The, kind of, go-to phrase that Maurice used in every song he wrote was ba-dee-ya, so right from the beginning he was singing, Ba-dee-ya, say, do you remember / Ba-dee-ya, dancing in September. And I said, Wearegoing to change ba-dee-ya to real words,right?

Allee Willis

Alta Sherral Willis (November 10, 1947 – December 24, 2019), known as Allee Willis, was an American songwriter, multi-media artist, collector, and art director. Willis co-wrote hit songs including "September" and "Boogie Wonderland" by Earth, Wind & Fire. She also co-wrote the song "What Have I Done to Deserve This?", a number 2 hit in both the UK (in 1987) and U.S. (in 1988) for The Pet Shop Boys featuring Dusty Springfield. She won two Grammy Awards for Beverly Hills Cop and The Color Purple, the latter of which was also nominated for a Tony Award, and was nominated for an Emmy Award for "I'll Be There For You", which was used as the theme song for the sitcom Friends. Her compositions sold over 60 million records and she was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2018 as the only woman to be inducted that year.

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