Lyricist Alan Bergman, Known for ‘The Way We Were' & ‘Maude' Theme, Dead at 99
Bergman suffered from respiratory issues in recent months, but continued to write songs till the very end.
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Bergman and his wife, Marilyn Bergman (who died in 2022 at age 93), are probably best known for writing exquisite ballads such as 'What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life,' 'Pieces of Dreams' and 'How Do You Keep the Music Playing?,' but they refused to be typecast. They also wrote the witty theme songs for such TV series as Maude, Good Times and Alice.
The Bergmans won three Academy Awards, including best original song for 'The Windmills of Your Mind' from The Thomas Crown Affair and 'The Way We Were' from the movie of the same name and three Grammy Awards, including song of the year for 'The Way We Were.'
The Bergmans received 15 Oscar nominations for best original song, a total equaled or bettered by only four songwriters in history – Sammy Cahn (26), Johnny Mercer (18), Diane Warren (16) and Paul Francis Webster (16). The Bergmans collaborated on their Oscar-nominated songs with seven different composers – Michel Legrand, Henry Mancini, Maurice Jarre, Marvin Hamlisch, David Shire, John Williams and Dave Grusin.
In 1983 they became the first (and still only) songwriters to be nominated for three Oscars for best original song in one year for 'How Do You Keep the Music Playing' from Best Friends, 'It Might Be You' from Tootsie and 'If We Were in Love' from Yes, Giorgio.
They also won four Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards.
The Bergmans were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1980 and received that organization's highest honor, the Johnny Mercer Award, in 1997. They received a trustees award from the Recording Academy in 2013.
The Bergmans also received lifetime achievement awards from the National Academy of Songwriters and the National Music Publishers Association. They received honorary doctorates from Berklee College of Music and the University of Massachusetts. Alan Bergman's alma mater, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, recognized him with its Distinguished Alumnus Award.
In the years since his wife's death, Alan Bergman continued to write, record and perform. His final collaboration was with guitarist and composer Pat Metheny, who is set to record an album of nine Bergman/Metheny songs later this year.
Bergman died just eight days after the announcement of a celebration in his honor on what would have been his 100th birthday on Sept. 11. Many of his friends and admirers were set to perform at a concert in his honor that night at The Broad Stage in Santa Monica, Calif.
The roster includes Patti Austin, Shelly Berg, Aloe Blacc, Jackson Browne, Peter Erskine, Michael Feinstein, David Finck, Mitch Forman, Jason Gould, Dave Grusin, Tamir Hendelman, Trey Henry, Roger Kellaway, Seth MacFarlane, Serge Merlaud, Greg Phillinganes, Paul Reiser, Lee Ritenour, Sheléa, Tierney Sutton and Lillias White.
In addition, there were to have been video appearances by Bill Charlap, Natalie Dessay, Pat Metheny, Neima Naouri and Barbra Streisand, who paid tribute to Bergman and Marilyn on her Grammy-nominated 2011 album What Matters Most – Barbra Streisand Sings the Lyrics of Alan & Marilyn Bergman.
The event would have served as a benefit for the Jazz Bakery, of which Bergman is a founding member of the board. The non-profit listening room has been called 'the most prestigious jazz space in Los Angeles.'
Two of the artists who were on the bill for the birthday event shared comments in a statement.
Five-time Grammy nominee Michael Feinstein said, 'The songs Alan and Marilyn have written are part of a pantheon of enduring music that will live long beyond Alan's Centenary, for they are timeless expressions of the human condition, and will never grow old. The love that they fundamentally lived, expressed and demonstrated in life, imbues their work with a special eloquence and truth. It is an honor to celebrate Alan on his 100th!'
Actor, comedian and writer Paul Reiser commented, 'My goal in life is to try to be even a small fraction of the man — and artist — that my dear friend Alan Bergman is. (I may need more than 100 years to get there, but … working on it.)'
In addition, Ruth Price, founder of the Jazz Bakery, said, '100 years on this planet is no small achievement, but to have graced those years with such love, beauty and art speaks to a life extraordinarily well lived. Alan is incomparable, and I love him for all kinds of reasons.'
Survivors include his daughter Julie Bergman, a writer and film producer, and granddaughter Emily Sender, who just completed her masters in global food studies. There will be a private graveside burial.
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'Lose Control' and 'Beautiful Things' haven't fallen off the charts as most songs naturally do, which helps to elevate newer, similar-sounding songs like 'Ordinary.' Though these songs walk the line between pop and rock, it's happening in country music as well, as Shaboozey's 'Good News' and Bailey Zimmerman's 'Backup Plan' also hold firm. Unlike their pop-rock counterparts, they're less about women and more about overcoming bad behavior and bad circumstances to achieve something more in life. Keith Urban tells my colleague Taryn Ryder that it's understandable that country songs have become part of the secular praise trend. 'So much of country music is the existence between a hellacious Saturday night and a redemptive Sunday morning pew,' says the country star, who's currently on his High and Alive tour, says. 'That's so much of where country resides is in those dualities of the human experience.' Secular praise music genres transcend country too, according to Amani Roberts, a music professor at Cal State Fullerton who also works as a DJ. She tells Yahoo that in the 1970s, the Isley Brothers and Earth, Wind & Fire weren't technically gospel artists, but they were spiritual. R&B groups in the 1990s like Boyz II Men ('A Song for Mama'), Jodeci ('Forever My Lady') and En Vogue ('Don't Let Go (Love)') used 'gospel-rooted vocals and lyrical arcs of devotion and redemption.' 'These were secular love songs that hit like sermons,' she says. 'What's different now is how genre-blending and streaming culture have made these songs feel both deeply personal and massively shared. We're in a moment where vulnerability isn't just accepted, it's expected.' So, releasing songs with vague religious elements, as well as memorable, anthemic choruses and family-friendly lyrics can unite listeners across the country despite how we're fractured in other ways by algorithms and political tension. 'Musical tastes are cyclical, and this format is resonating right now because people are craving emotional release,' Roberts says. 'We're living in a time where everything feels loud — digitally, socially, politically. These songs slow things down, pull you in gently and then give you that euphoric burst in the chorus. It's a structure that mimics the arc of a personal breakthrough.' Amen.
