International News

LONDON, (APP/AFP): The British songwriter
who penned Michael Jackson’s hit “Thriller” in the back of a taxi, having started his working life in a frozen fish factory, has died aged 66.
Rod Temperton, who also worked with artists including Aretha Franklin
and Mariah Carey, died last week after a “brief but aggressive battle with cancer,” said Jon Platt, chairman and chief executive of publisher Warner/Chappell.
Temperton is said to have come up with much of “Thriller” in a taxi
as he travelled to the recording studio.
The Quincy Jones-produced album of the same name from which it came
broke records when it was released in December of 1982, becoming the first to sell more than 30 million copies in the United States.
Jackson, for whom Temperton also wrote “Rock With You”, died aged 50
on June 25, 2009, from a lethal dose of sedatives.
The cast of the musical “Thriller Live” in London’s West End said
theatre lights would be dimmed for five minutes, in memory of Temperton.
“Thank you for the music. The Thriller Live family salute you,” the
cast said.
Temperton was described on social media as “a great British
songwriter” by former Culture Club singer Boy George, while rapper LL Cool J said “we have lost a true genius”.
Born in Cleethorpes, northern England, Temperton worked for a while
processing fish, before joining disco outfit “Heatwave” for whom he wrote the 1977 hit “Boogie Nights”.
“His family is devastated and request total privacy at this, the
saddest of sad times,” Platt said in a statement. A private funeral has already been held.