to the Songwriter Hall of Fame.
Jennings was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York and The Texas Songwriters Hall of Fame in Austin.
Born in Kilgore Texas, and relocated to Tyler, Texas as a child, Jennings primarily loved the iconic blues songs influenced by B.B. King. He recognized that he couldn’t make a living writing three-chord songs about the blues, so he studied poetry and earned degrees that landed him a job as an Associate Professor of English and French literature at the University of Wisconsin. Jennings’ love of music overwhelmed his desire to teach, and he eventually decided to move to Nashville to write songs. That move caught the attention of music publisher Lance Freed.
“We signed Will Jennings to a publishing agreement with Almo/Irving Music publishing around 1974,” shares Freed, President of All Clear Music. “His work as a lyricist initially landed him several opportunities to write contemporary pop songs, and he began a collaboration with Richard Kerr (‘Mandy’). He moved on and wrote songs with notables like Joe Sample, Steve Winwood, B.B. King, James Horner, Jimmy Buffet, Roy Orbison, and Rodney Crowell.”
“Will’s catalog is so diverse and rich, it’s a publisher’s dream,” adds Darrell Franklin, SR VP of Sheltered Music, All Clear Music’s Nashville Division. “He excelled in whatever direction his musical muse led him. Whether it was pop, rock, R&B, country, the blues or music for film, he wrote songs that we have all come to know by heart. He was never bound by any specific genre.”
Ichi Asatsuma, Chairman of Fuji Music Group, adds, “We are very honored to represent one of the world’s finest songwriters with Lance Freed’s All Clear Music, and we will give his music the very best promotion and all the respect it richly deserves.”
