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Softly, As I Leave You (album)
''Softly, as I Leave You'' is a 1964 studio album by American singer Frank Sinatra. This album was Sinatra's first tentative attempt to come to terms with rock and roll music. Arranged by Ernie Freeman, "Softly, as I Leave You", "Then Suddenly Love" and "Available" are definitely stabs at incorporating rock and roll into Sinatra's middle-of-the-road pop sound, featuring drum kits, backing vocals and keyboards. The rest of the album is pieced together with leftovers from various early-'60s sessions, from many different arrangers and conductors, giving the album a rather uneven feel. The title track was the first of at least four attempts to mimic the chart success of Dean Martin's #1 hit "Everybody Loves Somebody", using a driving beat, heavy strings and choral tracks. Sinatra, arranger Ernie Freeman and producer Jimmy Bowen would incorporate the same sound to songs like "When Somebody Loves You", "Tell Her You Love Her (Each Day)" and "Somewhere in Your Heart" with only minor char ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular entertainers of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. He is among the List of best-selling music artists, world's best-selling music artists with an estimated 150 million record sales. Born to Italian immigrants in Hoboken, New Jersey, Sinatra was greatly influenced by the intimate, easy-listening vocal style of Bing Crosby and began his musical career in the swing era with bandleaders Harry James and Tommy Dorsey. He found success as a solo artist after signing with Columbia Records in 1943, becoming the idol of the "Bobby soxer (music), bobby soxers". Sinatra released his debut album, ''The Voice of Frank Sinatra'', in 1946. When his film career stalled in the early 1950s, Sinatra turned to Las Vegas, where he became one of its best-known concert ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johnny Mercer
John Herndon Mercer (November 18, 1909 – June 25, 1976) was an American lyricist, songwriter, and singer, as well as a record label executive who co-founded Capitol Records with music industry businessmen Buddy DeSylva and Glenn E. Wallichs. He is best known as a Tin Pan Alley lyricist, but he also composed music, and was a popular singer who recorded his own songs as well as songs written by others from the mid-1930s through the mid-1950s. Mercer's songs were among the most successful hits of the time, including " Moon River", " Days of Wine and Roses", " Autumn Leaves", and "Hooray for Hollywood". He wrote the lyrics to more than 1,500 songs, including compositions for movies and Broadway shows. He received nineteen Oscar nominations, and won four Best Original Song Oscars. Early life Mercer was born in Savannah, Georgia, where one of his first jobs, aged 10, was sweeping floors at the original 1919 location of Leopold's Ice Cream. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tony De Vita
Antonio De Vita (10 February 1932 – 14 January 1998), best known as Tony De Vita, was an Italian composer, conductor, arranger and pianist. Born in Milan, De Vita graduated at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in his hometown. He started his career as a pianist, accompanying artists such as Johnny Dorelli and Betty Curtis. In 1963 he debuted on television as the conductor in the variety show ''La fiera dei sogni'', and from then he appeared in dozens of popular shows, including '' Senza Rete'', '' Fantastico'' and '' Domenica in''.Aldo Grasso, Massimo Scaglioni. ''Enciclopedia della Televisione''. Garzanti, Milano, 1996 – 2003. . De Vita composed over five hundred songs and musical scores. He is best known for his long collaboration with the singer Mina. Among his best known compositions, the song "Piano", which was later recorded by Matt Monro (1962), Doris Day (1963) and Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American si ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hal Shaper
Hal Shaper (Born Harold David Shaper), 18 July 1931 - 8 January 2004) was a South African songwriter. After qualifying as a lawyer in 1955, he travelled to London to begin his five-decade-long musical career during which he worked with and wrote for well-known artists including Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand and David Bowie. After establishing financial stability following the release of his first hit ''Softly, As I Leave You'', he began his own music publishing company, Sparta Florida Inc.. Aside from song titles and lyrics, Shaper also wrote for films as well as musicals. Biography Shaper was born on the 18th of July 1931 in Muizenberg near Cape Town as the third and youngest child of Jewish parents. His father was from Manchester and his mother from the ghetto of Lodz in Poland. He was inspired to become a songwriter after seeing the Mickey Rooney film ''Words and Music'' (1948), saying: he was "enchanted by the quality of the songs and the freshness of them" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carolyn Leigh
Carolyn Leigh (August 21, 1926 – November 19, 1983) was an American lyricist for Broadway, film, and popular songs. She is best known as the writer with partner Cy Coleman of the pop standards "Witchcraft" and "The Best Is Yet to Come". With Johnny Richards, she wrote the million-seller " Young at Heart" for the film of the same name, starring Frank Sinatra. Biography Leigh was born to a Jewish familyTampa Jewish Federation: "Jews in the News: Mike Nichols, Yael Grobglas and Dominic Fumusa" retrieved March 18, 2017 , "''The musical was penned by five Jewish theater legends, all now deceased. Lyrics by: BETTY COMDEN, ADOLPH GREENE, and CAROLYN LEIGH — with music by: MARK CHARLAP and JULE STYNE.''" in the < ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cy Coleman
Cy Coleman (born Seymour Kaufman; June 14, 1929 – November 18, 2004) was an American composer, songwriter, and jazz pianist. Life and career Coleman was born Seymour Kaufman in New York City, United States, to Eastern European Jewish parents, and was raised in the Bronx. His mother, Ida (née Prizent) was an apartment landlady and his father was a brickmason.Berkvist, Rober"Cy Coleman, Composer Whose Jazz-Fired Musicals Blazed on Broadway, Dies at 75" ''The New York Times'', November 20, 2004. He was a child prodigy who gave piano recitals at venues such as Steinway Hall, Town Hall, and Carnegie Hall between the ages of six and nine.Jones, Kennet"Cy Coleman, a Master of the Show Tune, Is Dead at 75", Playbill.com, November 19, 2004. Before beginning his fabled Broadway career, he led the Cy Coleman Trio, which made many recordings and was a much-in-demand club attraction. Despite the early classical and jazz success, Coleman decided to build a career in popular music. His f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Costa
Dominick P. "Don" Costa (June 10, 1925 – January 19, 1983) was an American conductor and record producer. He discovered singer Paul Anka and worked on several hit albums by Frank Sinatra, including ''Sinatra and Strings'' and ''My Way''. Career Costa was born in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, to an Italian American family. As a child, he took a keen interest in learning the guitar, and he became a member of the CBS Radio Orchestra by the time he was in his teens. In the late 1940s, Costa moved to New York City to further his career by becoming a session musician. He played guitar with Bucky Pizzarelli on Vaughn Monroe's hit record "Ghost Riders in the Sky". It was around this time that Costa started experimenting with combinations of instruments, producing musical arrangements, and selling them to big bands. Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé invited Costa to write vocal backgrounds for their recordings. He agreed and thus began an association that led to their joining ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jimmy Van Heusen
James Van Heusen (born Edward Chester Babcock; January 26, 1913 – February 6, 1990) was an American composer. He wrote songs for films, television and theater, and won an Emmy and four Academy Awards for Best Original Song. Life and career Born in Syracuse, New York, Van Heusen began writing music while at high school. He renamed himself at age 16, after the shirt makers Phillips-Van Heusen, to use as his on-air name during local shows. His close friends called him "Chet".Coppula, C. (2014). ''Jimmy Van Heusen: Swinging on a Star''. Nashville: Twin Creek Books. Jimmy was raised Methodist. Studying at Cazenovia Seminary and Syracuse University, he became friends with Jerry Arlen, the younger brother of Harold Arlen. With the elder Arlen's help, Van Heusen wrote songs for the Cotton Club revue, including "Harlem Hospitality". He then became a staff pianist for some of the Tin Pan Alley publishers, and wrote "It's the Dreamer in Me" (1938) with lyrics by Jimmy Dorsey. Colla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sammy Cahn
Samuel Cohen (June 18, 1913 – January 15, 1993), known professionally as Sammy Cahn, was an American lyricist, songwriter, and musician. He is best known for his romantic lyrics to films and Broadway songs, as well as stand-alone songs premiered by recording companies in the Greater Los Angeles Area. He and his collaborators had a series of hit recordings with Frank Sinatra during the singer's tenure at Capitol Records, but also enjoyed hits with Dean Martin, Doris Day and many others. He played the piano and violin, and won an Oscar four times for his songs, including the popular hit " Three Coins in the Fountain". Among his most enduring songs is "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!", cowritten with Jule Styne in 1945. Life and career Cahn was born Samuel Cohen in the Lower East Side of New York City, the only son (he had four sisters) of Abraham and Elka Reiss Cohen, who were Jewish immigrants from Galicia, then ruled by Austria-Hungary. His sisters, Sadye, Pearl, Flor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini ( ; born Enrico Nicola Mancini, ; April 16, 1924 – June 14, 1994) was an American composer, conductor, arranger, pianist and flautist. Often cited as one of the greatest composers in the history of film, he won four Academy Awards, a Golden Globe, and twenty Grammy Awards, plus a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995. His works include the theme and soundtrack for the ''Peter Gunn'' television series as well as the music for ''The Pink Panther'' film series ("The Pink Panther Theme") and " Moon River" from '' Breakfast at Tiffany's''. ''The Music from Peter Gunn'' won the inaugural Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Mancini enjoyed a long collaboration in composing film scores for the film director Blake Edwards. Mancini also scored a No. 1 hit single during the rock era on the Hot 100: his arrangement and recording of the " Love Theme from ''Romeo and Juliet''" spent two weeks at the top, starting with the week ending June 28, 1969. Early ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ray Evans
Raymond Bernard Evans (February 4, 1915 – February 15, 2007) was an American songwriter. He was a partner in a composing and song-writing duo with Jay Livingston, known for the songs they composed for films. Evans wrote the lyrics and Livingston wrote the music.Ray Evans papers, 1921-2012 Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania. Biography Evans was born to a ish family in , to Philip and Frances Lipsitz Evans. He was valedictorian of ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jay Livingston
Jay Livingston (born Jacob Harold Levison, March 28, 1915 – October 17, 2001) was an American composer best known as half of a song-writing duo with Ray Evans that specialized in songs composed for films. Livingston wrote music and Evans the lyrics. Early life and career Livingston was born in McDonald, Pennsylvania to Jewish parents. He had an older sister, Vera, and a younger brother, Alan W. Livingston, who became an executive with Capitol Records, and later with NBC television. Livingston studied piano with Harry Archer in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he organized a dance band and met Evans, a fellow student in the band. Their professional collaboration began in 1937. Livingston and Evans won the Academy Award for Best Original Song three times, in 1948 for the song "Buttons and Bows", written for the movie '' The Paleface''; in 1950 for the song "Mona Lisa", written for the movie '' Captain Carey, U.S.A.''; and in 1956 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
