The death of Tom Whitlock, without whom Top Gun would not be so iconic

He created a song that went around the world, a hit forever linked to the classic 90s movie. I caught my breath of Top Gun, died on February 18 at the age of 68. The reasons for his death are not known.

Fate knocked on Tom Whitlock’s door in the 80s, when he met Giorgio Moroder in the walls of a recording studio in Los Angeles. An Italian composer recruited him to write the lyrics for four songs in the movie Top Gun, played by Tom Cruise.

Among these songs, a ballad I caught my breathThe band Berlin’s interpretation became a worldwide hit, and Whitlock and Moroder won an Oscar for Best Original Song.

A work that depicts a love scene between Cruise and Kelly McGillis (discussed in the player above) and which has reached millions of viewers around the world.

For Top Gun, two men signed the title of Rocky danger zoneWhich is heard again in Top Gun: Maverick, too Lead Me On and through fire. After the Tom Cruise-led classic, the duo went on to collaborate for cinema in films like Beverly Hills Cop 3 and Rambo III.

Tom Whitlock and Giorgio Moroder also left their mark on the sport. The duo signed songs depicting the Seoul Games in 1988 (Heaven in hand) and the 1990 FIFA World Cup in the United States (be number one).

“Top Gun” trailer: