Robert William Scott (January 29, 1937 – November 5, 1990) was an American musician,

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

, and

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 ...

Biography

Scott was born in Mount Pleasant, New York, United States, and became a

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

vibraphonist The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist,' ...

, and

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

, and could also play the

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a ree ...

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, ...

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitch ...

, and

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

. He studied under Edvard Moritz at the La Follette School of Music at the age of eight, and was working professionally at 11. In 1952, he began touring with

Louis Prima Louis Leo Prima (December 7, 1910 – August 24, 1978) was an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and trumpeter. While rooted in New Orleans jazz, swing music, and jump blues, Prima touched on various genres throughout his career: he forme ...

, and also toured and performed with

Gene Krupa Eugene Bertram Krupa (January 15, 1909 – October 16, 1973), known as Gene Krupa, was an American jazz drummer, bandleader and composer who performed with energy and showmanship. His drum solo on Benny Goodman's 1937 recording of " Sing, Sing, ...

Lester Young Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959), nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist. Coming to prominence while a member of Count Basie's orchestra, Young was one of the most ...

, and

Tony Scott Anthony David Leighton Scott (21 June 1944 – 19 August 2012) was an English film director and producer. He was known for directing highly successful action and thriller films such as '' Top Gun'' (1986), '' Beverly Hills Cop II'' (1987), ''D ...

in the 1950s. In 1956 he hit the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 with the song "

Chain Gang A chain gang or road gang is a group of prisoners chained together to perform menial or physically challenging work as a form of punishment. Such punishment might include repairing buildings, building roads, or clearing land. The system was not ...

", peaking at number 13. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.

Career and Grammy Award

As a bandleader, he did sessions for Verve,

ABC-Paramount ABC Records was an American record label founded in New York City in 1955. It originated as the main popular music label operated by the Am-Par Record Corporation. Am-Par also created the Impulse! jazz label in 1960. It acquired many labels befo ...

Bethlehem Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital ...

, and Musicmasters. As a songwriter, he won a

Grammy Award 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 pr ...

for Best Instrumental Composition for the song "

A Taste of Honey ''A Taste of Honey'' is the first play by the British dramatist Shelagh Delaney, written when she was 19. It was intended as a novel, but she turned it into a play because she hoped to revitalise British theatre and address social issues that ...

". In addition to "A Taste of Honey", Scott also co-wrote the song "

He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" is a ballad written by Bobby Scott and Bob Russell. Originally recorded by Kelly Gordon in 1969, the song became a worldwide hit for the Hollies later that year and also a hit for Neil Diamond in 1970. It h ...

". In the 1960s he became a music teacher and studied again under Moritz, but occasionally recorded as well, including a

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 ...

tribute album released in the 1980s. He also composed film soundtracks, including the scores to ''

Slaves Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

'' (1969), '' Joe'' (1970), and '' Who Says I Can't Ride a Rainbow!'' (1971). During the 1980s he composed music for classical guitar, harp, and piano. He also arranged for

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

and

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, ...

musicians such as Les and

Larry Elgart Lawrence Joseph Elgart (March 20, 1922 – August 29, 2017) was an American jazz bandleader. With his brother Les, he recorded " Bandstand Boogie", the theme to the long-running dance show '' American Bandstand''. Biography Elgart was born i ...

Death

Scott died of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, mali ...

in New York City, at the age of 53.

Discography

As leader

* ''The Compositions of Bobby Scott'' (Bethlehem, 1955) * ''Scott Free'' (ABC-Paramount, 1955) * ''Bobby Scott and 2 Horns'' (ABC-Paramount, 1956) * ''Serenta'' (Verve, 1957) * ''Bobby Scott Plays the Music of Leonard Bernstein'' (Verve, 1959) * ''The Compleat Musician'' (Atlantic, 1960) * ''A Taste of Honey'' (Atlantic, 1960) * ''Joyful Noises'' (Mercury, 1962) * ''When the Feeling Hits You!'' (Mercury, 1963) * ''108 Pounds of Heartache'' (Mercury, 1963) * ''I Had a Ball'' (Mercury, 1964) * ''My Heart in My Hands'' (Columbia, 1967) * ''Star'' (Columbia, 1969) * ''Robert William Scott'' (Warner Bros., 1970) * ''From Eden to Canaan'' (Columbia, 1976) * ''Forecast: Rain with Sunny Skies'' (Columbia, 1978) * ''For Sentimental Reasons'' (MusicMasters, 1990) * ''Slowly'' (MusicMasters, 1991) * ''Bobby Scott Sings the Best of Lerner and Loewe'' (LPTime, 2010)

As sideman

Chet Baker Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker Jr. (December 23, 1929 – May 13, 1988) was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist. He is known for major innovations in cool jazz that led him to be nicknamed the "Prince of Cool". Baker earned much attention and ...

, ''

Baby Breeze ''Baby Breeze'' is an album by trumpeter/vocalist Chet Baker which was recorded in 1964 and released on the Limelight label.Buddy Emmons Buddy Gene Emmons (January 27, 1937 – July 21, 2015) was an American musician who is widely regarded as the world's foremost pedal steel guitarist of his day. He was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 1981. Affectionately known by ...

, '' Steel Guitar Jazz'' (Mercury, 1964) *

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...

, '' Golden Boy'' (Mercury, 1964) * Quincy Jones, '' Quincy Plays for Pussycats'' (Mercury, 1965) * Quincy Jones, '' In the Heat of the Night OST'' (United Artists, 1967)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Bobby 1937 births 1990 deaths American bandleaders Singers from New York (state) Songwriters from New York (state) People from Mount Pleasant, New York Deaths from lung cancer in New York (state) ABC Records artists Verve Records artists Atlantic Records artists Mercury Records artists 20th-century American singers 20th-century American male singers American male songwriters