Norman Gimbel, an Oscar- and Grammy-award-winning lyricist and songwriter, has passed away, Comic Book Resources reports. He was known, among other things, for the Wonder Woman theme song from the popular 1970s series starring Lynda Carter.
Theme songs are an important part of the superheroic legacy, and did a very strong job of helping to cement some of our most popular heroes in the pop cultural imagination. So the influence of writers like Gimbel, who crafted lyrics to those songs, can’t be understated. Born in Brooklyn in 1927, Gimbel worked in the recording industry for decades, writing the lyrics to a number of TV theme songs, such as Happy Days, and winning a Grammy for writing “Killing Me Softly With His Song” with Roberta Flack.
Gimbel’s work has a huge influence on pop culture, and on superherodom. Here’s his Wonder Woman theme to remember him by: