Joe South, Composer Of "Games People Play," R. I. P.

Joe South, a singer and songwriter who wrote confrontional lyrics into bouncy hit late 1960s and early 1970s songs such as "Games People Play," "Walk A Mile In My Shoes," and "(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden,"  passed away on Wednesday from an apparent heart attack at his Flowery Branch, Georgia home at the age of 72.

Mr. South, who had written a modeslty successul song "The Purple People Eater Meets The Witch Doctor" in 1958, went on to write the three ealirer-mentioned songs and had hit recordings with two of them.

"Rose Garden," Joe's best-known composition, became a huge country-and-western and crossover pop hit in 1971 for Lynn Anderson.

Marvin Hamlisch, Pianist, Composer of "A Chorus Line," Composed "GMA" Theme Song, Had Hit Recording Of "The Entertainer," R. I. P.

Pianist and composer Marvin Hamlisch, who wrote the Academy Award-winning score for the motion picture "The Sting," who had a hit recording of the Scott Joplin-composed Ragtime classic "The Entertainer," who wrote the theme music for ABC's Good Morning America, and who composed the musical "A Chorus Line," passed away on Monday in Los Angeles following a brief illness at age 68.