Randy VanWarmer (March 30, 1955 – January 12, 2004) was an American songwriter and guitarist best remembered for his 1979 pop smash, "Just When I Needed You Most."
Randy VanWarmer was born Randall Van Warmer in Indian Hills, CO. After his father was killed in a 1967 auto accident, VanWarmer and his mother relocated to Cornwall, England; he began writing and performing while in his teens, and upon returning stateside in 1978 settled in Woodstock, NY.
In 1979, after struggling in obscurity for a few years, Bearsville Records in New York released a VanWarmer single, "Gotta Get Out of Here," a mildly catchy pop tune. "Just When I Needed You Most" was the B-side of the single. Somewhere, on a whim, a DJ decided to play the flip side instead, and it slowly rose to the Top 10 in a market saturated with disco. As VanWarmer told Release, Albert Grossman, the head of Bearsville, who was acting as VanWarmer's manager, would not let him do television or tour the United States, a strategy that did not prove successful.
His follow-up album, Terraform, appeared in 1980, trailed a year later by Beat of Love -- neither record was a pop hit, but VanWarmer was gaining increasing industry fame as a composer, especially after his "I'm in a Hurry (And Don't Know Why)" topped the country charts for Alabama in 1982. A fourth solo LP, The Things That You Dream, was issued to diminishing commercial returns in 1983.
A year later the Oak Ridge Boys hit number one with his "I Guess It Never Hurts to Hurt Sometimes." The song appeared on his 1981 album Beat of Love, which also included the pop tune "Suzi Found a Weapon", which hit No. 55 on the Billboard Hot 100.The song was a tribute to a Bearsville public relations rep whom VanWarmer would later woo and marry, and which went to No. 1 in Alaska and gained a certain amount of post mortem acclaim. But Grossman died soon thereafter, and VanWarmer's future was in doubt.
VanWarmer relocated to Nashville in 1985 to ply his trade as a country songwriter. His songs have been featured on albums by Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, Laura Branigan, Smokie and Billie Joe Royal among others. In 1988, he resurfaced as a solo artist with I Am, scoring a pair of country hits with "I Will Hold You" and "Where the Rocky Mountains Touch the Morning Sun." Subsequent efforts include 1990's Every Now and Then, 1994's The Vital Spark, and 1995's Third Child.
His final album was a tribute to Stephen Foster, released posthumously only in Japan. According to the CD's liner notes, VanWarmer played all the instruments. The notes also indicate that he completed work on the record a few days after learning he had leukemia.. After a long battle with the cancer, VanWarmer died in Seattle on January 12, 2004.
In line with one of his greatest loves, some of his cremated remains were sent into space in 2007, and then again in 2012 aboard the first successful private space flight to the International Space Station, the SpaceX Dragon vehicle. (Edited from Wikipedia & AllMusic)