Don Raye

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Donald "Don" Raye (born March 16, 1909 in Washington, DC as Donald MacRae Wilhoite Jr. , † January 29, 1985 Woodland Hills , California ) was an American songwriter . He wrote Star Eyes and You Don't Know What Love Is with Gene De Paul .

Live and act

Raye started his career as a dancer, appeared in vaudeville shows as "Song and Dance Man" and wrote his own lyrics for his performances. In 1935 he began working as a songwriter, working with composers such as Sammy Cahn , Saul Chaplin and the band leader and saxophonist Jimmie Lunceford .

Don Raye was best known for his songs for the Andrews Sisters in the 1930s, such as Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar and Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy . For the latter, he and Hugh Prince were nominated for an Oscar in the "Best Song" category. Ray also wrote the lyrics for the later jazz standard You Don't Know What Love Is , the melody of which is from Gene De Paul . They also wrote the classic Star Eyes ". The two were nominated for an Oscar in 1942 for the song Pig Foot Pete .

Raye also wrote the boogie-woogie song (That Place) Down the Road a Piece , which was written for the Will Bradley Orchestra (1940); the song later became a rock 'n' roll standard, recorded u. a. by The Rolling Stones , Chuck Berry , Jerry Lee Lewis , Foghat , Amos Milburn , Harry Gibson , and many other artists. In 1940 he wrote the lyrics for the patriotic song This Is My Country . After his military service in World War II, he continued his work as a songwriter in Hollywood and worked with Gene De Paul at Universal Studios . He wrote songs for Walt Disney’s Studios such as The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad or A Song is Born . Raye had great success with Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar , Scrub Me Mamma, with a Boogie Beat , Bounce Me Brother, with a Solid Four and Fry Me Cookie, with a Can of Lard .

literature

  • Ken Bloom: The American Songbook - The Singers, the Songwriters, and the Songs . Black Dog & Leventhal, New York City 2005. ISBN 1-57912-448-8 )

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Raye, Don
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wilhoite, Donald MacRae Jr; Raye, Donald
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American composer and lyricist
DATE OF BIRTH March 16, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Washington, DC
DATE OF DEATH January 29, 1985