Rita Abrams (born August 30, 1943) is an American songwriter, performer and writer. Her song "

Mill Valley Mill Valley is a city in Marin County, California, United States, located about north of San Francisco via the Golden Gate Bridge and from Napa Valley. The population was 14,231 at the 2020 census. Mill Valley is located on the western and ...

", recorded with children at the school where she was teaching, was released under the name Miss Abrams and the Strawberry Point Fourth Grade Class in 1970, becoming a ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

and Easy Listening hit and being nominated for a

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

. In 1980, she won an

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for the music for '' I Want It All Now!'', an

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 ...

documentary about life in

Marin County Marin County is a county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and largest city is San Rafael. Marin County is acros ...

, California.

Life and career

She was born in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, Ohio, where she attended

Cleveland Heights High School Cleveland Heights High School (commonly known as Heights, Heights High or Heights High School) is the senior high school of the Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School District, located in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, United States. History ...

and studied classical piano and music theory at the

Cleveland Institute of Music The Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) is a private music conservatory in Cleveland, Ohio. Founded in 1920 by Ernest Bloch, it enrolls 325 students in the conservatory and approximately 1,500 students in the preparatory and continuing educatio ...

. She attended college in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

and at

Simmons College Institutions of learning called Simmons College or Simmons University include: * Simmons University, a women's liberal arts college in Boston, Massachusetts * Simmons College of Kentucky, a historically black college in Louisville, Kentucky * Har ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

granted her a fellowship for a Masters Program in Special Education, after which she taught for two years in Boston. There, she also started to write verse and song lyrics, and sang with the Three Faces of Eve, an all-girl rock and roll band. Biography at official website
/ref>
/ref> In 1968, she moved to California and secured a teaching post at Strawberry Point Elementary School in

. On Christmas Day 1969, she wrote a song about the town for her

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...

class to sing. It was heard by record producer

Erik Jacobsen Erik Jacobsen (born May 19, 1940) is an American record producer, song publisher and artist manager. He is best known for his work in the 1960s with Tim Hardin, the Lovin' Spoonful, the Charlatans, and Sopwith Camel, and later with Norman Greenbau ...

, who recorded Abrams with the children from the third grade class at the school, and took it to

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

where the label management "guys in suits stood up and gave it a standing ovation".Edward Guthmann, ''Songwriter Abrams' Heart Is Still in Mill Valley'', August 1, 1999, SFGate.com
/ref> Released in June 1970 on the

Reprise In music, a reprise ( , ; from the verb 'to resume') is the repetition or reiteration of the opening material later in a composition as occurs in the recapitulation of sonata form, though—originally in the 18th century—was simply any repea ...

label, the record reached #90 on the ''Billboard'' pop chart and #5 on the Easy Listening (Now Billboard Adult Contemporary) chart. Promotional photos of the singers were taken by

Annie Leibovitz Anna-Lou Leibovitz ( ; born October 2, 1949) is an American portrait photographer best known for her engaging portraits, particularly of celebrities, which often feature subjects in intimate settings and poses. Leibovitz's Polaroid photo of Jo ...

, and Abrams appeared on several networked TV shows and in national magazines, while also turning down an opportunity to advertise

Jell-O Jell-O is an American brand offering a variety of powdered gelatin dessert (fruit-flavored gels/jellies), pudding, and no-bake cream pie mixes. The original gelatin dessert (genericized as jello) is the signature of the brand. "Jell-O" is a reg ...

. A performance for the Mill Valley

Fourth of July Independence Day (colloquially the Fourth of July) is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the Declaration of Independence, which was ratified by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, establishing the United States ...

celebration was filmed by

Francis Ford Coppola Francis Ford Coppola (; ; born April 7, 1939) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the major figures of the New Hollywood filmmaking movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Coppola is the recipient of five A ...

. Tom McMahon, ''The 1970 Hit Song Mill Valley, by Miss Abrams and the Strawberry Point 4th Grade Class''
/ref> The follow-up single, "Buildin' a Heaven on Earth", was written by singer/songwriter

Norman Greenbaum Norman Joel Greenbaum (born November 20, 1942) is an American singer-songwriter. He is primarily known for his 1969 song "Spirit in the Sky". Early life Greenbaum was born in Malden, Massachusetts. He was raised in an Orthodox Jewish household ...

. Album review by Greg Adams at Allmusic/ref> Following the success of "Mill Valley", Abrams, Jacobsen and the children recorded and released an album, entitled ''Miss Abrams and the Strawberry Point 4th Grade Class'' as the children had by then moved up a grade. According to reviewer Greg Adams, "Only the most hard-hearted cynic could find no enjoyment in this minor masterpiece of early-'70s soft pop." Abrams then left teaching to pursue a career in music and verse writing, which subsequently included children's records and novelty songs, many in collaboration with Dr. Elmo (Elmo Shropshire), commercials, and greeting cards. She won a national Emmy in 1980 for writing the music for ''I Want It All Now'', a documentary about life in Marin County, and a regional Emmy in 1992 for ''Classic Stories for Children''. In 1981 she published a book, ''At Your Age You're Having a What? The Advantages of Middle-Aged Motherhood.'' She also created a

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

musical

revue A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own duri ...

based on John Gray's book, '' Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus'', and a show about life in Marin County, ''For Whom The Bridge Tolls''. She remained a resident of Mill Valley at least until 2014, when it was reported that she was moving out of the area.

Discography

Singles

" / "Happiest Day of My Life", Reprise 0928, US #90, US AC #5, 1970 *"Buildin' A Heaven on Earth" / "This Time of Life", Reprise 0971, 1970 *"Wonder" / "Floating Away", A&M 1263, 1971 *"Green Grass" / "Sweet Summertime", Reprise 1098, 1972 *"I Never Asked" / "Wonder", Reprise 1136, 1972 *"America (Let's Get Started Again)" / "Running in the Green Grass", Reprise 1322, 1975

Albums

*''Miss Abrams and the Strawberry Point 4th Grade Class'', Reprise MS 2098, 1972 Reprise album discography
/ref>

References

External links

Miss Abrams
at

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Abrams, Rita 1943 births Living people American folk singers American musical theatre composers American musical theatre lyricists Songwriters from Ohio University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni People from Mill Valley, California Musicians from Cleveland Cleveland Institute of Music alumni Simmons University alumni Boston University School of Education alumni Cleveland Heights High School alumni Women musical theatre composers