TEXAS  –  Will Jennings, the co-writer of smash hits such as Steve Winwood’s Higher Love and Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On, has died at the age of 80, according to multiple US media reports.

Jennings died in his Texan home, his caregiver told the Hollywood Reporter. A cause of death was not identified.

In a career spanning five decades, the man from the small town of Kilgore, Texas, began his Hollywood career in 1976, and in 1977 teamed up with composer Richard Kerr to write Barry Manilow’s Looks Like We Made It.

The pair reunited for the artist’s top 10 hit, Somewhere in the Night, two years later.

Jennings went on to write for a number of legendary artists, including B.B. King, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Jimmy Buffett and Roy Orbison.

During his career, Jennings collaborated on a range of songs for film soundtracks, bringing him acclaim in the process.

It was in 1983 that Jennings won his first Academy Award for the song Up Where We Belong, written for Taylor Hackford’s An Officer and a Gentleman.

Eight years on and he won a Grammy Award, as well as a Golden Globe nomination, for writing the lyrics to Eric Clapton’s Tears in Heaven for the film Rush.

But above them all came the Celine Dion classic My Heart Will Go On, written for James Cameron’s Titanic – sweeping home an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a Grammy Award in 1998.

He was nominated for a total of six Grammy Awards and had three to his name.

In 2006, his legacy was cemented when was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Singer Peter Wolf paid tribute to his friend on social media writing: “A sad time, the passing of Will Jennings, a maestro, brilliant mind and a gentle spirit.”

The former J. Geils Band frontman went on: “Will shared his talents with me, ever patient and generous; he was a treasured friend and teacher, enriching my life in so many ways.

“It was an enormous honour to have worked with such a musical genius for so many years… To quote one of his favourite poets, W.B Yeats, ‘Think where man’s glory most begins and ends, and say my glory was I had such friends.'” (BBC)…[+]