American Songbook Blogs
The Artists, Musicians and Stories Behind Our American Songbook
Category: Uncategorized
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January 5, 1879: American songwriter, singer and vaudeville performer Jack Norworth was born on this date in 1879. Norworth is credited as co-writer of a number of Tin Pan Alley hits. He wrote the lyrics to “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” (music by Albert Von Tilzer) in 1908, his most long lasting hit.…
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January 3, 1916 – October 21, 1995 The middle sister of the iconic trio, the Andrews sisters had their first hit in 1937, after years of “paying their dues” having formed their trio as young children. That first hit was “Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen,” which vaulted the three sweet girls from Minnesota to fame…
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January 1, 1884: Songwriter George W. Meyer was born on this date in 1884! Meyer collaborated with the greatest lyricists of his day including Sam Lewis, Joe Young, Grant Clarke, Roy Turk, Arthur Johnston, Al Bryan, Edgar Leslie, E. Ray Goetz, Pete Wendling, Abel Baer and Stanley Adams. Highlights from the Meyer catalog include such…
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December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998 Francis Albert Sinatra was an American singer and actor, nicknamed the “Voice,” “Chairman of the Board” and “Ol’ Blue Eyes.” He is regarded as one of the greatest entertainers of the 20th Century and perhaps the greatest purveyor of the music of the Great American Songbook. Sinatra is…
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December 24, 1893 – September 22, 1981 (born Salvatore Antonio Guaragna) Warren was the first major American songwriter to write primarily for film and incredibly prolific. . In fact, his songs has been featured in over 300 films. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song eleven times and won three Oscars…
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December 10, 1906: American lyricist Harold Adamson was born on this date in 1906! His Broadway stage scores include: “Smiles”; “Earl Carroll’s Vanities” (1931); “Banjo Eyes”; and “As The Girls Go”. For Jones Beach: “Around The World In Eighty Days”. He came to Hollywood in 1933, writing many film songs and themes. His chief musical…
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December 10, 1893: Lyricist Lew Brown was born on this date in 1893! Brown was born as Louis Brownstein in Odessa, Russian Empire. His family emigrated to the United States in 1898 and settled in The Bronx of New York City. Brown wrote lyrics for many of the top Tin Pan Alley songwriters of the…
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December 3, 1909: Composer and lyricist Dana Suesse was born on this date in 1909! Often referred to as “the girl Gershwin”, Suesse wrote songs such as “My Silent Love”, “Ho-Hum”, and “You Ought to Be in Pictures”.
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December 2, 1914: American lyricist and playwright Adolph Green was born on this date in 1914! Along with long-time collaborator Betty Comden, he penned the screenplays and songs for some of the most beloved movie musicals, particularly as part of Arthur Freed’s production unit at MGM, during the genre’s heyday. Many people thought the pair…
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December 1, 1896: American songwriter Ray Henderson was born on this date in 1896! He was one third of a successful songwriting and music publishing team with Lew Brown and Buddy DeSylva from 1925 through 1930, responsible for several editions of the revue called George White’s Scandals and such book musicals as Good News, Hold…
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November 29, 1932 – January 4, 1998 John Gary was an American popular singer, gifted musical theater actor and so much more! With an amazing 3 1/2 octave range, John easily shifted from a deep baritone to a lofty high tenor voice. Besides being a “Singer’s Singer” John was a Marine, a boxer, a champion…
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November 25, 1900: American composer and film producer Arthur Schwartz was born on this date in 1900. Among the Broadway musicals for which Schwartz wrote the music are: Three’s a Crowd (1930), The Band Wagon (1931), A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1951), By the Beautiful Sea (1954), The Gay Life (1961), and Jennie (1963). His…
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November 23, 1925 – June 29, 2020 Johnny Mandel was a tremendous composer, musician and arranger of popular songs, jazz and film scores. Johnny studied music at both the Manhattan School of Music as well as Julliard. In the early 1940s, early in his career, Johnny played trumpet and trombone iin several well known big bands,…
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Hoagy Carmichael was a tremendous songwriter, composer, an accomplished actor and an iconic, American Musical treasure! Although Hoagy wrote many of his most famous songs over seventy years ago, and yet the interest in his music is greater than ever. Music was his consuming interest, and he considered himself a guy who was a “craftsman”; a tunesmith, who…
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November 20, 1925 – June 21, 1990 June Christy was an American singer, best known for her work in “cool jazz” with her silky smooth vocals. Her success as a singer and early hits were with the Stan Kenton Orchestra. Her hit recording with Kenton included the million-seller “Tampico” and “How High The Moon.” She pursued…
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November 19, 1905 – November 26, 1956 Tommy Dorsey was a legendary jazz trombonist, composer, conductor and bandleader of the big band era. He was known as the “Sentimental Gentleman of Swing” because of his smooth-toned trombone playing. Tommy’s incredible musicianship continues to influence trombonists even today. Frank Sinatra, who was for some time the…
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November 18, 1909 – June 25, 1976 Johnny Mercer was a composer, lyricist, singer and American Songbook icon! From the light-hearted “You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby” and “Jeepers Creepers” to the romantic “Laura,” “Dream” and “I Remember You”…from the big band “And The Angels Sing” to the dramatic “Blues In The Night,” “Come…
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November 15, 1905 – March 30, 1980 Annunzio Paolo Mantovani was an Italian-British conductor, composer and light-orchestra-styled entertainer with a cascading strings musical signature. Although he success was worldwide, and originally in Europe, Mantovani was a tremendous hit in the United States. He was a tremendous purveyor of the American Songbook,. Some of Mantovani’s biggest recording hits were “Theme from MOULIN…
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November 12, 1917 – July 16, 2008 This legendary vocalist enjoyed a career that spanned five decades from the late 1930s to the early 1980s. Though Jo was classically trained, she gravitated towards pop singing and by 1955 had achieved more worldwide record sales than any other female artist. Her 1952 song “You Belong to Me”…
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November 10, 1916 – January 22, 2004 Billy May was an American composer, arranger and trumpeter. He composed film and television music for The Green Hornet (1966), The Mod Squad (1968), Batman (with Batgirl theme, 1967),[1] and Naked City (1960). May wrote arrangements for many top singers, including Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby, Anita O’Day, Peggy Lee, Vic Damon, Bobby Darin, Johnny Mercer, Jack…
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November 7, 1922 – April 27, 1999 Al Hirt was an American trumpeter and bandleader. He is best remembered for his million-selling recordings of “Java” and the accompanying album Honey in the Horn (1963), and for the theme music to The Green Hornet. Hirt had various nicknames including “Jumbo” and “The Round Mound of Sound”. After a stint as…
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November 7, 1904: On this date in 1904, the timeless anthem “Give My Regards to Broadway” was sung for the very first time on the stage in George M. Cohan’s Little Johnny Jones. The story of an American jockey in England ran for just 52 performances but racked up another 153 performances in two return…
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November 6, 1886 – October 8, 1941 Kahn was an American lyricist/songwriter who contributed a number of songs to our Great American Songbook including “Pretty Baby“, “Ain’t We Got Fun?“, “Carolina in the Morning“, “Toot, Toot, Tootsie (Goo’ Bye!)“, “My Buddy” “I’ll See You in My Dreams“, “It Had to Be You“, “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby“,…
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October 29, 1922 – October 11, 2008 Neal Hefti was a gifted trumpet player, having played with Woody Herman’s Thundering Herd Big Band, among others, but his man contributions to the American Songbook were as a much sought after arranger and composer. He did numerous arrangements and albums with Frank Sinatra, Harry James, Buddy Rich,…
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October 26, 1913 – September 4, 1991 Charlie Barnet was a tremendous musician (tenor sax), composer and big band leader through the 1930s and into the 1950s. He transformed, disbanded, reorganized and resurrected his hard swinging band numerous times throughout his career. He was a tremendous champion of both the Duke Ellington and Count Basie…
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October 21st is Dizzy and Don Rader’s birth date. (I mistakenly posted their birthdays as Oct. 20th) Happy birthday to these kings.
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October 21, 1959: On this date in 1959, Oscar Hammerstein II completed his work on “Edelweiss,” his 1,589th and last lyric, written for the Sound of Music.
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Howdy fellow Music Lovers! This site is mainly to serve a the host for our blogs that celebrate the Artists, Composers, Songwriters, Musicians and Stories behind the iconic music of Our American Songbook. In addition we hope to also introduce you to our GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK ORCHESTRA project. Check out our new phone app, GREAT…
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October 14, 1977: Let’s remember American singer and actor Bing Crosby today. On this date in 1977, at the La Moraleja Golf Course near Madrid, Crosby played 18 holes of golf. His partner was World Cup champion Manuel Piñero; their opponents were club president Cesar de Zulueta and Valentin Barrios. At about 6:30 pm, Crosby…
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