John Bettis

Over his career, Bettis has earned two Emmy Awards, and nominations for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and multiple Grammy Awards. His songs have appeared on the soundtracks of major motion pictures, and he co-wrote theme songs for television series such as Growing Pains, Empty Nest, and My Sister Sam. In 2011, he was inducted into both the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. The list of songs with Bettis' lyrics numbers over 1000.

John Bettis studied at California State University, California State University, Long Beach and San Pedro High School. The recorded working language is English. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are pop, rock, rhythm and blues and adult contemporary. Distinctions recorded are Songwriters Hall of Fame and Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.

• Name — John Bettis • Landscape — yes • Birth Name — John Gregory Bettis • Born — 24 October 1946 • Birthplace — Long Beach, California, US • Origin — San Pedro, California, U.S. • Genre — * Pop • rock • rhythm and blues • adult contemporary • country • Occupation — Songwriter, composer • Years Active — 1967−present • Associated Acts — * Carpenters • Michael Jackson • Madonna • Peabo Bryson • Whitney Houston

John Bettis was born in Long Beach, California, the son of Wayne Douglas and Nellie Jane (House) Bettis. While he grew up in Southern California, his family's roots are in Missouri's Ozark Mountains. Bettis was introduced to country music at a very early age. Bettis began singing and playing trumpet when he was eight. In high school, he took up the guitar, was a member of the choir, and was active in theater. He attended San Pedro High School and graduated in 1964. At age 16, he auditioned and landed the lead role in a high-school production of Carousel where he first discovered the craft of songwriting. Shortly after, Bettis and his understudy formed a folk duo and began performing and touring on the folk circuit, opening for acts like Hoyt Axton, Ian & Sylvia and the Dillards. After graduation, Bettis attended Long Beach State College where he began writing songs for his college choir (conducted by Frank Pooler). There he met fellow student Richard Carpenter and his sister Karen. Carpenter said to him, "Look, I've got a sister who sings great and plays drums... we'll get some other people from the music department here and make a band." The three of them formed a band called Spectrum in 1966. In order to make money for equipment, Bettis and Richard Carpenter formed a duo with Bettis on banjo and Carpenter on piano in 1967, playing turn-of-the-century tunes at Coke Corner on Disneyland's Main Street U.S.A. They were fired by Disney because they would not follow the rules; they were not playing oldies, but rather new music and Beatles songs.

Early in his career, Bettis came to Nashville, where he honed his songwriting skills. He stayed a month at the King of the Road hotel, and took a taxi every day to Music Row; he walked the streets and hung out at Quadrafonic studios and Combine Music where he met other songwriters. He said, "I learned discipline, I learned to rewrite, I learned what a good idea was, what a great idea was, and I learned what producers wanted." He spent time writing with Michael Clark, and together they wrote "Slow Hand". In 1978, he paired with co-writer R. C. Bannon to create "Only One Love in My Life", a number one hit for Ronnie Milsap. It was in Nashville in the 1970s when he attended a concert by The Carpenters. He went backstage to re-unite with his old school friends. Visiting on the Carpenter's Lear Jet, he and Richard Carpenter came up with the idea for "Top of the World." This re-kindled what become an enduring working relationship with The Carpenters. "Top of the World" was later picked up by Lynn Anderson who released it as the title song on her album Top of the World, thus giving Bettis one of early hits in country music. Anderson's version became a hit in 1973. Richard Carpenter took notice and released Karen's version that same year. During this time, Bettis was dividing his time between Nashville and Los Angeles.

In 1969, Richard and Karen Carpenter signed a contract with A&M Records. Their debut album Offering had eight songs co-written by Bettis but was not a commercial success. At the request of label owner Herb Alpert, the team recorded "Close to You", a Bacharach/David composition, in 1970 which became the Carpenters first hit. Other Bettis/Carpenter songs, "Goodbye to Love" and "Yesterday Once More" found similar success in 1972 and 1973. Observing the success of Lynn Anderson's recording of "Top of the World" prompted the Carpenters to release their own version as a single in that same year. The Carpenters' version eclipsed Anderson's and peaked at No. 1 for two weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in December 1973. While the Carpenters rose to fame with Bettis' lyrics in hits like "Only Yesterday", "I Need to Be in Love" and their own version of "Top of the World", Bettis continued his successes in Nashville, writing lyrics for Barbara Mandrell's "One of a Kind Pair of Fools" that reached number one on the country chart.

Bettis gained perhaps his biggest achievement with "Human Nature", a ballad written for Michael Jackson's multi-platinum album Thriller. In the early 1980s, every songwriter in Los Angeles, including Bettis, dreamed of having a song recorded by Michael Jackson. Bettis said at the time (1983) he didn't think he had anything suited for Jackson. But Bettis had previously worked with Quincy Jones, Jackson's producer. He said, "Through my publisher, Quincy got my number and he called me. He didn’t normally do that, I mean, it’s not like he never called me, but I knew he was working on this record so why would he be calling… me?" On the phone, Jones said, "We've got this tune, and it really needs your touch". He had a piece of music with no lyric and wanted Bettis to hear it. Shortly thereafter, a man on a motorcycle arrived at Bettis' house carrying a pouch. It contained a cassette which he hand-delivered. "The melody was kind of jumping out of the speakers at me," said Bettis, "so I sat down in my den where I normally didn’t write, and I started jotting lyrics." When Bettis wrote the line "If this town is just an apple, let me take a bite", he knew something good was coming. After three hours he had finished the lyrics; he typed the words and took them to his publisher's house. He was later told that Michael Jackson would be recording the still unpolished song very soon. The song, "Human Nature" was born as a short melody composed by Toto's Steve Porcaro. Bettis and Porcaro quickly joined up for a two day work session to polish the song. During this time the two writers found they had different visions of what the song was about; Porcaro eventually acquiesced to Bettis' lyric. "It was around 1 or 1:30 p.m.", Bettis said, "and we had to be at the studio by 4. Quincy immediately approved of the lyrics"" Thriller became the best selling record of all time, and "Human Nature" has since been recorded by many artists, including Boyz II Men, Miles Davis, John Mayer, George Howard, Christine Collister, and David Benoit. It has also been sampled by SWV, Ne-Yo, 2Pac, Lil Wayne, Nas, Jason Nevins and Chris Brown.

In 1981, the Pointer Sisters recording of "Slow Hand", by Bettis and Michael Clark, charted for 24 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at number two; it was number seven on the R&B chart. The following year the song, recorded by Conway Twitty, crossed over to become number one on the Billboard Hot Country Singles. Clark and Bettis also teamed up to write Juice Newton's "Heart of the Night" and Donna Summer's "The Woman in Me".

Here are a few examples of lyrics written by Bettis for songs on television. For a broader selection see list of television songs for with lyrics by John Bettis: • Annabelle's Wish - "The World From Way Up Here", "Friends Like Us", "Tiny Dreamer Music Box Theme", "If You Believe", "There's No Place Like Home", "The World From Way Up Here Reprise" by Randy Travis, Alison Krauss, Beth Neilsen Chapman, Cloris Leachman • Empty Nest - "Life Goes On" by Billy Vera • Growing Pains - "As Long as We Got Each Other" by B. J. Thomas, Jennifer Warnes, Dusty Springfield, Kim Carnes, "Swept Away" by Christopher Cross • Guiding Light - "Where There is Hope" • Major Dad • Murphy Brown - "Like the Whole World's Watching" by Take 6 • Nurses - "Here I Am" • Summer Olympics '88 - "One Moment in Time" by Whitney Houston

John Bettis has contributed lyrics to several stage musicals. His theater credits include: • Svengali (1992) • Lunch (national tour, 1994) • The Last Session (1998), which earned the L. A. Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical Score • Say Goodnight (1999) • Pure Country (2008), adapted from the 1992 film of the same name • Josephine (2011), a musical biography of Josephine Baker In 2011, Bettis was inducted into both the Songwriters Hall of Fame as well as the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.

As of 2014, Bettis lived in New York and Santa Monica, and has a farm near Nashville. They have two sons, Wyatt and Conway.

• List of songs by John Bettis