Roger Nichols, one half of the songwriting duo responsible for Carpenters hits like “We’ve Only Just Begun,” died on May 17. He was 84 years old.
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Paul Williams, 84, confirmed his songwriting partner’s death in a heartfelt social media post Wednesday (May 21.) Nichols, he wrote, “passed away peacefully” at his home with his wife, Terri, and their three daughters by his side.
“The first song, Roger Nichols and I wrote was called ‘it’s hard to say goodbye,’” Williams wrote. “Sadly, we hit the nail on the head.”
Born Sept. 17, 1940, in Missoula, Montana, Nichols released his debut album, Roger Nichols and the Small Circle of Friends, in 1968 with A&M Records.
Although the album gained no traction on the Billboard charts, the label’s co-founder, Herb Alpert, saw something in Nichols. On Alpert’s recommendation, A&M Records hired the multi-instrumentalist as a staff songwriter. There, he met Paul Williams.
“I was an out of work actor looking for a career in music when I was signed by A&M records publishing,” Williams wrote on Instagram. “They were looking for a lyricist for Roger Nichols. An industrial strength, lucky break that changed my life.”
[RELATED: 4 Songs You Didn’t Know Paul Williams Wrote For Other Artists]
Roger Nichols Was “As Disciplined as He Was Talented”
For the next several years, the pair put pen to paper nearly every day. Whereas Williams joked that he “had the attention span of a sea otter,” Roger Nichols was “as disciplined as he was talented.”
“I was ready for a break after three hours and Roger would plunge ahead for another four or five. The words were born of the beauty in his completed melodies,” wrote the ASCAP chairman. “I wrote what I heard, note for note…word for word. The lyrics waiting in the emotion already in his music. He made it easy.”
Together, the duo penned multiple hits for The Carpenters, including the Top 5 song “We’ve Only Just Begun” and “Rainy Days and Mondays,” which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1971. Aside from The Carpenters, they were also responsible for Three Dog Night’s Top 10 hit “Out in the Country.”
In the comments, the songwriter’s daughter, Claire Schiemer, thanked Williams for his poignant tribute to her father.
She, her mother, and her sisters “are in awe of the legacy he leaves, so much of it being the beautiful works of art you both gifted to the world through his music and your lyrics,” Schiemer wrote.
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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