Cynthia Weil
Cynthia Weil in 2012
Born	(1940-10-18)October 18, 1940 New York City, U.S.
Died	June 1, 2023(2023-06-01) (aged 82) Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Alma mater	Sarah Lawrence College
Occupation	Songwriter
Spouse	Barry Mann ​ (m. 1961)​
Children	Jenn Mann

Cynthia Weil (October 18, 1940 – June 1, 2023) was an American songwriter who wrote many songs together with her husbandBarry Mann. Weil and Mann were inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010.^[1] In 1987, she was inducted with her husband into theSongwriters Hall of Fame, and in 2011, they jointly received theJohnny Mercer Award, the highest honor bestowed by that Hall of Fame.

Weil and her husband, both based at theBrill Building, were instrumental in shaping the sound of rock and roll in the 1960s, alongside other luminaries such asCarole King,Burt Bacharach, andNeil Diamond.^[2]

Weil was born in New York City on October 18, 1940. She grew up on theUpper West Side and theUpper East Side ofManhattan in aConservative Jewish family.^[3][4][5] Her father was Morris Weil, a furniture store owner and the son of Lithuanian-Jewish immigrants, and her mother was Dorothy Mendez, who grew up in aSephardic Jewish family inBrooklyn.^[4] Weil trained as an actress and dancer, studying theater atSarah Lawrence College, but soon demonstrated a songwriting ability that led to her collaboration with Barry Mann, whom she married in August 1961.^[3][6] The couple had one daughter,Jenn Mann. Weil became one of theBrill Building songwriters of the 1960s, and one of the most important writers during the emergence ofrock and roll.^[2]

Weil and her husband went on to create songs for many contemporary artists, winning severalGrammy Awards as well asAcademy Award nominations for their compositions for film. As their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame biography put it, in part: "Mann and Weil's... [works went from] epic ballads ('On Broadway', 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'') to outright rockers ('Kicks', 'We Gotta Get Out of This Place') [and they also] placed an emphasis on meaningful lyrics in their songwriting. With Weil writing the words and Mann the music, they came up with a number of songs that addressed such serious subjects as racial and economic divides[,] 'Uptown', ...and the difficult reality of making it in the big city ('On Broadway'). 'Only in America'... tackledsegregation and racism, making it rather too controversial forthe Drifters, who were the intended artists. 'We Gotta Get Out of This Place' became an anthem for [the]Vietnam soldier,antiwar protesters, and young people who viewed it as an anthem of greater opportunities."^[6]

In 1987, she was inducted with her husband into theSongwriters Hall of Fame. In 1988, Weil won two awards at the30th Annual Grammy Awards for co-writing "Somewhere Out There" from the animated filmAn American Tail:Song of the Year andBest Song Written for Visual Media.^[7]

In 2004, Mann and Weil'sThey Wrote That? a musical revue based on their songs, opened in New York. In it, Mann sang and Weil related stories about the songs and their personal history.^[6] Weil and Mann were inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010 in the Ahmet Ertegun Award category.^[8] "From the bottom of my heart and with the greatest humility," Weil said in her acceptance, "I thought you guys would never ask."^[9] In 2011, Mann and Weil received theJohnny Mercer Award, the highest honor from theSongwriters Hall of Fame.^[10]

In 2015, Weil published her first novel,I'm Glad I Did, a mystery set in 1963.^[11]

Weil was inducted into theWomen Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2023.^[12]

Weil died at home inBeverly Hills, California, on June 1, 2023, at age 82.^[2][3][13]

Sources:^[14][15]

• Weil, Cynthia (2015).I'm Glad I Did. Soho Press.ISBN 978-1-61695-357-7.
• Weil, Cynthia (2018).806: A Novel. Tanglewood.ISBN 978-1-939100-26-9.

• Cynthia Weil biography atAllmusic website
• Cynthia Weil discography atDiscogs
• Cynthia Weil atIMDb

• 1940 births
• 2023 deaths
• 20th-century American Sephardic Jews
• 21st-century American novelists
• 21st-century American Sephardic Jews
• American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent
• American women novelists
• Grammy Award winners
• Jewish American novelists
• Jewish American songwriters
• Musicians from New York City
• People from Beverly Hills, California
• People from the Upper East Side
• People from the Upper West Side
• Sarah Lawrence College alumni
• Sephardi Conservative Jews
• Songwriters from California
• Songwriters from New York (state)
• 20th-century American women writers
• 21st-century American women writers

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