Ray Henderson (born Raymond Brost; December 1, 1896 – December 31, 1970) 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 ...

Early life

Born in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

, United States, Henderson moved to

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 ...

and became a popular composer in

Tin Pan Alley Tin Pan Alley was a collection of History of music publishing, music publishers and songwriters in New York City that dominated the American popular music, popular music of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It origin ...

. He was one third of a successful songwriting and music publishing team with Lew Brown and Buddy De Sylva from 1925 through 1930, responsible for several editions of the revue called ''

George White's Scandals ''George White's Scandals'' were a long-running string of Broadway revues produced by George White that ran from 1919–1939, modeled after the ''Ziegfeld Follies''. The "Scandals" launched the careers of many entertainers, including W. C. F ...

'' and such book musicals as '' Good News'', '' Hold Everything!'', and ''

Follow Thru ''Follow Thru'' is a 1930 American pre-Code musical romantic comedy film photographed entirely in Technicolor. It was the second all-color all-talking feature to be produced by Paramount Pictures. The film was based on the hit 1929 Broadway mu ...

''. After De Sylva's departure, Henderson continued to write with Brown through 1933. Then, he worked with other partners. In 1934, he composed the musical '' Say When'' with lyricist Ted Koehler.

Music

Henderson's biggest hit songs included "Annabelle" (1923), " Bye Bye Blackbird", " Has Anybody Seen My Girl?" (a/k/a "Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue"), "

I'm Sitting on Top of the World "I'm Sitting on Top of the World" is a popular song with music written by Ray Henderson and lyrics by Sam M. Lewis and Joe Young. It was published in 1925. It is now in the public domain. The song was most likely first recorded by Art Gillha ...

", "

Don't Bring Lulu "Don't Bring Lulu" is a 1925 Dixieland jazz song. Background ''Don't Bring Lulu'' was first published by Jerome H. Remick, based in Detroit and New York City, United States, in 1925. It is the 63rd most covered song from 1925. "Lulu" in the so ...

" (all 1925), "

The Birth of the Blues "The Birth of the Blues" is a popular 1926 song composed by Ray Henderson, with lyrics by Buddy DeSylva and Lew Brown. It was used in the Broadway revue ''George White's Scandals of 1926''. It was recorded in its debut year by Paul Whiteman (with vo ...

" (1926), "The Varsity Drag", " The Best Things in Life Are Free" (both 1927), " You're the Cream in My Coffee", " Button Up Your Overcoat" (both 1928), "You Are My Lucky Star", " I'm a Dreamer, Aren't We All", "(Keep Your) Sunny Side Up" (all 1929), "The Thrill Is Gone", " Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries" (both 1931), and " Animal Crackers in My Soup" (1935).Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine

Career

Henderson also worked as an accompanist to song and dance acts in

Vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

. His last Broadway show was a resuscitation of the '' Ziegfeld Follies'', one of several put on after Ziegfeld's death. Henderson's, in 1943, had the longest run of any ''Follies'' at 553 performances. He effectively retired from composing in the late 1940s, and worked on an opera which was never completed.

Death

Henderson died of a heart attack in

Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich (, ) is a town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. At the 2020 census, the town had a total population of 63,518. The largest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast, Greenwich is home to many hedge funds and othe ...

in December 1970, at the age of 74.

In popular culture

''Good News'' has been adapted for film twice; in 1930 and in

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country i ...

. The 1956 film '' The Best Things in Life Are Free'' was a dramatization of the songwriting team of Henderson, Brown and De Sylva; Henderson was played by Dan Dailey. The film included many of the trio's songs. In 2000, a revue of Henderson's music called ''It's the Cherries'' opened in

as the inaugural show of the

American Composer Series The American Composer Series is an ongoing performance series in the cabaret revue format, paying tribute to the greatest composers of popular American music on the American scene, particularly those composers associated with Tin Pan Alley.

References

External links

* *
Ray Henderson
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

Ray Henderson recordings
at the

Discography of American Historical Recordings The Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) is a database of master recordings made by American record companies during the 78rpm era. The DAHR provides some of these original recordings, free of charge, via audio streaming, along with ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, Ray 1896 births 1970 deaths 20th-century American musicians 20th-century American composers Broadway composers and lyricists Musicians from Buffalo, New York Songwriters from New York (state) Vaudeville performers