Raymond Jessel (16 October 1929 – 17 July 2015) was a Welsh songwriter,

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

, orchestrator, and

musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...

composer. Born in Cardiff, he moved to Canada in 1955 and started a career as an orchestrator and composer for CBC Radio and

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

. He met a Canadian pianist

Marian Grudeff Marian Grudeff (April 18, 1927November 4, 2006) was a Canadian concert pianist music teacher and musical theatre composer of Bulgarian origin. Early life and education Born in Toronto, Ontario,Mel Atkey. Broadway North: The Dream of a Canadian Mu ...

, who became his songwriting partner. He received five MAC Awards for "Original Song" and the 2004 Bistro Award. He was most recognised for his audition for ''

America's Got Talent ''America's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated as ''AGT'') is a televised American talent show competition, and is part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. The program is produced by Fremantle (as well as distribut ...

'' in 2014 in which he sang an original song about a transgender woman. With little success in Toronto, Jessel and Grudeff moved to New York City where they made their first success with the Broadway musical, ''

Baker Street Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster in London. It is named after builder William Baker, who laid out the street in the 18th century. The street is most famous for its connection to the fictional detec ...

'', in 1964.Mel Atkey.
A Million Miles from Broadway -- Musical Theatre Beyond New York and London
'. Lulu.com; 2012. . p. 137. Jessel contributed to '' The Dean Martin Show'', '' The Carol Burnett Show'', '' The Smothers Brothers Show'', '' The Bob Newhart Show'' and others. In the 1970s and 1980s he was a writer and editor for numerous episodes of '' The Love Boat'' and '' Head of the Class'', among other series, and co-wrote lyrics for '' I Remember Mama'' in 1979.

Early life and career

Jessel was born and raised in Cardiff, where his family ran a clothing shop.
Later stages: essays in Ontario theatre from the First World War to the 1970s
'. University of Toronto Press; 1997. . p. 188, 207. He received a degree in music from the University of Wales. With a one-year scholarship for studying

musical composition Musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are called ...

, he went to Paris and studied under Arthur Honegger. He moved to Canada with his family in 1955 at the age of 26. He started his career as an orchestrator and composer for CBC Radio and

. There he met his lifelong songwriting partner,

, a Canadian pianist. Together they played active roles in orchestral and theatrical compositions. Among their first works were songs for the Toronto revue ''Spring Thaw.''Mel Atkey.
Broadway North: The Dream of a Canadian Musical Theatre
'. Dundurn; 30 October 2006. . p. 116. Their major breakthrough came when producer

Alexander H. Cohen Alexander H. Cohen (July 24, 1920 – April 22, 2000) was an American theatrical producer who mounted more than one hundred productions on both sides of the Atlantic. He was the only American producer to maintain offices in the West End as well a ...

signed them to write the songs for the 1964 Broadway musical ''

'', about

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...

. Their next score was for a new version of ''Hellzapoppin'', based on the 1938 hit musical revue of the same name. This new musical was not a success, but its title song was recorded by

Jimmy Durante James Francis Durante ( , ; February 10, 1893 – January 29, 1980) was an American comedian, actor, singer, vaudevillian, and pianist. His distinctive gravelly speech, Lower East Side accent, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced song ...

and

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

. He moved to

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

and made a successful career with musicals and sketches for '' The Dean Martin Show'', '' The Carol Burnett Show'', '' The Smothers Brothers Show'', '' The Bob Newhart Show'', ''Comedy Factory'', and various

John Denver Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997), known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor, activist, and humanitarian whose greatest commercial success was as a solo singe ...

specials. He was a story editor of the ABC comedy '' The Love Boat'' from 1977 to 1980, and writer and consultant of '' Head of the Class'' from 1986 to 1991. He wrote and produced the CBS TV series '' The Jacksons''. He also co-wrote, with Martin Charnin, lyrics for '' I Remember Mama'' in 1979.

Performing career and later years

In the 1990s, Jessel began to perform comedy songs at parties. He was persuaded by Michael Feinstein and Shelly Goldstein to perform his original song, ''Wanna Sing a Show Tune'', with Feinstein. The song was recorded on Feinstein's album ''Live at the Algonquin''. His first stage performance was at age 72. He performed at the Hollywood’s Gardenia Room in 2002 and developed his own cabaret act. He continued to perform cabaret until shortly before his death, appearing in June 2015 at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival in Australia. He met Cynthia Thompson in 1980 and married her approximately ten years later. He wrote a number of songs with her. The most successful are "Whatever Happened to Melody?", which was recorded by Michael Feinstein (on ''Forever''), David Campbell (in ''Yesterday Is Now''), and by Masters of Harmony (on ''California Gold Rush''); and "I'm All Right Now" on John Pizzarelli's CD '' New Standards.'' They wrote scripts and songs for the Shari Lewis' PBS show ''

The Charlie Horse Music Pizza ''The Charlie Horse Music Pizza'' is an American children's television show that was shown on PBS Kids in the United States from January 5, 1998, to January 17, 1999, with reruns continuing to air until September 5, 1999. Reruns again aired on PB ...

''. He was a recipient of five MAC Awards for "Original Song", and the 2004 Bistro Award. At age 84, he auditioned for ''

'' in 2014. He performed an original comic song, "What She's Got", about a man who discovers that his girlfriend whom "I just adore ... has much more than I had bargained for" ... a penis. The judges, the public and some publications loved it, and he qualified for the next round of the competition. The audition was viewed more than 100,000 times on YouTube overnight following his performance. It soon received criticism from the LGBT community. After

GLAAD GLAAD (), an acronym of Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, is an American non-governmental media monitoring organization originally founded as a protest against defamatory coverage of gay and lesbian demographics and their portrayals ...

released a statement calling the song "outright mockery" of transgender women, NBC removed the video of Jessel's audition from its website and social media outlets. Jessel did not perform on the show a second time, but the video was eventually restored to the ''America's Got Talent'' YouTube channel, where it has been viewed more than 15 million times.Jessel, Ray
"Ray Jessel: 84-Year-Old Sings a Naughty Original Song – America's Got Talent 2014"
''America's Got Talent'' on YouTube, 1 July 2014 On 17 July 2015, Jessel died "of natural causes" at his home in Studio City, California.

References

External links

*
Discography at DiscogSong tracks at Allmusic"Identity Theft"
by Jessel (2014)
"Short Term Memory Loss Blues"
by Jessel (2012)
Ray Jessel's page
on Spotify. {{DEFAULTSORT:Jessel, Ray 1929 births 2015 deaths Welsh composers Welsh male composers British Ashkenazi Jews Musicians from Cardiff America's Got Talent contestants People from Studio City, Los Angeles Welsh emigrants to Canada