Rod Temperton

Rodney Lynn Temperton was born in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, on 9 October 1949.{{Cite news|url=https://www.Telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2016/10/05/rod-temperton-songwriter-who-wrote-michael-jacksons-thriller---o/|url-access=subscription|title=Rod Temperton, songwriter who wrote Michael Jackson's Thriller – obituary|newspaper=The Telegraph|publisher=The Telegraph – Telegraph Media Group Limited|date=5 October 2016|access-date=5 October 2016}} Interviewed for the BBC Radio 2 documentary The Invisible Man: the Rod Temperton Story, he said that he was a musician from an early age: "My father wasn't the kind of person who would read you a story before you went off to sleep. He used to put a transistor radio in the crib, right on the pillow, and I'd go to sleep listening to Radio Luxembourg, and I think that had an influence.""The Invisible Man: the Rod Temperton story", narrated by Paul Gambaccini, BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio – British Broadcasting Corporation.

Temperton attended De Aston Grammar School, Market Rasen, Lincolnshire,{{Cite web|url=http://www.De-Aston.Lincs.sch.uk/news.html|title=De Aston School news|website=De-Aston.Lincs.sch.uk|publisher=De Aston Grammar School|access-date=5 October 2016}} and he formed a group for the school's music competitions. He was a drummer at this time. "I'd get in the living room with my snare drum and my cymbal and play along to the BBC test card, which was all kinds of music they'd be playing continuously."{{Cite news|url=http://www.GrimsbyTelegraph.co.uk/uke-believe-aston-michael-jackson-36-albums/story-29043092-detail/whatson/story.html|title=Would 'uke' believe it! The De Aston Michael Jackson with 36 albums|website=GrimsbyTelegraph.co.uk|publisher=Grimsby Telegraph|date=4 April 2016|access-date=8 October 2016}}{{dead link|date=January 2018|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}} On leaving school, he started working as a fish filleter for Ross Frozen Foods in Grimsby, Lincolnshire.

Temperton soon became a full-time musician as a keyboard player, and played in several dance bands. This took him to Worms in Germany. In 1974, he answered an advert in Melody Maker for a keyboardist, placed by Johnnie Wilder Jr., and as a result, became a member of the pop, disco, and funk band: Heatwave, which Wilder was putting together at the time. "He was the first British guy that I had ever met personally. He spoke kind of funny but he had a good sense of humour and he was a very friendly guy. After meeting him and then seeing him play I kind of determined he was a good enough player and entertainer and I just knew he would fit in the group", said Wilder.

Temperton played Wilder tunes he had been composing: "I was very interested because we were doing a lot of cover tunes—we weren't doing a lot of original material." The songs provided material for 1976's Too Hot to Handle, including "Boogie Nights", which broke the band in the United Kingdom and the United States, and the ballad "Always and Forever"; both tracks were million-sellers in the USA.{{Cite book|first=David|last=Roberts|year=2006|title=British Hit Singles & Albums|edition=19th|publisher=Guinness World Records Limited|location=London|isbn=1-904994-10-5|page=248}}{{Cite news|last=Paphides|first= Pete|url=https://www.TheGuardian.com/music/2016/oct/05/rod-temperton-death-remembered-michael-jackson|title=Rod Temperton: the effortless orchestrator of the perfect pop illusion|work=The Guardian|date=5 October 2016}}

Despite the slick American sound, Temperton's working surroundings were still far from glamorous. Alan Kirk, a Yorkshire musician with Jimmy James and the Vagabonds who toured with Heatwave in the mid 1970s, remembered: "Always and Forever was written on a Wurlitzer piano at the side of a pile of pungent washing. Sorry to disappoint all the romantics." Producer Barry Blue recalled: "He had a very small flat, so everything had to be done within one room and he had piles of washing, and had the TV on top of the organ. It was a nightmare [...] he had trams running outside [...] but he made it: he just absorbed himself in the music and Rod seemed to come up with these amazing songs."

In 1977, Heatwave followed up the success of its first album with its second, Central Heating, with Barry Blue again producing and Temperton behind most of the songs. It included "The Groove Line", another international hit single. In 1978, Temperton decided to concentrate on writing, and left Heatwave, though he continued to write for the band.{{Cite web|url=http://www.HuffingtonPost.co.uk/entry/rod-temperton-dead-songwriter-michael-jackson-thriller_uk_57f60273e4b00df730dbd70a|title=Rod Temperton dead: 'Thriller' songwriter dies aged 66|website=HuffingtonPost.co.uk|publisher=Huffington Post|date=6 October 2016}}

Temperton's work attracted the attention of Quincy Jones, and he asked his engineer Bruce Swedien to check out the Heatwave album. "Holy cow! I simply loved Rod's musical feeling. Everything about it—Rod's arrangements, his tunes, his songs—was exceedingly hip", Swedien said, calling Temperton "the most disciplined pop music composer I've ever met. When he comes to the studio, every musical detail is written down or accounted for in Rod's mind. He never stops until he feels confident that the music we're working on is able to stand on its own."{{Cite web|url=http://www.MusicRadar.com/news/guitars/the-making-of-michael-jacksons-thriller-222109|title=The making of Michael Jackson's Thriller|website=MusicRadar.com|date=1 October 2009|access-date=7 October 2016}} In 1979, Jones recruited Temperton to write for Off the Wall, Michael Jackson's first solo album in four years and his first full-fledged solo release for Epic Records. Temperton wrote three songs for the album, including "Rock with You", which was the album's second US no. 1 single.

In the early 1980s, Temperton left Germany and moved to Beverly Hills, California.{{Cite web|last=Hoffmann|first= Christian|title=Komponist von Michael Jackson war Wormser|url=http://www.MorgenWeb.de/region/metropolregion/20090718_srv0000004477075.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120804185311/http://www.MorgenWeb.de/region/metropolregion/20090718_srv0000004477075.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 August 2012|website=MorgenWeb.de|publisher=Mannheimer Morgen|date=18 July 2009|page=30}} In 1982, he wrote three songs, including the title track, for Jackson's next LP, Thriller, which became the biggest-selling album of all time in the U.S., selling 32 million copies. Temperton also wrote the song's spoken-word section for Vincent Price.{{Cite web|url=https://www.TheGuardian.com/music/2016/oct/06/rod-temperton-obituary|title=Rod Temperton - obituary|website=The Guardian|date=6 October 2016|access-date=7 October 2016}} Of the title "Thriller", Temperton said:

{{Cquote|I went back to the hotel, wrote two or three hundred titles and came up with Midnight Man. The next morning, I woke up and I just said this word. Something in my head just said, 'This is the title'. You could visualise it at the top of the Billboard charts. You could see the merchandising for this one word, how it jumped off the page as 'Thriller'.{{Cite web|url=https://www.Telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/michael-jackson/5646675/Michael-Jackson-How-Rod-Temperton-invented-Thriller.html|url-access=subscription|title=Michael Jackson: How Rod Temperton invented Thriller|website=Telegraph.co.uk|publisher=The Daily Telegraph – Telegraph Media Group Limited|date=26 June 2009|access-date=21 June 2016}}}}

Temperton wrote for other musicians, his hits including disco classic "Stomp!" for The Brothers Johnson; George Benson's "Give Me the Night"; "Baby, Come to Me" for Patti Austin and James Ingram; "Love Is in Control (Finger on the Trigger)" for Donna Summer; and "Yah Mo B There" for James Ingram and Michael McDonald. Temperton also wrote for Herbie Hancock, The Manhattan Transfer, Mica Paris, Rufus and Chaka Khan, Karen Carpenter, and many others.

In 1979, Temperton and Barry Blue co-wrote the song "Keep Tomorrow For Me". Heatwave performed it on the soundtrack for the movie Escape to Athena.

In 1982, Temperton wrote the music to "Someone in the Dark", recorded by Michael Jackson, and produced by Quincy Jones, for the movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, with lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman.

In 1986, Temperton was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Miss Celie's Blues (Sister)", which he wrote with Quincy Jones and Lionel Richie for the film The Color Purple. (Richie won the award for "Say You, Say Me", from White Nights.) He was also nominated for Best Original Score, along with the 11 other composers, including Jones, who worked on The Color Purple's soundtrack.

Later in 1986, the buddy cop film Running Scared was released, featuring five new songs by Temperton, including "Sweet Freedom", performed by Michael McDonald, and "Man Size Love", performed by Klymaxx.{{Cite web|title=Various – Running Scared (music from the motion picture soundtrack)|url=https://www.Discogs.com/Various-Running-Scared-Music-From-The-Motion-Picture-Soundtrack/release/3456962|website=Discogs.com|year=1986 |access-date=11 June 2016}} Temperton also wrote the film's score.

After leaving Heatwave to concentrate on his songwriting, Temperton shunned the celebrity lifestyle and remained a very private man. Due to his low profile, Temperton was nicknamed "The Invisible Man". He died in London on 25 September 2016, at the age of 66, after "a brief aggressive battle with cancer" as described by Jon Platt of Warner/Chappell music publishing. His death would be announced a week later on 5 October 2016, with his private funeral having already taken place. Gilles Peterson, a BBC radio presenter, paid tribute to Temperton on Twitter: "Apart from Lennon and McCartney no one from the UK has written more gold plated songs than Sir Rod Temperton... a huge loss. RIP."{{Cite web|first=Gilles |last=Peterson|date=5 October 2016|url=https://Twitter.com/gillespeterson/status/783682281453920257|title=Gilles Peterson tweet on the death of Rod Temperton|website=Twitter.com|publisher=Twitter, Inc.|access-date=3 September 2020}}

Temperton is survived by his wife Kathy. They had homes in Los Angeles, the south of France, Fiji, Switzerland and Kent in southeast England.{{Cite web|url=http://www.HeraldScotland.com/opinion/14786705.Obituary___Rod_Temperton__songwriter_behind_Michael_Jackson__39_s_Thriller_and_Rock_With_You/|title=Obituary - Rod Temperton, songwriter behind Michael Jackson's Thriller and Rock With You|website=HeraldScotland.com|publisher=Herald Scotland|date=6 October 2016|access-date=7 October 2016}}

{{See also|:category: Songs written by Rod Temperton}}

• The Running Scared soundtrack album, 1986 (with Dick Rudolph and Bruce Swedien){{Cite web|url=https://www.AllMusic.com/album/running-scared-1986-original-soundtrack-mw0000897681/credits|title=Running Scared (1986 Original Soundtrack)|website=AllMusic.com|access-date=8 October 2016}}
• "We Belong to Love" by Jeffrey Osborne from Emotional, 1986{{Cite web|url=https://www.AllMusic.com/album/emotional-mw0000191326/credits|title=Emotional – Jeffrey Osborne|website=AllMusic.com|access-date=8 October 2016}}
• Kiss of Life by Siedah Garrett, 1988 (with Dick Rudolph){{Cite web|title=Siedah Garrett – Kiss Of Life|url=https://www.Discogs.com/Siedah-Garrett-Kiss-Of-Life/release/1860628|website=Discogs.com|year=1988 |access-date=11 October 2016}}
• Back on the Block by Quincy Jones, 1989 (associate producer){{Cite web|url=https://www.Discogs.com/Quincy-Jones-Back-On-The-Block/release/3399358|title=Quincy Jones – Back On The Block|website=Discogs.com|year=1989 |access-date=8 October 2016}}
• "Givin' In to Love" by Patti Austin, from Carry On, 1991{{Cite magazine|author=|date=12 October 1991|title=Billboard: single reviews|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bCgEAAAAMBAJ|magazine=Billboard|location=Internet Archive|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc.|access-date=7 October 2016}} [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_bCgEAAAAMBAJ/page/n113/mode/2up?q=Temperton Alt URL]
• "You Put a Move on My Heart", "We Were Made for Love", "Two in a Million", and "Love Keeps Coming Back" by Mica Paris, from Whisper a Prayer, 1993{{Cite web|title=Mica Paris – Whisper A Prayer|url=https://www.Discogs.com/Mica-Paris-Whisper-A-Prayer/release/1785080|website=Discogs.com|year=1993 |access-date=11 October 2016}}
• "We Are the Future", from We Are the Future: You Are the Answer, 2004 (with Sunny Levine){{Cite web|title=Various – We Are The Future: You Are The Answer|url=https://www.Discogs.com/Various-We-Are-The-Future-You-Are-The-Answer/release/3097739|website=Discogs.com|access-date=11 October 2016}}

• Back on the Block, with Andrae Crouch, Quincy Jones, Quincy Jones III, and Bill Summers; Wee B. Dooinit, with Siedah Garrett, Jones, Mark Kibble, and Ian Prince; Birdland (winner of the 1991 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement), with Jerry Hey, Jones, and Prince; Tomorrow (A Better You, Better Me), with Hey and Jones; The Secret Garden, with Garrett, Hey, and Jones, from Back on the Block, 1989
• You Put a Move on My Heart, with John Clayton; Rock with You, with Jones, Jones III, and Greg Phillinganes; Stomp, with Hey and Jones; Heaven's Girl, with Hey, Jones, and R. Kelly; and Slow Jams, with Clayton, Hey, and Phillinganes, from Q's Jook Joint, 1995{{Cite web|url=https://www.Discogs.com/Quincy-Jones-Qs-Jook-Joint/release/1570106|title=Quincy Jones – Q's Jook Joint|website=Discogs.com|date=7 November 1995 |access-date=8 October 2016}}
• Lovelines, If We Try and My Body Keeps Changing My Mind, from solo album by Karen Carpenter recorded in 1979-1980, released in 1996.{{Cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/release/596784-Karen-Carpenter-Karen-Carpenter|title=Karen Carpenter – Karen Carpenter|website=Discogs.com|date=5 May 1980 |access-date=2 May 2024}}

{{Reflist}}

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• {{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p130927}}
• {{Discogs artist}}
• {{imdb name|id=0854644}}
• [http://www.SixMillionSteps.com/v3/node/133 Six Million Steps – Rod Temperton Special radio show from March 2008]
• [http://www.SixMillionSteps.com/v3/node/439 Six Million Steps – Rod Temperton Special REMIXED radio show from October 2016]
• [http://www.Codalmighty.com/site/ca.php?page=grimsby/famous_grimsby_peeps Irreverent website info]
• [http://www.YorkshirePost.co.uk/news/main-topics/local-stories/unknown-superstar-from-cleethorpes-who-wrote-thriller-for-michael-jackson-1-2602905 "The Yorkshire Post" article (2006)]
• [https://web.Archive.org/web/20161011152450/https://www.Death-Notices.co.uk/obituaries-celebrities-death/128/Rod-Temperton-Songwriting-Giant-Behind-Thriller-And-Off-The-Wall-Dies "Rod Temperton, songwriting giant behind Thriller and Off the Wall, dies"], 6 October 2016, Death-Notices.co.uk,
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEvoqBRzINU "The Invisible Man" documentary]

{{Heatwave (band)}}

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Category:1949 births

Category:2016 deaths

Category:British disco musicians

Category:Deaths from cancer in England

Category:English expatriates in Germany

Category:English expatriate musicians in the United States

Category:English funk musicians

Category:English pop keyboardists

Category:English pop pianists

Category:English pop singers

Category:English record producers

Category:English rhythm and blues musicians

Category:English male songwriters

Category:English soul musicians

Category:Grammy Award winners

Category:Heatwave (band) members

Category:Musicians from Lincolnshire

Category:People educated at De Aston School

Category:People from Cleethorpes