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 Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orch ...

, 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

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and

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. He met a Canadian pianist Marian Grudeff, who became his songwriting partner. He received five

MAC Awards The MAC Awards, established in 1986, are presented annually to honor achievements in cabaret, comedy and jazz. They are administered by the non-profit Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs (MAC), founded in 1983, and voted on by the MAC member ...

for "Original Song" and the 2004

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. He was most recognised for his audition for ''

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'' in 2014 in which he sang an original song about a

transgender woman A trans woman or a transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity, may experience gender dysphoria, and may transition; this process commonly includes hormone replacement therapy and som ...

. With little success in Toronto, Jessel and Grudeff moved to

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where they made their first success with the

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

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 Dean Martin Show'', not to be confused with the ''Dean Martin Variety Show'' (1959–1960), is a TV variety-comedy series that ran from 1965 to 1974 for 264 episodes. It was broadcast by NBC and hosted by Dean Martin. The theme song to the s ...

'', ''

The Carol Burnett Show ''The Carol Burnett Show'' is an American variety/sketch comedy television show that originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 279 episodes, and again with nine episodes in fall 1991. It starred Carol Burnett, Harvey ...

'', ''

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'', ''

The Bob Newhart Show ''The Bob Newhart Show'' is an American sitcom television series produced by MTM Enterprises that aired on CBS from September 16, 1972, to April 1, 1978, with a total of 142 half-hour episodes over six seasons. Comedian Bob Newhart portrays a psy ...

'' and others. In the 1970s and 1980s he was a writer and editor for numerous episodes of ''

The Love Boat ''The Love Boat'' is an American romantic comedy/drama television series that aired on ABC from 1977 to 1986; in addition, four three-hour specials aired in 1986, 1987, and 1990. The series was set on the luxury passenger cruise ship MS ''Pac ...

'' and ''

Head of the Class ''Head of the Class'' is an American sitcom television series that ran from 1986 to 1991 on the ABC television network. The series follows a group of gifted students in the Individualized Honors Program (IHP) at the fictional Millard Fillmor ...

'', among other series, and co-wrote lyrics for '' I Remember Mama'' in 1979.

Early life and career

Jessel was born and raised in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, 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 The University of Wales (Welsh language, Welsh: ''Prifysgol Cymru'') is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff � ...

. 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 Arthur Honegger (; 10 March 1892 – 27 November 1955) was a Swiss composer who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. A member of Les Six, his best known work is probably ''Antigone'', composed between 1924 and 1927 to ...

. He moved to Canada with his family in 1955 at the age of 26. He started his career as an orchestrator and composer for

and

. There he met his lifelong songwriting partner, Marian Grudeff, 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

musical ''

'', about

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. 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 ''

'', ''

'', ''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

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comedy ''

'' from 1977 to 1980, and writer and consultant of ''

'' from 1986 to 1991. He wrote and produced the

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TV series ''

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''. He also co-wrote, with

Martin Charnin Martin Charnin (November 24, 1934 – July 6, 2019) was an American lyricist, writer, and theatre director. Charnin's best-known work is as conceiver, director, and lyricist of the musical ''Annie.'' Life and career Charnin was born in New York C ...

, 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 Michael Jay Feinstein (born September 7, 1956) is an American singer, pianist, and music revivalist. He is an archivist and interpreter for the repertoire known as the Great American Songbook. In 1988 he won a Drama Desk Special Award for cele ...

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 The Adelaide Cabaret Festival is an annual arts festival featuring cabaret held in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. It has been held in June each year since 2001, with the exception of 2020 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, ...

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

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(on ''California Gold Rush''); and "I'm All Right Now" on

John Pizzarelli John Paul Pizzarelli Jr. (born April 6, 1960, in Paterson, New Jersey) is an American jazz guitarist and vocalist. He has recorded over twenty solo albums and has appeared on more than forty albums by other recording artists, including Paul McCa ...

's CD '' New Standards.'' They wrote scripts and songs for the

Shari Lewis Shari Lewis (born Phyllis Naomi Hurwitz; January 17, 1933 – August 2, 1998) was a Peabody-winning American ventriloquist, puppeteer, children's entertainer, television show host, dancer, singer, actress, author, and symphonic conductor. She wa ...

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show ''

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''. He was a recipient of five

for "Original Song", and the 2004

. 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 A penis (plural ''penises'' or ''penes'' () is the primary sexual organ that male animals use to inseminate females (or hermaphrodites) during copulation. Such organs occur in many animals, both vertebrate and invertebrate, but males do n ...

. 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 ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

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 A trans woman or a transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity, may experience gender dysphoria, and may transition; this process commonly includes hormone replacement therapy and som ...

, 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 Studio City is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, in the southeast San Fernando Valley, just west of the Cahuenga Pass. It is named after the studio lot that was established in the area by film producer Mack Sennett in 1927, ...

, 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 Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

. {{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