John Bettis

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John Bettis
John Bettis performing at McGuire Studios Nashville
Background information
Birth name	John Gregory Bettis
Born	(1946-10-24) October 24, 1946 (age 77)
Origin	San Pedro, California, U.S.[1]
Genres	Pop rock rhythm and blues adult contemporary country
Occupation(s)	Songwriter, composer
Years active	1967−present

John Gregory Bettis (born October 24, 1946) is an American lyricist, best known for his long-term songwriting partnership with Richard Carpenter of the Carpenters. He wrote the lyrics for "Top of the World", a hit for both Lynn Anderson and the Carpenters. He wrote several more hits for the Carpenters, including "Only Yesterday", "Goodbye to Love","Yesterday Once More" and "I Need to Be in Love". He later wrote hits for other artists including: Madonna ("Crazy for You"), Michael Jackson ("Human Nature"), the Pointer Sisters ("Slow Hand"), Conway Twitty ("Slow Hand"), Diana Ross, Westlife ("When You Tell Me That You Love Me")^[2], Jennifer Warnes ("Nights Are Forever"), Peabo Bryson ("Can You Stop the Rain"), Maria Vidal ("Body Rock") , George Strait ("Heartland"), Juice Newton ("Heart of the Night"), Ronnie Milsap ("Only One Love in My Life"), Barbara Mandrell ("One of a Kind Pair of Fools"),^[3] Louise Mandrell ("Too Hot to Sleep"), 38 Special ("Like No Other Night"), New Kids on the Block ("If You Go Away"), Donna Summer ("The Woman in Me"), Barbra Streisand ("Sweet Forgiveness"), and Whitney Houston ("One Moment in Time").

He has been nominated four times and won two Emmy Awards for his work in television. His first Emmy was for the theme to the 1988 Summer Olympics ("One Moment in Time") co-written with Albert Hammond, and his second win was for "Where There Is Hope" from Guiding Light.^[4] Bettis has composed the themes for many long-running TV series. With Steve Dorff, he wrote the themes to Growing Pains, Just the Ten of Us and My Sister Sam. With George Tipton, he wrote the themes to Empty Nest and Nurses.

He was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Oscar for "Promise Me You'll Remember" from The Godfather Part III. His work in film also includes Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Body Rock, The Last Boy Scout, Twilight Zone: The Movie, The Lonely Guy, Legend, Vision Quest, Supergirl, The Men's Club, Pure Country, Nothing in Common, Cocktail, 8 Seconds, Cobra, Back to the Beach,^[5] Oh, God! You Devil,^[6] December Boys, Curly Sue^[7] and Say Anything.

Bettis has nearly 1160 song credits in the ASCAP database.^[8][9] In 2011, Bettis was inducted into both the Songwriters Hall of Fame as well as the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.