Tom Whitlock, popularly known as a songwriter who contributed to the conception of hit movie theme songs like from the film "Top Gun," has passed away at the age of 68.
According to The New York Times, the musician died over the weekend in Gallatin, Tennesee, as confirmed by Gorman-Scharpf Funeral Home. As of this writing, none of his family members or friends have confirmed his actual cause of death.
Born Thomas Ross Whitlock on February 20 in Springfield, Missouri, it appears that the famed songwriter was fond of music since he was a kid as he first started playing the drums when he was 11 years old.
In a previous interview with rediscoverthe80s.com, Whitlock said he started playing gigs and write song demos for other people years later. He also became a part of different groups as the demand for live bands skyrocketed at the time and they would travel to different schools and parties to perform.
By the age of 15, he spent a lot of time with his piano, but he admitted that the songs he had written were "not very good." By the time he's college, he decided to drop out of school and went to Los Angeles to seek major opportunities.
He had a deal with an unnamed film company's music publishing company but he was unsuccessful with his career, leading him to go back to university to study music theory.
In 1976, he and his friends had a band and they were signed to Mercury Records. Their careers only lasted for two years.
"So, by now you see the pattern: a bit of education and then some kind of action," he said of his early years.
Later on, his tech friend Dave Concors invited him to a recording studio to help him remove some speakers, little did he know that a famed musician was present in the studio.
That's where he met Giorgio Moroder, who was pissed at the time because the brakes of his Ferrari weren't good. He then offered to fix the problem and replaced his brake fluid as he had mechanical skills.
Weeks later, Whitlock was hired to answer phone calls and run some errands, at the same time, Giorgio's music engineer, Brian Reeves, would teach him how to record.
He began co-writing songs for the Italian composer when his co-writers weren't around to do the job.
"Giorgio needed a lyricist and there I was... minimal talent but maximal proximity!" he said.
Tom Whitlock ended up co-writing hit songs like "Lead Me On" and "Through the Fire." They went on to collaborate on more songs in the future, leading him to win an Oscar Award for contributing to the hit track "Take My Breath Away."
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