- Songwriter ("I'll Remember April", "Cow Cow Boogie", "Teach Me Tonight"), composer, pianist, singer and arranger, educated at Benjamin Franklin High School and in private piano study. He was a pianist in dance orchestras, and toured theatres as a singer, also arranging music for vocal groups before working under contract to film studios. He served in the US Army during World War II. For Broadway, he wrote the stage score for "Li'l Abner". Joining ASCAP in 1941, his chief musical collaborators included Johnny Mercer and Don Raye, and his other popular-song compositions include "Mister Five by Five", "He's My Guy", "Milkman, Keep Those Bottles Quiet", "Love Me", "Star Eyes", "You Don't Know What Love Is", "Irresistible You", "When You're In Love", "Lonesome Polecat", "Sobbin' Women", "Love In a Home", "If I Had My Druthers", "The Country's in the Very Best of Hands", "Namely You", "Jubilation T. Cornpone", "Your Red Wagon", "A Song Was Born", "Pigfoot Pete", "You Can't Run Away from It", and "Temporarily".
- IMDb mini biography by: Hup234!
- Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1985.
- Was nominated for Broadway's 1983 Tony Award as Best Score, with his original lyrics and the original music of 'Johnny Merce' cited with additional, new music and lyrics by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn, for "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers."
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
