Norman Gimbel

Songwriter Norman Gimbel scored his first major hit authoring lyrics for <a href="spotify:artist:0KyolDFb1RjJQb4qXZKCqo">Toots Thielemans</a>' 1961 tune "Bluesette"; he subsequently wrote the English-language adaptation of <a href="spotify:artist:3pO5VjZ4wOHCMBXOvbMISG">Antonio Carlos Jobim</a>'s classic "The Girl From Ipanema," also adapting compositions by <a href="spotify:artist:1EtE0iSY6iFlN9L9c53ETy">Michel Legrand</a> ("I Will Wait for You" and "Watch What Happens," both from Jacques Demy's celebrated film musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) and Marcus Valle ("Summer Samba [So Nice]"). With composer Charles Fox, Gimbel wrote "Killing Me Softly With His Song," a chart-topping hit for <a href="spotify:artist:0W498bDDNlJIrYMKXdpLHA">Roberta Flack</a> in 1973 and an eventual winner of a Grammy for Song of the Year. Gimbel and Fox also wrote prolifically for films: their score for 1973's The Last American Hero yielded the <a href="spotify:artist:1R6Hx1tJ2VOUyodEpC12xM">Jim Croce</a> hit "I Got a Name," while 1975's The Other Side of the Mountain featured the Oscar-nominated "Richard's Window." The team earned a second Academy Award nomination in 1978 for the <a href="spotify:artist:3alW3LYQS8K29z8C8NSLIX">Barry Manilow</a>-sung "Ready to Take a Chance Again" (from Foul Play), but their greatest success was in television; they wrote dozens of theme songs, among them Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley ("Making Our Dreams Come True," a Top 40 hit for singer Cyndi Grecco), The Love Boat, Wonder Woman, and Love, American Style. Gimbel teamed with composer <a href="spotify:artist:5M0BsKplclHv3l6QjOpotN">David Shire</a> to write "It Goes Like It Goes," the Oscar-winning theme to 1979's Norma Rae. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi