Alle Willis, who is best known for writing the iconic theme song to the NBC show, 'Friends' and for co-writing the Earth, Wind & Fire classic "September" and "Boogie Wonderland," died Christmas Eve in Los Angeles at the age of 72.
Willis reportedly suffered cardiac arrest just after 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve, Variety reported.
Willis, who was born in Detroit, moved to Los Angeles in the 1970s as her career in songwriting began to blossom. In addition to penning some of the biggest hits of the last thirty years, she was also a successful director responsible for directing music videos for Blondie and the Cars. She won a Grammy in 1986 for the "Beverly Hills Cop" soundtrack and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame for her body of work in 2018.
The SHOF posted an obituary of Willis on its website, Wednesday, saying she began curating "The Allee Willis Museum of Kitsch" website in 2009.
“Her work in art direction, set design and animation was recognized in 2008 by both the Webby Awards and the W3 Awards for her Allee Willis Presents Bubbles & Cheesecake music video collaboration with singer-songwriter Holly Palmer. A cyber pioneer, she designed lilytomlin.com as an online tour of LilyTomlin's life, and has consulted and created content for numerous entertainment and technology companies,” the SHOF said.
Willis is survived by a brother, Kent Willis, and sister, Marlin Frost; and niece, Mandy Becker.
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