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image captionWeatherly released nearly a dozen studio albums
US country singer-songwriter Jim Weatherly, best known for writing 1970s hit Midnight Train to Georgia, has died aged 77.
Weatherly passed away at his home near Nashville, Tennessee, on Wednesday.
Music publisher and friend Charlie Monk said the family attributed his death to natural causes.
Singer Gladys Knight, who had a number one hit with Midnight Train to Georgia with her backing group The Pips, said he had been a sweetheart .
Born in Mississippi in 1943, Weatherly released nearly a dozen studio albums during his five-decade career.
In his student years, the singer was a gifted quarterback for the University of Mississippi s American football team.
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Midnight Train to Georgia songwriter dies aged 77
US country singer-songwriter Jim Weatherly, best known for writing 1970s hit Midnight Train to Georgia, has died aged 77, his family say.
Weatherly passed away at his home near Nashville, Tennessee, on Wednesday.
Music publisher and friend Charlie Monk said the family attributed his death to natural causes, the Tennessean website reports.
Weatherly released nearly a dozen studio albums during his five-decade career.
In his student years, the singer was a gifted quarterback for the University of Mississippi s American football team.
But later in the 1960s he decided to leave sport and focus on music in Los Angeles.