Dory Previn

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Dory Previn , née Dorothy Veronica Langan (born October 22, 1925 in Rahway , New Jersey , † February 14, 2012 in Weymouth , Massachusetts ) was an American writer and singer-songwriter .

Life

Dory Previn grew up as the eldest daughter of a family of Irish descent in difficult circumstances. The sometimes paranoid father locked his wife and children in the house for months. After high school , she attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts for a year , but had to leave it for lack of money. She got by with odd jobs, appeared in Chorus Lines as a singer and dancer and began writing her own songs. Their first marriage soon ended in divorce.

A chance encounter with Arthur Freed helped her to get a job as a songwriter at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer . There she met André Previn and in 1958 she recorded her first record of her own songs with him and the guitarist Kenny Burrell . In 1959 she married Previn and together with him wrote a number of songs for films and other artists. In 1970 her husband left her for the young Mia Farrow . She particularly expressed her pain about it in the song Beware of Young Girls . Over the next six years, she released six studio albums, a live album, and a TV movie, Third Girl From The Left . The first of her two autobiographies appeared in 1976, the second in 1980.

In 1983 she married the Canadian painter and actor Joby Baker (* 1934). In 1988 she performed one last time in Dublin and London. In 1997 she wrote, again with Andre Previn, a piece for soprano and orchestra called The Magic Number .

After several strokes, she died on her farm at the age of 87.

Discography

  • The Leprechauns Are Upon Me (1958, as Dory Langdon)
  • The Faraway Part of Town (1960, as Dory Langdon)
  • On My Way to Where (1970)
  • Mythical Kings and Iguanas (1971)
  • Reflections in a Mud Puddle / Taps Tremors and Time Steps (1971)
  • Mary C. Brown and the Hollywood Sign (1972)
  • Live at Carnegie Hall (1973)
  • Dory Previn (1974)
  • We're Children of Coincidence and Harpo Marx (1976)
  • One AM Phonecalls (1977, compilation)
  • In Search of Mythical Kings: The UA Years (1993, Compilation)
  • Planet Blue (2002, only available as download)
  • The Art of Dory Previn (2008, compilation)

Books

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Previn, Dory
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Langan, Dorothy Veronica (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer and singer-songwriter
DATE OF BIRTH October 22, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Rahway , New Jersey , USA
DATE OF DEATH February 14, 2012
Place of death Weymouth , Massachusetts , USA