John Bettis | |
|---|---|
 John Bettis performing at McGuire Studios Nashville | |
| Background information | |
| Born | John Gregory Bettis (1946-10-24)October 24, 1946 (age 79) |
| Origin | San Pedro, California, U.S.[1] |
| Genres | |
| Occupations | Songwriter, composer |
| Years active | 1967−present |
John Gregory Bettis (born October 24, 1946) is an American lyricist and songwriter whose songs have sold more than 250 million records worldwide, recorded by some of the most prominent artists of the late twentieth century. His work crosses many musical genres. He is best known for his long-running collaboration withRichard Carpenter ofThe Carpenters, co-writing hits such as “Top of the World,” “Yesterday Once More,” “Only Yesterday,” and “Goodbye to Love.” Bettis also wrote chart-topping songs for artists includingMichael Jackson (“Human Nature”),Whitney Houston (“One Moment in Time”),Madonna (“Crazy for You”), thePointer Sisters (“Slow Hand”), andGeorge Strait (“Heartland”).Over his career, Bettis has earned twoEmmy Awards, and nominations for anAcademy Award, aGolden Globe, and multipleGrammy Awards. His songs have appeared on the soundtracks of major motion pictures, and he co-wrote theme songs for television series such asGrowing Pains,Empty Nest, andMy Sister Sam. In 2011, he was inducted into both theSongwriters Hall of Fame and theNashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Thelist of songs with Bettis' lyrics numbers over 1000.
John Bettis was born inLong Beach, California, the son of Wayne Douglas and Nellie Jane (House) Bettis. While he grew up in Southern California, his family's roots are in Missouri'sOzark Mountains.[2] Bettis was introduced to country music at a very early age. Bettis began singing and playing trumpet when he was eight. In high school, he took up the guitar, was a member of the choir, and was active in theater. He attended San Pedro High School and graduated in 1964.[3] At age 16, he auditioned and landed the lead role in a high-school production ofCarousel where he first discovered the craft of songwriting. Shortly after, Bettis and his understudy formed a folk duo and began performing and touring on the folk circuit, opening for acts likeHoyt Axton,Ian & Sylvia andthe Dillards.[4] After graduation, he attendedLong Beach State College where he began writing songs for his college choir (conducted byFrank Pooler). There he met fellow studentRichard Carpenter and his sisterKaren.[5] Carpenter said to him, "Look, I've got a sister who sings great and plays drums... we'll get some other people from the music department here and make a band."[6] The three of them formed a band calledSpectrum in 1966. In order to make money for equipment, Bettis and Richard Carpenter formed a duo with Bettis on banjo and Carpenter on piano in 1967, playing turn-of-the-century tunes at Coke Corner onDisneyland's Main Street U.S.A. They were fired by Disney because they would not follow the rules; they were not playing oldies, but rather new music andBeatles songs.[3]
Early in his career, Bettis came to Nashville, where he honed his songwriting skills.[7] He stayed a month at the King of the Road hotel, and took a taxi every day to Music Row; he walked the streets and hung out atQuadrafonic studios andCombine Music where he met other songwriters. He said, "I learned discipline, I learned to rewrite, I learned what a good idea was, what a great idea was, and I learned what producers wanted."[7] He spent time writing with Michael Clark, and together they wrote "Slow Hand". In 1978, he paired with co-writerR. C. Bannon to create "Only One Love in My Life", a number one hit forRonnie Milsap.[7] It was in Nashville in the 1970s when he attended a concert by The Carpenters. He went backstage to re-unite with his old school friends. Visiting on the Carpenter's Lear Jet, he andRichard Carpenter came up with the idea for "Top of the World."[7] This re-kindled what become an enduring working relationship with The Carpenters. "Top of the World" was later picked up byLynn Anderson who released it as the title song on her albumTop of the World, thus giving Bettis one of early hits incountry music. Anderson's version became a hit in 1973.[8] Richard Carpenter took notice and released Karen's version that same year.During this time, Bettis was dividing his time between Nashville and Los Angeles.[7]
In 1969, Richard and Karen Carpenter signed a contract withA&M Records. Their debut albumOffering had eight songs co-written by Bettis but was not a commercial success. At the request of label ownerHerb Alpert, the team recorded "Close to You", aBacharach/David composition, in 1970 which became the Carpenters first hit. Other Bettis/Carpenter songs, "Goodbye to Love" and "Yesterday Once More" found similar success in 1972 and 1973. Observing the success of Lynn Anderson's recording of "Top of the World" prompted the Carpenters to release their own version as a single in that same year. The Carpenters' version eclipsed Anderson's and peaked at No. 1 for two weeks on theBillboardHot 100chart in December 1973.[9]
While the Carpenters rose to fame with Bettis' lyrics in hits like "Only Yesterday", "I Need to Be in Love" and their own version of "Top of the World", Bettis continued his successes in Nashville, writing lyrics forBarbara Mandrell's "One of a Kind Pair of Fools" that reached number one on the country chart.[10]
Bettis gained perhaps his biggest achievement with "Human Nature", a ballad written forMichael Jackson's multi-platinum albumThriller. In the early 1980s, every songwriter in Los Angeles, including Bettis, dreamed of having a song recorded by Michael Jackson.[4] Bettis said at the time (1983) he didn't think he had anything suited for Jackson. But Bettis had previously worked withQuincy Jones, Jackson's producer. He said, "Through my publisher, Quincy got my number and he called me. He didn’t normally do that, I mean, it’s not like he never called me, but I knew he was working on this record so why would he be calling… me?"[4] On the phone, Jones said, "We've got this tune, and it really needs your touch".[11] He had a piece of music with no lyric and wanted Bettis to hear it. Shortly thereafter, a man on a motorcycle arrived at Bettis' house carrying a pouch. It contained a cassette which he hand-delivered. "The melody was kind of jumping out of the speakers at me," said Bettis, "so I sat down in my den where I normally didn’t write, and I started jotting lyrics."[4] When Bettis wrote the line "If this town is just an apple, let me take a bite", he knew something good was coming.[4] After three hours he had finished the lyrics; he typed the words and took them to his publisher's house. He was later told that Michael Jackson would be recording the still unpolished song very soon.
The song, "Human Nature" was born as a short melody composed byToto'sSteve Porcaro. Bettis and Porcaro quickly joined up for a two day work session to polish the song. During this time the two writers found they had different visions of what the song was about; Porcaro eventually acquiesced to Bettis' lyric. "It was around 1 or 1:30 p.m.", Bettis said, "and we had to be at the studio by 4. Quincy immediately approved of the lyrics""[4]
Thriller became the best selling record of all time, and "Human Nature" has since been recorded by many artists, includingBoyz II Men,Miles Davis,John Mayer,George Howard, Christine Collister, andDavid Benoit. It has also beensampled bySWV,Ne-Yo,2Pac,Lil Wayne,Nas,Jason Nevins andChris Brown.[12]
In 1981,the Pointer Sisters recording ofSlow Hand, by Bettis and Michael Clark, charted for 24 weeks on theBillboard Hot 100 and peaked at number two; it was number seven on the R&B chart.[13] The following year the song, recorded byConway Twitty, crossed over to become number one on theBillboard Hot Country Singles.[14] Clark and Bettis also teamed up to writeJuice Newton's "Heart of the Night" andDonna Summer's "The Woman in Me".
John Bettis has received recognition across the music, film, and television industries:
In 1985, Bettis accepted an assignment inHollywood to write a song for the soundtrack of the filmVision Quest. The end result was "Crazy for You", a song not originally written for, but recorded byMadonna, who also performs it in the film. The song was an international hit, and led to the film being re-titledCrazy for You when it was released in the UK and Australia.
Perhaps Bettis' best-known commissioned work is "As Long as We Got Each Other", co-written with long-time collaboratorSteve Dorff as the theme song to the hitABC Network television sitcomGrowing Pains, sung by five-time Grammy winnerB. J. Thomas for six seasons, solo for season 1; and, as a duet withJennifer Warnes for seasons 2, 3, 5, and 7; and withDusty Springfield for season 4.
In 1988, he co-wrote "One Moment in Time" withAlbert Hammond which was recorded byWhitney Houston as the theme for theSummer Olympics. When Houston sang it at the Grammy awards broadcast, she received a standing ovation.
John Bettis continued developing an eclectic catalog into the 1990s. 1991's "Can You Stop the Rain" topped the R&B charts in 1991 forPeabo Bryson.[15] "If You Go Away" was a top 20 hit in 1992 forNew Kids on the Block, and "Heartland", from the soundtrack to the filmPure Country, was a number one hit forGeorge Strait.
Songs by with Bettis' lyrics featured in motion pictures include some of the following. For a broader selection seelist of Films with song lyrics written by John Bettis
Here are a few examples of lyrics written by Bettis for songs on television. For a broader selection seelist of television songs for with lyrics by John Bettis:
John Bettis has contributed lyrics to several stage musicals. His theater credits include:
In 2011, Bettis was inducted into both theSongwriters Hall of Fame as well as theNashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
As of 2014, Bettis lived in New York andSanta Monica, and has a farm nearNashville. They have two sons, Wyatt and Conway.
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