Willis' credits include countless top 10 hits, as well as theme songs for Friends and The Karate Kid.

Allee Willis, a prolific pop songwriter who contributed to classics for stage, screen, and radio, has died. She was 72-years-old. According to The New York Times, the cause of death was cardiac arrest.

Born in Detroit, Willis was an obsessive Motown fan and student, notoriously installed on the front lawn of the iconic Hitsville facility. But her songwriting career wouldn't start until years later as an assistant at Columbia Records, where a chance run-in with Earth, Wind, & Fire's Maurice White would lead the duo to write a pair of the group's most enduring hits ("September" and "Boogie Wonderland.") Throughout the following decade, Willis wrote songs for The Pointer Sisters ("Neutron Dance,") The Pet Shop Boys ("What Have I Done to Deserve This?,") as well as Ray Charles, Sister Sledge and more.

In the '90s, fresh-off a dominant decade, Willis penned another inescapable hit; this time, for the small screen. Her theme song for Friends (aka "I'll Be There For You,") was nominated for an Emmy in 1995, but lost to Star Trek: Voyager. 

Willis is survived by a brother, sister, and niece, as well as her partner, Prudence Fenton.