American pop songwriter and composer, born November 11, 1936 in New York and died April 1, 2005 in Nashville, Tennessee.
He had four children with his wife, Roberta: son, Michael; son, Russ; son, Jordan, an entertainment attorney; and adopted daughter, Pari.
He died after a brief battle with leukemia at the Vanderbilt Medical Centre in Nashville, TN. He was diagnosed with leukemia less than a month earlier, on March 5, 2005.
