Jimmy Layne Webb (born August 15, 1946) is an American songwriter, composer, and singer. He achieved success at an early age, winning the Grammy Award for Song of the Year at the age of 21.

Webb has written multiple platinum-selling songs, including "Up, Up and Away", "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", "MacArthur Park", "Wichita Lineman", "Worst That Could Happen", "Galveston", and "All I Know".

During the late 1950s, Webb began applying his creativity to the music he was playing at his father's church, frequently improvising and rearranging the hymns. that was originally rejected by the group The Association. Despite the song's seven minutes and twenty-one seconds length, Harris's version reached No. 2 on the Hot 100 on June 22, 1968, and No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart on July 24. The album, A Tramp Shining, stayed on the charts for almost a year. Webb and Harris produced a follow-up album, The Yard Went On Forever, which was also successful.

Further raising Webb's stature as a songwriter, "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" was performed by Frank Sinatra on the latter's 1968 album Cycles. Sinatra would go on to praise "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" as "the greatest torch song ever written".

At the 1969 Grammy Awards, Webb accepted awards for "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", "Wichita Lineman", and "MacArthur Park". In 2019 "Wichita Lineman" was added to the National Recording Registry.

In 1969, Glen Campbell continued the streak of Webb hits with the gold record "Galveston" and "Where's the Playground Susie". Webb and Campbell had first met during the production of a General Motors commercial. Webb arrived at the recording session with his Beatle-length hair and approached the conservative singer, who looked up from his guitar and said, "Get a haircut."

Large-scale projects, 1982–1992

From 1982 to 1992, Webb turned his focus from solo performing to large-scale projects, such as film scores, Broadway musicals, and classical music. In 1982, he produced the soundtrack for the film The Last Unicorn, an animated children's tale, with the musical group America performing five new Jimmy Webb songs: "The Last Unicorn", "Man's Road", "In the Sea", "Now That I'm a Woman", and "That's All I've Got to Say". The rest of the album contains instrumental music composed, arranged, and conducted by Webb. That same year, he composed the soundtrack to all episodes of the TV series Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

The theme music for the 1984–85 TV sitcom E/R was written by Webb. Then in 1985, Glen Campbell recorded Webb's "Cowboy Hall of Fame" and "Shattered" for the album It's Just a Matter of Time. And heavyweights Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson recorded "Highwayman" on the album Highwayman. In 1988, Toto recorded "Home of the Brave" on the album The Seventh One. Kenny Rankin recorded "She Moves, Eyes Follow" for the album Hiding in Myself. And in 1989, Linda Ronstadt recorded the album Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind, which featured four Jimmy Webb songs: "Still Within the Sound of My Voice" (with Webb playing piano), "Adios" (with orchestral arrangement by Webb), "I Keep It Hid" (with Webb playing piano), and "Shattered". In 1990, John Denver recorded "Postcard from Paris" on the album The Flower That Shattered the Stone. In 1991, Kenny Rogers recorded "They Just Don't Make Em Like You Anymore" on the album Back Home Again.

In 1986, Webb produced a cantata, The Animals' Christmas, with Art Garfunkel, Amy Grant, and the London Symphony Orchestra. The cantata tells the Christmas story from the perspective of animals.

In 1987, Webb produced the soundtrack for the film The Hanoi Hilton. That same year, he reunited with Campbell for the album Still Within the Sound of My Voice, for which he wrote the title song. They followed this up in 1988 with an album composed almost entirely of Jimmy Webb songs, Light Years. The album included the title song, as well as "Lightning in a Bottle", "If These Walls Could Speak" (which was also recorded by Amy Grant that year) and "Our Movie". Two songs from 1982's Seven Brides for Seven Brothers also appear on the album.

In 1992, Webb completed a musical called Instant Intimacy, which he developed with the Tennessee Repertory Theatre. The musical contained new songs that he and others would later record, including "What Does a Woman See in a Man", "I Don't Know How to Love You Anymore", and "Is There Love After You". That same year, Webb performed live at the club Cinegrill, performing "What Does a Woman See in a Man" and introducing several additional new songs, including "Sandy Cove" and an old folk hymn, "I Will Arise".

Solo artist, 1993–present

Since 1993, Webb has produced five critically acclaimed solo albums: Suspending Disbelief (1993), Ten Easy Pieces (1996), Twilight of the Renegades (2005), Just Across the River (2010), and Still Within the Sound of My Voice (2013). He has continued to expand his creative landscape to include musicals, commercial jingles, and film scores.

In 1994, Webb teamed with Nanci Griffith to contribute the song "If These Old Walls Could Speak" to the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Country produced by the Red Hot Organization.

In 1997, Webb co-produced Carly Simon's Film Noir album and contributed his vocals, orchestration, and piano skills to the project, which was filmed for an AMC documentary (which premiered in September 1997). He also co-wrote the song "Film Noir" with Simon and reprised his role as arranger and co-producer on Simon's 2008 album, This Kind of Love.

In 1998, Webb completed his first book, Tunesmith: Inside the Art of Songwriting, which was published by Hyperion Books. It was well-received by songwriters and performers and became a best-seller. One book reviewer described it as "a companion every serious songwriter should read, and read again, and keep handy for referral". and country music singer Keith Urban cites Webb as his earliest songwriting inspiration.

Webb continues to perform throughout the United States and abroad.

In 2024, Webb's song "MacArthur Park" by both Donna Summer and Richard Harris was included in the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice soundtrack. In 2026, Alysa Liu used the Donna Summer version in her 2026 gold-medal-winning Olympic skating performance, causing increased popularity and streams to increase over 1200%.

Emotional content of songs

While some of Webb's songs are happy, such as "Up, Up and Away", he has said that "The territory I tend to inhabit is that sort of 'crushed lonely hearts' thing. The first part of a relationship is usually that white-hot center when all the happy songs come. When that's gone it can be devastating, and that's when the sorrowful songs come."

Personal life

In 1967 Webb wrote "MacArthur Park"; the inspiration for the song was his relationship and breakup with Susie Horton. The breakup was also the primary influence for his 1965 composition "By the Time I Get to Phoenix".

Webb married cover girl Webb became romantically involved with Sullivan, the face of Yardley Cosmetics, a year later. She gave birth to their son Christiaan, the first of their six children, when she was 16 years old. They married on July 13, 1974, in a wedding held at Jim Messina's Ojai, California, ranch. Musicians who attended the wedding included Joe Cocker, Kenny Loggins, Joni Mitchell, Harry Nilsson, and Ike Turner, plus actors Beau Bridges, Lynda Carter, Andrew Prine, Jessica Walter, and Jack Warden. They were divorced in 1996.

Two sons, Christiaan and Justin, formed a rock band, the Webb Brothers. Their brother, James, later joined the band. Webb collaborated with his sons on the album Cottonwood Farm, which also featured his father Bob Webb.

In 2004, Webb married Laura Savini, a host and producer for the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). From 1996 to 2011, Savini was vice president of marketing and communications at WLIW, a PBS station on Long Island, New York. Their second meeting took place when Savini interviewed Webb for her series on the arts.

Friendships

Webb had close personal relationships with Glen Campbell and actor Richard Harris, both of whom had great success singing his songs. Hearing Campbell on the radio singing "Turn Around, Look at Me" inspired him when he was 15 years old in 1961. A life-long friend, Webb thought of Campbell as a "big brother".

He said of Richard Harris, the Irish actor with a reputation as a serious alcoholic and substance abuser, "Richard was a major figure in my life at a time when I needed someone like him to show me how to smoke a cigarette and drink whisky. It was kind of learning how men really live, and we had the time of our lives."

Substance abuse

In his memoir and in interviews with the press, Webb has been frank about his problems with substance abuse, which included frequent use of cocaine, marijuana, and alcohol. He stated that using cocaine was pervasive in the music industry during the 1970s as recording sessions typically were long and cocaine provided the energy to keep on recording. "[Cocaine] had become legal tender. You could get studio musicians with it. You could get a date for the evening. Cocaine was in the executive suites of all the major record companies. It became cool; there was no social stigma attached to it. Au contraire: Most people didn't set off for an evening's dinner engagement and party after without your stash."

Webb suffered a near-fatal overdose of phencyclidine in 1973 while snorting the drug with his friend, singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson. He used cocaine with Nilsson and John Lennon during the former Beatle's "Lost Weekend" and often supplied Lennon with drugs. He ceased his cocaine habit in the early 1990s. He gave up alcohol and marijuana and cocaine after his divorce and revived his performing career. A heavy user of both substances, Webb has been clean and sober since 2000.

Honors and awards

  • 1967 Grammy Award for Song of the Year ("Up, Up and Away")
  • 1969 Grammy Award for Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) ("MacArthur Park")
  • 1969 Oklahoma Baptist University Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia honorary membership, Pi Tau Chapter
  • 1986 Grammy Award for Best Country Song ("Highwayman")
  • 2019 National Recording Registry ("Wichita Lineman")

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Sources

  • in 2010
  • Jimmy Webb interview in 2012