Remembering Jim Weatherly

• Jim Weatherly, a former star quarterback at the University of Mississippi-turned prolific singer-songwriter who penned hundreds of hits, including Gladys Knight & the Pips‘ classics like “Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye),” “Midnight Train to Georgia” and “You’re the Best Thing (That Ever Happened to Me),” died of natural causes at his Nashville home on Wednesday, Feb. 3 at the age of 77, according to The Tennessean.

You probably weren’t aware of this, but Jim and RAMP‘s Steve Resnik were close friends for many years — so close, in fact, that the piano that Weatherly used to write “Midnight Train” and several other hits now resides in a place of honor in Steve’s living room. “We played semi-pro football together on a team in L.A. sponsored by Liza Minnelli called ‘The Liza Z’s,'” Resnik recalls. “We played over 70 games in five years and lost only five. Jim was drafted by the New England Patriots and later offered a contract to play with the Dallas Cowboys. He turned down both and chose Los Angeles and music.” Smart choice, as it turned out.

Resnik continued, “Jim recorded for Verve, RCA, Warner Bros, Buddah and ABC/Dunhill. He had several singles on Buddah including “The Need to Be” which peaked at #11 in 1974. He also had several country hits, including ‘I’ll Still Love You,’ which peaked at #9 in 1975. He performed on The Midnight Special and Shindig, among other shows and also performed for our troops in Vietnam with Nancy Sinatra.”

Interestingly, Resnik adds, “Jim wrote what was originally titled ‘Midnight Plane to Houston’ for Farrah Fawcett, who was dating his best friend, Lee Majors. The title and lyrics were changed by Cissy Houstonand then by Gladys Knight to ‘Midnight Train to Georgia,’ which became the #1 song in 1973, was recorded by 110 different artists and inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.” Weatherly’s songs were also recorded by hundreds of other artists, and he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2014.

In another interesting side note, actor Danny Thomas asked Weatherly to write a song for his wife for their wedding anniversary. The result: “The Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me.” Thomas suggested Weatherly send it Gladys Knight, who already had hits with “Midnight Train’ and “Neither One Of Us…’ and you know how that story ends…

In 2018 Weatherly published his autobiography, the aptly named Midnight Train. Jim and his wife Cynthia have two children, daughter Brighton and son Zack. (That’s actor Max “Jethro” Baer, left, along with Cynthia, Weatherly, and Steve Resnik at Resnik’s 40th birthday party).