Dick Charles (born Richard Charles Krieg; February 24, 1919 in
Newark, New Jersey
Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area. was an American
songwriter
A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...
.
Career
His education ended with
high school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
graduation, after which he worked in a Newark photography store as a clerk while engaged in piano playing, arranging, harmony, and composition. During that period he sang in a number of amateur contests. He then became a page at
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
Studios in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. Besides being a songwriter, he served as a director of ABC Radio for ten years, produced and directed the
Paul Whiteman
Paul Samuel Whiteman (March 28, 1890 – December 29, 1967) was an American bandleader, composer, orchestral director, and violinist.
As the leader of one of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s and early 1930s, ...
radio program, and was responsible for creating a number of network programs. In 1954 he started his own recording service.
Selected works
Among the songs he has written are:
*"As the World Turns" (1961) with Fay Tishman - used for one season as the theme song for the TV show ''
As the World Turns
''As the World Turns'' (often abbreviated as ''ATWT'') is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created ''As the World Turns'' as a sister show to her other soa ...
Larry Markes
Lawrence Wolcott Markes (September 24, 1921 – May 19, 1999) was an American comedian, singer and screenwriter.
Markes was born in Brooklyn, New York, and decided at an early age to become a writer. Soon after graduating from the University ...
and Edgar De Lange
*"Casanova Cricket " (1947) with
Hoagy Carmichael
Hoagland Howard Carmichael (November 22, 1899 – December 27, 1981) was an American musician, composer, songwriter, actor and lawyer. Carmichael was one of the most successful Tin Pan Alley songwriters of the 1930s, and was among the first ...
and Larry Markes
*"Corns For My Country" (1944) with Leah Worth and Jean Barry
*"I'm on the Level With You " (1945) with Eddie Waldman
*"I Tipped My Hat and Slowly Walked Away" (1946) with Larry Markes
*"It Takes a Long, Long Train (With a Red Caboose" (1946) with Larry Markes
*"Mad About Him, Sad About Him, How Can I Be Glad About Him Blues" (1942) with Larry Markes
*"The Man on the Carousel" (Unknown year) with James Cavanaugh, Jack Allison and Virgil Davis
*"
May You Always
"May You Always" is a popular song by Larry Markes (lyrics) and Dick Charles (pseudonym of Richard Charles Krieg), published in 1958.
The biggest hit version in the United States was by the McGuire Sisters where it peaked at No. 11 on the ''Bill ...
" (1957) with Larry MarkesOn p. 1 of the 1958 Standard Edition score (New York: Hecht & Buzzell) of "May You Always" Markes is credited as Larry Marks (without the "e").
*"A Nightingale Can Sing the Blues" (1946) with Larry Markes
*" This Is My Song" (1950) - Theme song of the TV show ''
The Patti Page Show
''The Patti Page Show'' is an American television series which aired from 1955 to 1956. It aired in a 15-minute time-slot, with two commercial breaks for sponsor Oldsmobile. In the series, Patti Page lip-synced pop songs, mostly standards, with add ...
''
* "Serenade to Spring," with Gloria Regney (1954)
* "If Anything Should Happen to You," w&m co-written with
Fred Ebb
Fred Ebb (April 8, 1928 – September 11, 2004) was an American musical theatre lyricist who had many successful collaborations with composer John Kander. The Kander and Ebb team frequently wrote for such performers as Liza Minnelli and Chita Ri ...