Ms. Weil was born in New York City on October 18, 1940, the youngest of two children to Morris Weil and Dorothy (Mendes) Weil, who owned a furniture company.

Growing up on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and then training as an actress and dancer on the Upper East Side, she dreamed of a life in theater. She later joined Sarah in Bronxville, New York where she majored in this subject at Lawrence University.

“I was always attached to Broadway,” she said in a 2016 video interview at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. “I wanted to write for Broadway. I always imagined myself doing something on Broadway.”

She put that childhood admiration into the lyrics of “On Broadway.” The song was originally written from the point of view of a small town girl dreaming of her future on the Great White Way, and as her lyrics admit, her dreams often accompany her. rice field. Shattered Hope:

Broadway is said to be bright with neon lights

They say there’s always magic in the air

But walking down the street

and you don’t have enough to eat

The shine fades quickly and you’re nowhere

The Drifters’ version of the song, in which Ms. Weil eventually changed the song’s protagonist to a male, reached No. 9 as a single in 1962. Sixteen years later, George Benson scored his own jazz-infused version at #7.

In addition to her husband and daughter, Dr. Mann, a psychologist, she is survived by two granddaughters.