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'Wind Beneath My Wings'
songwriter Henley dies
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[December 20, 2014]
By Tim Ghianni
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Reuters)
- Larry Henley, the songwriter best-known for "Wind
Beneath My Wings," has died at the age of 77 at a
hospice in Nashville, Tennessee, after a prolonged
illness, colleagues and friends said on Friday.
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 His long-time friend, Charlie Andrews, who worked with Henley
as his lawyer and business manager, said: "He was very concerned
about things that happen in the world and he always wanted to
write songs that positively affected people."
"Wind Beneath My Wings", co-written with Jeff Silbar, won a
Grammy Award for record of the year with Bette Midler singing
the song. The tune has also been covered by numerous other
artists.
In 2012, Henley was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall
of Fame, which noted his death with sadness.
"We lost a great songwriter and a great friend," said Hall of
Fame chairman and member Pat Alger, in an online post, adding
Henley championed the rights of songwriters and often went to
Washington to lobby for that cause.
A native of Arp, Texas, Henley grew up in Odessa and set out to
be an actor like his hero, James Dean, but he ended up as a
singer and songwriter.
As a singer, he and the rest of the group called The Newbeats, a
Shreveport, Louisiana, outfit, sang the infectious song "Bread
and Butter" and toured with the likes of The Rolling Stones, The
Kinks, The Dave Clark Five and Roy Orbison, according to his
biography on the web site of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of
Fame.
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Weary of life on the road, he settled in as a Nashville songwriter
and chummed around with the likes of Roger Miller, Red Lane and Shel
Silverstein.
"I highly respected Larry as a songwriter and as an amazing
performer and unique recording artist," said Nashville
singer-songwriter Buzz Cason, who wrote "Everlasting Love."
A funeral is planned in Texas next week.
(Additional reporting by Lisa Bose McDermott in Texarkana, Texas;
Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Sandra Maler)
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