Tom Whitlock, author of 'Top Gun' anthem 'Danger Zone', dies at 68

Mr. Whitlock's songs, including the chart-topping "Take My Breath Away", were central to the 1986 film.

Tom Whitlock, who co-wrote two songs that helped elevate the 1986 film "Top Gun" into a pop culture giant, died Saturday in Gallatin, Tennessee, at age 68.

His death was confirmed by Gorman-Scharpf Funeral Home, which did not cite a cause.

The songs, "Danger Zone" and "Take My Breath Away ", were just two of more than 100 songwriting credits he amassed during his career, including songs performed by Bonnie Tyler, Ray Charles and Graham Nash. But his work writing the lyrics to the songs for "Top Gun," the Tom Cruise-directed film about fighter jets and male machismo, has particularly endured.

M. Whitlock and composer Giorgio Moroder, who co-wrote and produced numerous works, created five songs for the film, but two in particular were widely acclaimed.

“Danger Zone,” performed by Kenny Loggins, served as the energetic, guitar-laden backdrop for the film’s opening moments, as fighter jets roared through the skies. The lyrics spoke for a shameless thrill-seeker, culminating in the oft-repeated titular line – "highway to the danger zone". It reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. moving song performed by Berlin that was used in a romantic scene.It topped the Billboard charts on September 13, 1986 and won the Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Original Song.

Thomas Ross Whitlock was born on February 20, 1954, in Sprin gfield, Mo. He started playing drums when he was 11 and started playing with major artists at a young age, he said in a 2018 interview with rediscoverthe80s.com. /p>

After going to college and playing in a pop-up band, he was helping a friend in a sound studio when Mr. Moroder, an already accomplished musician who had just buying the studio said he was having trouble with the brakes on his Ferrari, Mr Whitlock said in the interview. Mr. Whitlock bought brake fluid, used his own tools and fixed the problem. A few weeks later, he was hired to do odd jobs in the studio.

After the others left for the day, he could work on his own songs. And when other songwriters weren't around, Mr. Moroder turned to Mr. Whitlock for help with the lyrics to "Top Gun," he said.

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He also wrote the lyrics for the theme songs for the 1988 Summer Olympics and the 1990 FIFA World Cup.

He is survived by his sister, Mary Whitlock Schweitzer, his ex-wife, Hollie Whitlock, and his daughter, Yohanna Sherman.