A Brief History
On October 17, 2001, Jay Livingston, American composer of famous songs for movies and television, died at the age of 86. Livingston is one of several famous musicians that died on October 17th, and today we honor these wonderful writers and singers by telling you a little about them. Even if you do not know the people, you almost assuredly know the music. (Okay, some are before your time.)
Digging Deeper
1. Jay Livingston, composer, 2001.
Born Jacob Levison in Pennsylvania in 1915, Jay wrote famous songs featured in movies such as “Tammy” (Patti Page), “Mona Lisa” (Nat “King” Cole), “Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)” (Doris Day), “Buttons and Bows” (Bob Hope), as well as the television theme songs for Mr. Ed and Bonanza, and that Christmas favorite, “Silver Bells.” Livingston won 3 Academy Awards for Best Original Song. He is an alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania and is inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
2. Levi Stubbs, singer, 2008.
Famous as a member of The Four Tops, Stubbs was born Levi Stubbles in Detroit in 1936. Beyond providing wonderful vocals to the many hits of The Four Tops, Stubbs also provided his voice as the alien (Audrey) in the 1986 movie, The Little Shop of Horrors, and the voice of Mother Brain in the television series Captain N: The Gamemaster. Stubbs was the most distinctive singer of The Four Tops, but refused to have his name headlined (ala Diana Ross and the Supremes, etc).
3. Vic Mizzy, composer, 2009.
Born in Brooklyn in 1916 and attending New York University, Vic became a self-taught songwriter and composer, and served in the US Navy during World War II. Some of his famous creations include the themes to the television shows The Addams Family and Green Acres. He wrote hit songs for Teresa Brewer, The Mills Brothers, The Andrews Sisters, as well as songs for movies and other television shows, including 5 movies starring Don Knotts. If you are too young to remember most of Vic’s work, perhaps you are familiar with Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3(2007), both movies he wrote the scores for.
4. Teresa Brewer, singer, actress, 2007.
Born Theresa V. Breuer in Toledo, Ohio in 1931, Brewer started performing at the age of 2! She toured as a radio star from age 5 to 12, and as a teenager went to New York where she won several talent contests and appeared on television. The 1950’s were her big-time days of stardom, and she recorded almost 600 songs, as well as appearing in the 1953 movie Those Redheads From Seattle and appearances on television shows. A versatile performer, her styles ranged across all sorts of musical genre and sang the National Anthem at the 1968 Baseball All Star Game. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and is inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame. Her signature song was “Music, Music, Music,” other hits included “You Send Me,” “Till I Waltz Again with You,” and “Baby, Baby, Baby.”
5. Uzi Hitman, singer/songwriter, 2004.
Born in Israel in 1952 as Uzi Chitman, you have to love the last name he performed under. In fact, although we never before heard of him, we include him because, after all, he was a Musical Hitman! The son of a cantor, it was no surprise that Uzi would take to music. Uzi not only wrote hit songs (in Israel) and sang hit songs (he wrote over 650 songs), he also starred on children’s television shows. In 1991 he came in third place in a Eurovision Song Contest. The town square in his hometown is named in his honor.
6. Tennessee Ernie Ford, singer, 1991.
Born in (you guessed it!) Tennessee in 1919, Ernie became famous for his deep bass-baritone booming voice singing gospel, country and western, folk, and even pop music songs. His easy going style and genial sense of humor made him a valued guest on television shows as well. He is perhaps best remembered for his coal mining anthem, “Sixteen Tons” (1955), possibly the greatest “working-man” song of all time (it sold over 20 million copies!). During World War II Ford flew combat missions as a bombardier on a B-29 bomber. His introduction across all of America came as he portrayed ‘Cousin Ernie’ on the I Love Lucy television show for 3 episodes in 1954. His song “Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier” From 1956 to 1961, was sung by every boy with a television, Ford hosted his own television show, The Ford Show, sponsored by the Ford Motor Company, and later hosted The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show from 1962 to 1965. Ford has 3 stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame representing his contributions to radio, television, and recordings, and is inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. In 1984 President Reagan awarded Ernie The Presidential Medal of Freedom. He is also enshrined in the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. He died 36 years to the day after the release of “Sixteen Tons.”
7. Julia Ward Howe, poet, songwriter, activist, 1910.
Born in New York City in 1819, Howe is best remembered for being the composer of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” probably our second most sacred patriotic song in the United States. Howe also dabbled in poetry, and was an activist for the abolition of slavery and for the right of women to vote and achieve equal rights with men. She married a man 18 years her senior at the age of 24, and bore her last of 6 children at the age of 40. Julia wrote and published essays of a scholarly nature, as well as a book of poetry and also wrote plays. Unhappy in her marriage, Julia took the opportunity to get away at times by going on religious missions overseas. Her 1860 book about her Trip to Cuba brought condemnation for her portrayal of Blacks in a negative light. It seems that although she was a staunch abolitionist, she did not believe African people were the equal of Europeans and should not have equal rights! (Did you know that?) Howe got her inspiration for the writing of her signature hymn after visiting with President Lincoln in Washington, DC in 1861. The song was set to music already in existence, and was published in 1862, becoming an instant hit and the theme song of the Union during the Civil War. After the Civil War, Julia became even more active in the quest for women’s rights, women’s suffrage, the education of women and girls, and a pacifist agenda. She advocated for the 4th of July to become “Mothers’ Day.”
8. Frederic Chopin, pianist/composer, 1849.
Born (1810) and raised in Warsaw, Poland, Chopin became one of history’s greatest piano virtuosos and composers at a young age, being a child prodigy. Chopin left Poland in 1830, just before the Uprising of November 1830. Settling in Paris, Chopin only occasionally performed in front of large audiences, preferring more intimate settings. His compositions sold well, and his teaching lessons were highly regarded. He became friends with Franz Liszt, and after a failed romance with a Polish woman, became involved with French writer George Sand (a pen name for a female writer, Amantine Dupin), though that romance also failed. Chopin was considered a superstar of music of his day, and died of tuberculosis at the too young age of 39 years old. Chopin wrote a variety of music, mostly for the piano, including Polish folk songs, mazurkas, waltzes, concertos and other types.
9. Honorable mentions:
Johann Hummel, Austrian pianist/composer, 1837.
Nicolas Grenon, French composer, 1456.
Kannadasan, Indian author, poet, songwriter, 1981.
Criss Oliva, American guitarist and songwriter, 1993.
Chris Acland, English drummer, 1996.
Joachim Nielsen, Norwegian poet, singer/songwriter, 2000.
Derek Bell, Irish composer, harpist, 2002.
Question for students (and subscribers): Are there any other musicians that died on October 17th that we missed? If so, let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Evans, Ray and Jay Livingston. Silver Bells. Paramount Music Corporation, 1950.
The featured image in this article, a photograph of American composer Jay Livingston, is a faithful digitisation of a unique historic image, and the copyright for it is most likely held by the person who created the image or the agency employing the person. It is believed that the use of this image may qualify as fair use under the Copyright law of the United States.
