Rest

'Always and Forever' each moment with You, We're riding on the 'Grooveline Tonight, Life ain't so bad at all if you live it 'Off The Wall', Just 'Give Me The Night' the masterful mind of Rod Temperton is now writing for the Heavens. Rest In Peace.

Rodney Lynn "Rod" Temperton  was born 9 October 1947.  He was an English songwriter, record producer, and musician from Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, England. He initially made his mark as the keyboardist and main songwriter for the R&B funk/disco band Heatwave before writing several internationally known songs performed by Michael Jackson, including mega-hit "Thriller" as well as "Off the Wall", "Rock with You," and numerous others.  His death from cancer was reported by his publisher on 5 October 2016.  He was 66.

Temperton, died last week at the age of 66 in London following a brief aggressive battle with cancer," Warner/Chappell CEO Jon Platt wrote in a statement (via BBC News).

"His funeral was private," Platt added. "He was often referred to as 'The Invisible Man.' He was the sole writer of multiple successful songs such as 'Thriller,' 'Off The Wall,' 'Rock With You,' [George Benson's] 'Give Me The Night,' [Michael McDonald's] 'Sweet Freedom,' [Heatwave's] 'Always & Forever' and 'Boogie Nights' to name just a few. His family is devastated and request total privacy at this, the saddest of sad times."

Before linking up with the King of Pop, Temperton first served as keyboardist and primary songwriter for the disco-funk outfit Heatwave, including that group's smash singles "Boogie Nights" and "Always and Forever." After two albums as a performer with Heatwave – 1976's Too Hot to Handle and 1978's Central Heating – Temperton segued into a full-time songwriter role.

In 1979, Quincy Jones sought out Temperton as the producer began work on what would become Michael Jackson's first solo album in four years, Off the Wall. For the LP, Temperton contributed three tracks: "Off the Wall," "Rock With You" and the closer "Burn This Disco Out", which was in my opinion the ultimate BANGER!!

Three years later, Jones and Temperton would reconnect for Jackson's Thriller, with the songwriter concocting both the album title and its world-changing title track.

"Originally, when I did my demo, I called it 'Starlight,' Quincy said to me, 'Well, you came up with the title of the last album, see what you can do for this album.' I said, 'Great,'" Temperton said of "Thriller" in a BBC Radio 2 interview. "I went back to the hotel, I wrote two or three hundred titles for this song. Then I came up with the title 'Midnight,' [Jones] said that's a little bit more mystery, more where you should be heading … The next morning I woke up and I just said this word.

"Something in my head just said 'This is the title.' You could visualize it on top of the Billboard charts. You could see the merchandizing of this one word; it jumped off the page at you. So I knew I had to write it as 'Thriller,' and I wrote all the words very quickly, then went to the studio and we did it."