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Clizbeats.com Celebrates The Life Of TV Icon Alan Thicke

21 Dec, 2016 Articles, Interviews
Alan Thicke

Our readers who have followed the development of Clizbeats.com since it’s early days know that R&B singer, Robin Thicke has been a consistent presence on our site since we first met him in November of 2005. He was one of our first Clizbeats featured artists, and had always returned through the years to kindly grant us many exclusive interviews. In 2009 Robin even generously went out of his way to appear in “The Clizbeats Story,” a biographical video about the creation of Clizbeats.com.

Therefore it is with heavy hearts that we join the rest of the world in publicly mourning the passing of Robin’s father, TV icon Alan Thicke. As was widely previously reported last week the Growing Pains star passed away on December 13, 2016. Thicke collapsed while playing hockey with his son Carter at Pickwick Gardens in Burbank, California. Thicke subsequently died of a heart attack at the Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, at the age of 69.

His wife Tanya, his sons Brennan, Robin and Carter, and his half brother Todd Thicke survive him. As a TV icon of the 1980s and 1990s, Alan Thicke’s career has seen him playing many types of different roles in television and film. Among all of them, he is best known for playing the role of Dr. Jason Seaver on the ABC sitcom, Growing Pains for 166 episodes from 1985-1992.

 

Beyond that career-defining role, Thicke has appeared in other TV/film projects like The Alan Thicke Show (CTV 1980-1983) Thicke Of The Night (Syndicated, 1983-1984) Disney’s Not Quite Human film series, (ABC/Disney Channel/NBC ,1987, 1989/1990, 1992) The Bold And The Beautiful (CBS, 2006-2009), JPod, (CBC, 2008) How I Met Your Mother (CBS, 2008) and Unusually Thicke. (Reality mockumentary show with his family, Pop/HGTV 2014-2016) His roles final roles came with a cameo appearance on the pilot for the acclaimed NBC family drama, This Is Us (Aired September 20, 2016), and as “Mike” on Season 2 of Netflix’s Original series, Fuller House. (Season 2, Episode 2 “Mom Interference”, released On December 9, 2016) Right before his passing on December 13, Alan tweeted about his excitement for the new season of Fuller House.


Fuller House star Candice Cameron-Bure took to Instagram to express her sadness upon the news of Alan’s passing.


Candice’s older brother, Kirk Cameron who played Alan’s TV son, Mike Seaver joined friends and family including the other Growing Pains cast members Leonardo DiCaprio, Joanna Kerns, Tracey Gold and Jeremy Miller to celebrate Alan on Sunday night. (December 18, 2016). Those guests also included Alan’s friends Jeopardy host Alex Trebek, Full House star Bob Saget, and comedian Bill Maher. Alan was laid to rest the following week on Tuesday December 20, 2016 in Santa Barbara, CA.

Of course those in attendance were not the only ones remembering the beloved Hollywood icon. When the news of Alan’s passing broke across the world, many other high profile celebrities friends took to social media to show an outpouring of love to the Thicke family. Take a look at some of those below.

 

Dog… #AlanThicke just wasn’t the cool dad on tv. Dude was a part of our everyday musical lexicon. As a songwriter and jingle man this dude was THE MAN. we live in an age in which most tv shows eschew the art of the theme song. Most of our shows are quickie tags or nothing at all. Or instrumentals. Next to #JesseFrederick & #MervGriffin You were employing Alan to handle the honors. As a dude working in television believe you me: the art of connecting melody and narrative and sticking in 30 secs or less is an ART (I still maintain the #FreshPrince theme is Will’s best most loved song (yes, more than #Summertime)—Alan had classics that NEVER LEFT us: #DiffrentStrokes theme #FactsOfLife theme my Uncle Bud used to laugh at me trying to whistle the #JokersWild theme (game shows were waaaaay big in the 70s yall and Alan did em all including the OG version of #WheelOfFortune back when Woolery was host) I mean 2016 is what it’s going to be. I just hope I love to escape it. Respect to his family and his loved ones.

A photo posted by Questlove Gomez (@questlove) on

💔💔💔 My heart aches

A photo posted by Lance Bass (@lancebass) on

As you can see in some of those posts, some people referenced Alan’s musical ability. That is because like his son Robin, Alan was an accomplished musician in his own way. Away from acting on TV, Alan had a hand in composing some classic TV theme songs. The most famous of those were the ones he co-wrote with his first wife, and Robin’s mother, Gloria Loring. Those were the themes to the sitcoms Diff’rent Strokes (1978-1986 NBC/ABC) and its spin off The Facts Of Life. (1979-1988 NBC) (Both songs written by Gloria Loring/Alan Thicke/Al Burton) Alan also had a hand in writing the theme to his 1980s talk show, The Thicke Of The Night . (Written By Alan Thicke/David Foster/Jay Graydon)

Different Strokes Theme Song

(Long Version)

Gloria Loring Performing The Facts Of Life Theme Song
With the help of his son Robin, he was even able to get credited as a songwriter on a couple major label releases as well. The first of these came in 1998 when New Kids On The Block member, Jordan Knight hired a young Robin Thicke to help co-write his first solo album on Interscope Records. At the time, it was a great opportunity for the then unknown Robin to show the world what he could do. Robin and Jordan worked closely together on nearly every track. With Robin’s former manager Miguel Melendez also serving as co-executive producer it was clear that Jordan’s project was quickly becoming a family affair. That statement couldn’t be truer about the album cut, “Separate Ways.” That was a piano ballad that lists Jordan Knight co-writing with not just Robin, but Alan, and Robin’s older brother Brennan as well.

Jordan Knight 

After hearing of Alan’s passing last week, Jordan Knight used his public Facebook page to write a heartfelt message about that time in his life with the Thicke family.

“RIP to Americas favorite TV dad Alan Thicke. It’s so, so sad to hear this news. My love, thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends and all who loved him. I had the great privilege to have known him through his son Robin. Robin and I pieced together the great majority of my first solo album. When we got writers block we would go to Alan’s house and sit at the piano. Alan wrote many lyrics at those sittings most notably on the song “Separate Ways”. One of my absolute favorites. The world will miss you Mr. Thicke. Thank you for making it a better and more magical place. “–Jordan Knight via Facebook on December 13, 2016.

That family affair style of songwriting even continued years later when Robin was working on his hit 2013 album, Blurred Lines. Alan was able to contribute a few lyric ideas after he happened to be over at Robin’s house when the song “Ain’t No Hat 4 That” was being written. (Written by Robin Thicke/Joe Augello/Alan Thicke) To help make the family experience complete Robin’s son Julian was even included in the recording process for the song’s intro.

 

Related Media

Alan Thicke Talks Songwriting With Robin Thicke

From Katie 

KAC Productions/Disney-ABC  Domestic Television

ET Flashback 1991
 
Robin’s musical connection to his father was something we discovered many years ago when doing research for our first interview with him. Keeping that in mind we decided to share a previously unreleased part of our 2008 interview with Robin. In the clip below you will hear about how Robin has always considered his father, an inspiration, and went into detail about how proud both his parents were after the platinum success of his second album, The Evolution Of Robin Thicke. Our love and prayers are with you Robin. Sincerest best wishes to you and the entire Thicke family. Rest in Peace Alan Thicke.

 

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