Aaron Harold Schroeder (September 7, 1926 – December 2, 2009) was an American songwriter and music publisher.

Early years

Born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, Schroeder graduated from the school now known as the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York City.

Songwriter

Having become an

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

member in 1948, Schroeder had his first success with "At a Sidewalk Penny Arcade", one of the songs to introduce

Rosemary Clooney Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 – June 29, 2002) was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the song "Come On-a My House", which was followed by other pop numbers such as " Botch-a-Me", " Mambo Italiano", ...

as a solo recording artist. He proceeded to write more than 1500 songs seeking the varied talent of many collaborators. His chart record in the United Kingdom, as a writer, is 27 hits, 3 number ones, 9 top tens and 225 weeks on the chart. He wrote seventeen songs for

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

including five that reached number one: *"

A Big Hunk o' Love "A Big Hunk o' Love" is a song recorded by Elvis Presley and released as a single on June 23, 1959 by RCA Victor, which topped the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for two weeks. The song was revived by Presley in 1972 during his engagements at the Las V ...

" *"

Good Luck Charm In most contexts, the concept of good denotes the conduct that should be preferred when posed with a choice between possible actions. Good is generally considered to be the opposite of evil and is of interest in the study of ethics, morality, ph ...

" *"

I Got Stung "I Got Stung" is a 1958 song recorded by Elvis Presley and released as a single written by Aaron Schroeder and David Hill and published by Elvis Presley's company Gladys Music, Inc. It was number one in the UK in 1959 and 2005 as a double A-side ...

" *" Stuck on You" *" It's Now or Never" " It's Now or Never" as recorded by Presley was selected as number 75 in

Billboard Magazine ''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the music ...

's top 100 songs on their 100th-anniversary "Greatest Hits Chart". In an interview with Jan-Erik Kjeseth he said that he was in fact present when Elvis recorded the song. He was very impressed with Presley's attitude: "Elvis wanted everything to be right; almost to the point of having tears in his eyes because he—Elvis—felt himself to be struggling to get the result that he envisaged in his head." Schroeder had more than 500 song recordings to his credit, including major records by dozens of artists such as

Roy Orbison Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician known for his impassioned singing style, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. His music was described by critics as ...

Duane Eddy Duane Eddy (born April 26, 1938) is an American rock and roll guitarist. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, he had a string of hit records produced by Lee Hazlewood, which were noted for their characteristically "twangy" sound, including "Rebel- ...

, Sammy Davis, Jr.,

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...

Perry Como Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como (; May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001) was an Italian-American singer, actor and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years, after signing ...

and

Pat Boone Patrick Charles Eugene Boone (born June 1, 1934) is an American singer and actor. He was a successful pop singer in the United States during the 1950s and early 1960s. He sold more than 45 million records, had 38 Top 40 hits, and appeared in mo ...

. In the above-mentioned interview Schroeder said that he had in fact also participated in finalizing the hit song "It's My Party" (

Lesley Gore Lesley Sue Goldstein (May 2, 1946 – February 16, 2015), known professionally as Lesley Gore, was an American singer, songwriter, actress, and activist. At the age of 16, she recorded the pop music, pop hit "It's My Party (Lesley Gore song), I ...

). Together with his regular partner at the time,

Wally Gold Wally Gold (May 15, 1928 – June 7, 1998) was an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and music business executive from Teaneck, New Jersey. Personal life Gold was born in Brooklyn, New York, United States. Gold moved to ...

, he made corrections to an unfinished piece of material that another writer had brought in. When the work was done, Gold and Schroeder tossed a coin as to whose name should be listed among the credits. Schroeder "lost". Schroeder made a cameo appearance in the 1957

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

rock and roll movie, '' Jamboree'', as a songwriter. Schroeder also once appeared on the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

television game show To Tell The Truth along with two imposters during the show's fifth season.

Record producer

In the early 1960s, Schroeder was founder and president of

Musicor Records Musicor Records was a New York City-based record label, active during the 1960s and 1970s. The label was founded by songwriter Aaron Schroeder and distributed by United Artists Records. In 1965, UA employee and A&R man Arthur Talmadge (a co-fo ...

. He discovered, managed and directed the career of

Gene Pitney Gene Francis Alan Pitney (February 17, 1940 – April 5, 2006) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. Pitney charted 16 top-40 hits in the United States, four in the top ten. In the United Kingdom, he had 22 top-40 hit singles, inclu ...

and produced "

Town Without Pity ''Town Without Pity'' (German: ''Stadt ohne Mitleid'') is a 1961 American/Swiss/West German international co-production drama film directed by Gottfried Reinhardt. Produced by The Mirisch Corporation, the film stars Kirk Douglas, Barbara Rütti ...

", a nominee for the

Academy Award for Best Song An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...

of 1961. With

Hal David Harold Lane David (May 25, 1921 – September 1, 2012) was an American lyricist. He grew up in New York City. He was best known for his collaborations with composer Burt Bacharach and his association with Dionne Warwick. Early life David ...

and

Burt Bacharach Burt Freeman Bacharach ( ; born May 12, 1928) is an American composer, songwriter, record producer and pianist who composed hundreds of pop songs from the late 1950s through the 1980s, many in collaboration with lyricist Hal David. A six-time Gra ...

he conceived the marriage of the Pitney sound with David and Bacharach's songs, producing a string of record successes including "

(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance "(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, which was released by Gene Pitney in 1962. It spent 13 weeks on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, peaking at No. 4, while reaching No. 2 on Canada's CHUM Hi ...

", " Only Love Can Break a Heart" and " 24 Hours from Tulsa". He and his wife Abby, discovered, guided and developed careers of many other performers and composers through their agency, including

Barry White Barry Eugene Carter (September 12, 1944 – July 4, 2003), better known by his stage name Barry White, was an American singer and songwriter. A two-time Grammy Award winner known for his bass voice and romantic image, his greatest success came ...

Randy Newman Randall Stuart Newman (born November 28, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist known for his Southern American English, Southern-accented singing style, early Americana (music), Americana-influenced songs (often ...

Al Kooper Al Kooper (born Alan Peter Kuperschmidt; February 5, 1944) is a retired American songwriter, record producer and musician, known for organizing Blood, Sweat & Tears, although he did not stay with the group long enough to share its popularity. ...

Blood, Sweat & Tears Blood, Sweat & Tears (also known as "BS&T") is a jazz rock music group founded in New York City in 1967, noted for a combination of brass with rock instrumentation. In addition to original music, the group has performed popular songs by Laura Ny ...

, and

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

Personal life

Schroeder married record company representative Abby Steinberg on October 31, 1967. Abby was the sister of

PR Newswire PR Newswire is a distributor of press releases headquartered in Chicago. The service was created in 1954 to allow companies to electronically send press releases to news organizations, using teleprinters at first. The founder, Herbert Muschel, ...

president

David Steinberg David Steinberg (born August 9, 1942) is a Canadian comedian, actor, writer, director, and author. At the height of his popularity, during the late 1960s and mid 1970s, he was one of the best-known comics in the United States. He appeared on ...

. Aaron Schroeder died on December 2, 2009, in

Englewood, New Jersey Englewood is a city in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, which at the 2020 United States census had a population of 29,308. Englewood was incorporated as a city by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from por ...

, aged 83. For the last five years, he was a resident of the Lillian Booth Actors' Home of the

Actors Fund The Entertainment Community Fund, formerly The Actors Fund, is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that supports performers and behind-the-scenes workers in performing arts and entertainment, helping more than 17,000 people directly each year. Ser ...

in Englewood. His death came after a long battle with

primary progressive aphasia Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a type of neurological syndrome in which language capabilities slowly and progressively become impaired. As with other types of aphasia, the symptoms that accompany PPA depend on what parts of the left hemisph ...

, a rare form of dementia.Songwriter Aaron Schroeder dead at 83
upi.com, December 6, 2009.

References

Sources

* ''Untold Gold (The Stories Behind Elvis's #1 Hits)'', by Ace Collins (2005; Chicago Review Press Inc.) * ''Writing for the King, by Ken Sharp'' (2006), Follow That Dream Records and Sony/BMG of Denmark * ''Elvis - his Life from A to Z'', by Fred Worth and Steve Tamerius, Wings Books * ''

Harper's Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. It was first published in New York City on November 2, 1867, as the weekly ''Harper's Bazar''. ''Harper's Bazaar'' is published by Hearst and considers itself to be the st ...

'', April 1961 issue * ''Berkshire Magazine Spring'', 1993 issue * ''Billboard's 100th Anniversary Edition'', published in 1994 * ''Billboard's 50th Anniversary of The Hot 100 Edition'', published in 2008 * ''Billboard September 24, 1977, issue ("Schroeder Firms Go To Interworld") * ''Record World'', May 8, 1976, issue ("Schroeder Celebrates 28th Industry Anniversary") * ''Cash Box'', October 1, 1977, issue ("Interworld buys A. Schroeder Publisher") {{DEFAULTSORT:Schroeder, Aaron 1926 births 2009 deaths American publishers (people) Songwriters from New York (state) Deaths from dementia in New Jersey Musicians from Brooklyn Jewish American musicians Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School alumni 20th-century American musicians 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews Deaths from primary progressive aphasia