Larry Henley, songwriter for “Wind Beneath My Wings”, was born on June 30, 1937 in Arp, Texas. It might not be common knowledge, but Larry really wanted to be an actor. More specifically, he wanted to be like James Dean. When he participated in a talent competition because the prize was an appearance on television, his singing brought him more than just a television appearance. It brought him a recording contract.
Larry was the lead vocalist for the pop band “The Newbeats” and their signature song was entitled “Bread and Butter”. They had two singles hit the Billboard charts with “Bread and Butter” making it all the way to number. 2.
Larry not only could write a hit song, but he could hear one as well. The singer Bobby Goldsboro got a lot of encouragement from Larry to record the song “Honey” in 1968. Goldsboro initially didn’t want to sing it, but after Larry heard songwriter Bobby Russell perform it, he didn’t let Goldsboro off the hook. His encouragement finally sunk in and Goldsboro had a no. 1 spot on the Billboard charts for 5 consecutive weeks.
In 1973 Larry wrote a no. 1 hit single for Tammy Wynette entitled “Till I get it Right” (later covered by Barbara Streisand and Kenny Rogers). He released his solo album called “Piece of Cake” in 1975.
His talent of writing songs that would skyrocket in the voices of the right artists made him a very sought after songwriter. Numerous other singers made their way on his songwriting abilities, like Randy Travis with “Is it Still Over?”, Tanya Tucker with “Lizzie and the Rainman”, Janie Fricke with “He’s a Heartache (Looking for a Place to Happen), Delbert McClinton with “Shotgun Rider”, and Lynn Anderson and Gary Morris with “You’re Welcome to Tonight”, which was co-written with Nashville StarVision player Grant Boatwright.
Wind Beneath My Wings: The pinnacle of his career came when he co-wrote the hit song “Wind Beneath My Wings” with Jeff Silbar in 1981.
In 1982 Larry received a call from his publisher saying that Roger Wittaker was cutting his song “Wind Beneath My Wings”. Even though Larry didn’t know who Roger Wittaker was, like every songwriter, he was happy to hear the news of another cut.
Then in 1983, country music star Gary Morris took the song to number 4 on the country charts, only to be followed up 5 years later in 1989 by Bette Midler who rode with it up to number 1 on the pop charts, achieving multi-Platinum status and wining Midler her third Grammy. That year Larry and Silbar were called to the stage to accept the Song of the Year Award for “Wind Beneath My Wings” while Midler received the Album of the Year Award.
“Wind Beneath My Wings” has been covered by more than 300 artists including Perry Como, Vic Damone, Peggy Lee, Sheena Easton, Lou Rawls, Judy Collins, and Gladys Knight.
http://youtu.be/GTxjP1ZajeI
Larry Henley liked to call himself a singer up until the point somebody stopped him in the street and asked, “Aren’t you the guy who wrote Wind Beneath My Wings?” From then on Larry confesses he started referring to himself as a songwriter. He might not have been the best known singer in country music, but his songs are some of the best known in both country and pop.
The highest accolade for any songwriter was bestowed upon Larry In 2012 when he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
On December 18, 2014, the mild-mannered, brilliant “songwriter”, Larry Henley, passed away at the age of 77 in Nashville, Tennessee. He was suffering from Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Larry’s footprint on music cannot be substituted. His laid-back personality and his appearance didn’t exactly fit the profile of a person who could write songs like “Wind Beneath My Wings”, but his ability to surprise himself and others was a characteristic trait that made him so unique, so special, and now so missed…
Larry Henley: June, 30 1937 – December 18, 2014
