WASHINGTON — Allee Willis, who wrote the theme song for the hit television show "Friends," has died at age 72, her partner Prudence Fenton announced Wednesday.
"Rest In Boogie Wonderland Nov 10,1947-December 24, 2019," Fenton wrote on her Instagram account in a post with a photo of Willis, referring to the 1979 hit she co-wrote for Earth, Wind and Fire.
Willis' Instagram account also included a screenshot of an article about her death along with the caption: "We are extremely shocked and devastated to share this news."
She died Tuesday of a "cardiac event," The New York Times reported, citing her publicist.
Willis, who penned "I'll Be There For You" -- the theme for the long-running show "Friends" -- as well as several hits by Earth, Wind and Fire, was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2018.
She won a Grammy in 1985 for her work on the soundtrack for "Beverly Hills Cop," and was nominated for another 2 decades later for "The Color Purple," according to the Recording Academy's website.
Willis did not know how to play music, but learned to become a songwriter by listening to rhythms coming through the walls of Motown studios in Detroit, the city in which she grew up, according to the Times.
"I, very thankfully, have a few songs that will not go away," Willis told the newspaper.
Agence France-Presse
