50 Facts About Jimmy Webb

Jimmy Layne Webb was born on August 15,1946 and is an American songwriter, composer, and singer.

Jimmy Webb achieved success at an early age, winning the Grammy Award for Song of the Year at the age of 21.

Jimmy Webb had successful collaborations with Glen Campbell, Michael Feinstein, Linda Ronstadt, the 5th Dimension, the Supremes, Art Garfunkel, Richard Harris and Carly Simon.

Jimmy Webb was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1990.

Jimmy Webb received the National Academy of Songwriters Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993, the Songwriters Hall of Fame Johnny Mercer Award in 2003, the ASCAP "Voice of Music" Award in 2006 and the Ivor Novello Special International Award in 2012.

Jimmy Webb is the only artist ever to receive Grammy Awards for music, lyrics and orchestration.

Jimmy Webb was born on August 15,1946, in Elk City, Oklahoma, and raised in Laverne, Oklahoma.

Jimmy Webb grew up in a religiously conservative family; His father, Robert Lee Webb, was a Baptist minister and veteran of the United States Marine Corps who presided over rural churches in southwestern Oklahoma and west Texas.

Jimmy Webb's father restricted radio listening to country music and white gospel.

Jimmy Webb began to write religious songs at this time, but his musical direction was influenced by the new music being played on the radio, including the music of Elvis Presley.

Jimmy Webb said he was drawn to the singer's distinctive voice and they became friends a few years later.

Jimmy Webb decided to stay in California to continue his music studies and to pursue a career as a songwriter in Los Angeles.

The first commercial recording of a Jimmy Webb song was "My Christmas Tree" by The Supremes, which appeared on their 1965 Merry Christmas album.

In 1967, Rivers released Rewind, an album featuring seven Jimmy Webb songs, including "Do What You Gotta Do" and "Tunesmith", a song recorded that year by Vikki Carr for her album It Must Be Him.

Jimmy Webb contributed five songs to their debut album, Up, Up and Away, including the title track, which was released as a single in May 1967 and reached the Top Ten.

The group's follow-up album, The Magic Garden, was released in 1967 and featured eleven additional Jimmy Webb songs, including "Worst That Could Happen".

Jimmy Webb formed his own production and publishing company that year, Canopy, and scored a hit with its first project, an unlikely album with Irish actor Richard Harris singing an album of all Jimmy Webb songs.

Jimmy Webb finished the year by writing, arranging, and producing Thelma Houston's first album, Sunshower.

Jimmy Webb began to withdraw from the formulaic process in which he worked and began to experiment with his music.

Jimmy Webb started work on a semi-autobiographical Broadway musical called His Own Dark City, which reflected the emotional displacement he felt at the time.

In 1972, Jimmy Webb produced The Supremes' last album featuring Jean Terrell as lead singer, The Supremes Produced and Arranged by Jimmy Webb.

Jimmy Webb is quoted as saying he had a crush on Mary Wilson when he wrote and produced "I Keep It Hid" featuring her on lead vocals.

From 1982 to 1992, Jimmy Webb turned his focus from solo performing to large-scale projects, such as film scores, Broadway musicals, and classical music.

In 1986, Jimmy Webb produced a cantata, The Animals' Christmas, with Art Garfunkel, Amy Grant, and the London Symphony Orchestra.

In 1987, Jimmy Webb produced the soundtrack for the film The Hanoi Hilton.

In 1992, Jimmy Webb completed a musical called Instant Intimacy, which he developed with the Tennessee Repertory Theatre.

Since 1993, Jimmy Webb has produced five critically acclaimed solo albums: Suspending Disbelief, Ten Easy Pieces, Twilight of the Renegades, Just Across the River, and Still Within the Sound of My Voice.

Jimmy Webb has continued to expand his creative landscape to include musicals, commercial jingles, and film scores.

In 1994, Jimmy 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, Jimmy 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.

Jimmy Webb 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, Jimmy Webb completed his first book, Tunesmith: Inside the Art of Songwriting, which was published by Hyperion Books.

Jimmy Webb appears in the 2008 documentary The Wrecking Crew providing thoughtful and descriptive insights into the world of California session musicians in the 1960s.

In June 2010, Jimmy Webb released Just Across the River, an album of newly arranged Jimmy Webb songs that featured guest appearances by Vince Gill, Billy Joel, Willie Nelson, Lucinda Williams, Jackson Browne, Glen Campbell, Michael McDonald, Mark Knopfler, JD Souther, and Linda Ronstadt.

In 2011, Jimmy Webb was unanimously elected chairman of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, replacing Hal David who retired after ten years in the position.

In May 2012, Jimmy Webb traveled to London to receive the Ivor Novello Special International Award, which recognizes non-British writers and composers who have made an extraordinary contribution to the global musical landscape.

Jimmy Webb continues to perform throughout the United States and abroad.

In 1967 Jimmy Webb wrote "MacArthur Park"; the inspiration for the song was his relationship and breakup with Susie Horton.

Jimmy Webb married cover girl Patricia "Patsy" Sullivan, the mother of his 17-month-old son Christiaan, in 1974.

The youngest child of screen actor Barry Sullivan and Swedish actress and model Gita Hall, Sullivan was 12 years old and Jimmy Webb was 22 when they met on a photo shoot for the cover of Teen Magazine in 1968.

Jimmy Webb became romantically involved with Sullivan, the face of Yardley Cosmetics, a year later.

Jimmy Webb gave birth to their son Christiaan, the first of their six children, when she was 16 years old.

Jimmy Webb collaborated with his sons on the album Cottonwood Farm, which featured his father Bob Jimmy Webb.

In 2004, Jimmy Webb married Laura Savini, a host and producer for the Public Broadcasting Service.

Jimmy Webb had close personal relationships with Glen Campbell and actor Richard Harris, both of whom had great success singing his songs.

Jimmy Webb 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.

Jimmy Webb suffered a near-fatal overdose of phencyclidine in 1973 while snorting the drug with his friend, singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson.

Jimmy Webb used cocaine with Nilsson and John Lennon during the former Beatle's "Lost Weekend" and often supplied Lennon with drugs.

Jimmy Webb ceased his cocaine habit in the early 1990s.

Jimmy Webb gave up alcohol and marijuana and cocaine after his divorce and revived his performing career.