'Friends' Theme Songwriter Allee Willis Dies At 72 On Christmas Eve

The theme song of the long-running TV show "Friends" still has the power to send us on a trip down memory lane and remember the antics of Rachel, Ross, Monica, Chandler, Joey, and Phoebe even today. But on Dec. 24, the songwriter who gave us the song we still dance to today, Allee Willis, passed away at the age of 72.

Willis died on Christmas eve after suffering a cardiac arrest. Willis is survived by her longterm partner, Prudence Fenton, an animator and producer, who was “in total shock” over the songwriter’s death.

Fenton took to Instagram to share the sad news and wrote, “Rest In Boogie Wonderland Nov 10,1947-December 24, 2019,” referring to Willis’ Earth, Wind & Fire hits.

The legend that was Allee Willis

Willis is primarily known for the “Friends” theme song, which she co-wrote for The Rembrandts and is still one of the biggest TV theme song hits ever. But her career was far more illustrious than just one hit TV show theme song.

She won many awards, including two Grammys. One was for “The Color Purple” as best musical theatre album in 2016, and the second one for her contribution to the “Beverly Hills Cop” soundtrack. She was also nominated for an Emmy for the “Friends” theme song.

“It was the last thing I ever thought would be a hit, the whitest song I ever wrote,” she said in one of her interviews. “I’m very, very grateful for it, and when they were promoting ‘The Color Purple,’ all of these newspaper reviews… I mean, here I’ve written for Earth, Wind & Fire, I’ve written with James Brown, and the only song they would ever mention that I wrote is this ‘Friends’ theme. Could any song prepare you less to write ‘The Color Purple’? But I actually loved it, because it’s that incongruity that I cherish the most in what I do."

During her long yet eventful career, she collaborated with artists like Bob Dylan, James Brown, Herbie Hancock and Patti LaBelle. Her countless compositions sold over 60 million records, and last year, she was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.