Photo: Paul Bachmann
Rod Temperton, the British songwriter behind Michael Jackson‘s huge hit single Thriller, has died.
Jon Platt, chairman of Warner/Chappell, has confirmed Temperton died in London last week at the age of 66 after ‘a brief aggressive battle with cancer’. His funeral has already been held.
“His family is devastated and request total privacy,” he adds.
After Off The Wall had made him a star in his own right, it was the 1982 album Thriller which transformed Michael Jackson into one of pop’s biggest icons, the eponymous single written by Temperton helping to following the lead set by The Beatles 15 years earlier by pushing the boundaries of what could be achieved in popular music, its video one of the first cinematic triumphs of the MTV era.
It is today, by some distance, the biggest selling album of all time.
Some of Temperton’s other hit songs include Rock With You, Off The Wall, Give Me The Night, Sweet Freedom, Always & Forever and Boogie Nights.