American Guild Of Authors And Composers
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American Guild Of Authors And Composers
The Songwriters Guild of America (SGA) is an organization founded in 1931, to help "advance, promote, and benefit" the profession of songwriters. It was founded as the Songwriters Protective Association by Billy Rose, George W. Meyer and Edgar Leslie. SGA issued the first standard songwriters contract in 1932 and most writers consider it the 'standard' agreement in the industry. in 1982, SGA moved its executive office from New York City to Nashville. As of February 2012, the Songwriters Guild of America, Inc., has been operating as a Tennessee corporation. Since 1973, The Songwriters Guild Foundation has been organized as a New York corporation. In 1976, the organization, along with the RIAA, was one of the driving forces behind the creation of the Copyright Act of 1976. In July 1999, a similar but much smaller organization — National Academy of Songwriters based on Los Angeles — closed and recommended that its 3,000 members join the Songwriters Guild of America. NAS's imp ...
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Billy Rose
Billy Rose (born William Samuel Rosenberg; September 6, 1899 – February 10, 1966) was an American impresario, theatrical showman and lyricist. For years both before and after World War II, Billy Rose was a major force in entertainment, with shows such as ''Billy Rose's Crazy Quilt'' (1931), ''Jumbo'' (1935), '' Billy Rose's Aquacade'' (1937), and ''Carmen Jones'' (1943). As a lyricist, he is credited with many songs, notably "Don't Bring Lulu" (1925), "Tonight You Belong To Me" (1926), "Me and My Shadow" (1927), "More Than You Know" (1929), "Without a Song" (1929), " It Happened in Monterrey" (1930) and "It's Only a Paper Moon" (1933). Despite his accomplishments, Rose may be best known today as the husband of famed comedian and singer Fanny Brice (1891–1951). Life and work Rose was born to a Jewish family in New York City, United States. He attended Public School 44, where he was the 50-yard dash champion. While in high school, Billy studied shorthand under John Robert G ...
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George W
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he previously served as the 46th governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000. While in his twenties, Bush flew warplanes in the Texas Air National Guard. After graduating from Harvard Business School in 1975, he worked in the oil industry. In 1978, Bush unsuccessfully ran for the House of Representatives. He later co-owned the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball before he was elected governor of Texas in 1994. As governor, Bush successfully sponsored legislation for tort reform, increased education funding, set higher standards for schools, and reformed the criminal justice system. He also helped make Texas the leading producer of wind powered electricity in the nation. In the 2000 presidential election, Bush defeated Democratic incum ...
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Edgar Leslie
Edgar Leslie (December 31, 1885 – January 22, 1976) was an American songwriter. Biography Edgar Leslie was born in Stamford, Connecticut, in 1885. He studied at the Cooper Union in New York. He published his first song in 1909, starting a long prolific career as a composer and lyricist. He died in 1976. Musical career Leslie's first song, "Lonesome" (1909), was an immediate success, recorded by the Haydn Quartet and again by Byron G. Harlan. Other notable artists recorded his early works. Among them were Nat M. Wills, Julian Rose, Belle Baker, Lew Dockstader, James Barton and Joe Welch. A founding member of ASCAP in 1914. In 1927, he traveled to England and collaborated with Horatio Nicholls on several songs, most notably "Among My Souvenirs". Leslie served as its director from 1931 to 1941 and from 1947 to 1953. His most enduring success of the era was probably 1935's " Moon Over Miami". He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972.
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RIAA
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/or distribute approximately 85% of all legally sold recorded music in the United States". RIAA is headquartered in Washington, D.C. RIAA was formed in 1952. Its original mission was to administer recording copyright fees and problems, work with trade unions, and do research relating to the record industry and government regulations. Early RIAA standards included the RIAA equalization curve, the format of the stereophonic record groove and the dimensions of 33 1/3, 45, and 78 rpm records. RIAA says its current mission includes: #to protect intellectual property rights and the First Amendment rights of artists #to perform research about the music industry #to monitor and review relevant laws, regulations, and policies Between 2001 and 202 ...
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Copyright Act Of 1976
The Copyright Act of 1976 is a United States copyright law and remains the primary basis of copyright law in the United States, as amended by several later enacted copyright provisions. The Act spells out the basic rights of copyright holders, codified the doctrine of "fair use", and for most new copyrights adopted a unitary term based on the date of the author's death rather than the prior scheme of fixed initial and renewal terms. It became Public Law number 94-553 on October 19, 1976 and went into effect on January 1, 1978. History and purpose Before the 1976 Act, the last major revision to statutory copyright law in the United States occurred in 1909. In deliberating the Act, Congress noted that extensive technological advances had occurred since the adoption of the 1909 Act. Television, motion pictures, sound recordings, and radio were cited as examples. The Act was designed in part to address intellectual property questions raised by these new forms of communication. Aside ...
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Irving Caesar
Irving Caesar (born Isidor Keiser, July 4, 1895 – December 18, 1996) was an American lyricist and theater composer who wrote lyrics for numerous song standards, including " Swanee", "Sometimes I'm Happy", "Crazy Rhythm", and " Tea for Two", one of the most frequently recorded tunes ever written. In 1972, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Biography Caesar, the son of Morris Keiser, a Romanian Jew, was born in New York City, United States. His older brother Arthur Caesar was a successful Hollywood screenwriter. The Caesar brothers spent their childhood and teen years in Yorkville, the same Manhattan neighborhood where the Marx Brothers were raised. Caesar knew the Marx Brothers during his childhood. He was educated at Chappaqua Mountain Institute in Chappaqua, New York. In his career, Caesar collaborated with a wide variety of composers and songwriters, including Rudolf Friml, George Gershwin, Sigmund Romberg, Victor Herbert, Ted Koehler and Ray Hender ...
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Sigmund Romberg
Sigmund Romberg (July 29, 1887 – November 9, 1951) was a Hungarian-born American composer. He is best known for his musicals and operettas, particularly ''The Student Prince'' (1924), ''The Desert Song'' (1926) and ''The New Moon'' (1928). Early in his career, Romberg was employed by the Shubert brothers to write music for their musicals and revues, including several vehicles for Al Jolson. For the Shuberts, he also adapted several European operettas for American audiences, including the successful '' Maytime'' (1917) and '' Blossom Time'' (1921). His three hit operettas of the mid-1920s, named above, are in the style of Viennese operetta, but his other works from that time mostly employ the style of American musicals of their eras. He also composed film scores. Biography Romberg was born in Hungary as Siegmund Rosenberg to a Jewish
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Charles Tobias
Charles Tobias (August 15, 1898 – July 7, 1970) was an American songwriter. Biography Born in New York City, United States, Tobias grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts with brothers Harry Tobias and Henry Tobias, also songwriters. He started his musical career in vaudeville. In 1923, he founded his own music publishing firm and worked on Tin Pan Alley. Tobias referred to himself as "the boy who writes the songs you sing." His credits include "Merrily We Roll Along," "Rose O'Day," "Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer," "Comes Love," and " Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree (With Anyone Else but Me)." With frequent collaborators Al Sherman and Howard Johnson he wrote, " Dew-Dew-Dewey Day". In the 1930s, Tobias and several of his fellow hit makers formed a revue called " Songwriters on Parade," performing across the Eastern seaboard on the Loew's and Keith circuits. He co-wrote the 1933 to 1936 Merrie Melodies theme song "I Think You're Ducky" with Gerald Marks and Sidney Clare. ...
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Burton Lane
Burton Lane ( Levy; February 2, 1912 – January 5, 1997) was an American composer and lyricist primarily known for his theatre and film scores. His most popular and successful works include '' Finian's Rainbow'' in 1947 and ''On a Clear Day You Can See Forever'' in 1965. Biography He was born Burton Levy, in New York City; his father was Lazarus Levy. At some later time he became known as Burton Lane. One source erroneously gives his birth name as "Morris Hyman Kushner". Burton Lane studied classical piano as a child. At age 14 the theatrical producers the Shuberts commissioned him to write songs for a revue, ''Greenwich Village Follies''. At the age of 18, he contributed the music for at least two songs for the revue, ''Three's A Crowd'': "Forget All Your Books" and "Out in the Open Air." He was known for his Broadway musicals, '' Finian's Rainbow'' (1947) and ''On a Clear Day You Can See Forever'' (1965). He also wrote the music for the less remembered Broadway shows, '' ...
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Edward Eliscu
Edward Eliscu (April 2, 1902 – June 18, 1998) was an American lyricist, playwright, producer and actor, and a successful writer of songs for films. Life Eliscu was born in Manhattan, New York City. He attended DeWitt Clinton High School in Manhattan as a classmate of director George Cukor. He then attended City College of New York and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree. He then began acting in Broadway plays. Eliscu's first film score was with Vincent Youmans and Billy Rose for the film '' Great Day''. Two well-known songs from that show include "More Than You Know," and "Without a Song." He married the dancer and journalist Stella Bloch in 1931. They both worked in the film industry until the House Committee on Un-American Activities named her husband in the 1950s. This ended his career in the film and later in the television industry.St ...
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Ervin Drake
Ervin Drake (born Ervin Maurice Druckman; April 3, 1919 – January 15, 2015) was an American songwriter whose works include such American Songbook standards as "I Believe (1953 song), I Believe" and "It Was a Very Good Year". He wrote in a variety of styles and his work has been recorded by musicians around the world. In 1983, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Biography Born in New York City, Drake had his first song published at age 12, in 1931. The son of Jewish immigrants Max Druckman and Pearl Cohen, he attended Townsend Harris High School in the borough of Manhattan, graduating in 1935, and went on to receive a Bachelor of Arts degree in social science from the City College of New York in 1940. His elder brother, Milton Drake, also became a songwriter, with work including "Java Jive" and "Nina Never Knew"; and his younger brother Arnold Drake, became a writer for DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and others, as well as an author and playwright. Drake wrote the lyric ...
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George David Weiss
George David Weiss (April 9, 1921 – August 23, 2010) was an American songwriter and arranger, who was a president of the Songwriters Guild of America. He is an inductee in the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Biography Weiss was born in a Jewish family, and originally planned a career as a lawyer or accountant, but out of a love for music he was led to attend the Juilliard School of Music, developing his skills in writing and arranging. After leaving school, he became an arranger for such big bands as those of Stan Kenton, Vincent Lopez, and Johnny Richards. He was a prolific songwriter during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, with many of his songs attaining high rankings on the charts. Although he worked with many collaborators, the largest proportion of his well-known songs were written with Bennie Benjamin. Weiss contributed to a number of film scores: ''Murder, Inc.'' (1960), ''Gidget Goes to Rome'' (1963), ''Mediterranean Holiday'' (1964), and '' Mademoiselle'' (1966). Collabora ...
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