Twyla Herbert

Twyla Herbert (born Twila Moody; July 27, 1921 – July 11, 2009)^[1] was an American songwriter known for her long songwriting partnership with the singer Lou Christie.

Twila Moody was born in Riverside, California, and as a child moved with her parents to Pennsylvania,^[2] where she married Earle Herbert (d.1982). In the late 1950s, Lou Christie was 15 years old when he met Herbert, a "bohemian gypsy, psychic, and former concert pianist," at an audition in a church basement in his hometown, Glenwillard, Pennsylvania.^[3] Over 20 years older than he was, with flaming red hair, she was a self-described clairvoyant and mystic who allegedly predicted which of their songs would become hits.^[4]

The pair co-wrote the great majority of Christie's hits, including "The Gypsy Cried", "Two Faces Have I", "Rhapsody in the Rain", "She Sold Me Magic", and most famously, "Lightnin' Strikes", a song later covered by such artists as Del Shannon and Klaus Nomi. Christie discussed their songwriting relationship: "Twyla is a genius. She was going to be a concert pianist but we started writing rock 'n' roll. The hardest part was that we had too many ideas. If we wanted to write a song, it would never stop."^[5]

Herbert and Christie also composed for his backup singers, a girl group named the Tammys, a handful of songs, including the eccentric single, "Egyptian Shumba," which with its over-the-top, savage vocals and faux-Middle Eastern melody, has become a cult classic.^[6]

Herbert died in Phoenix, Arizona in 2009, at the age of 87.^[7]

• Twyla Herbert on Allmusic
• A Photograph of Twyla Herbert with Lou Christie (archived)