Gene De Paul

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Eugene Vincent De Paul also Gene de Paul or Gene DePaul (born June 17, 1919 in New York City , † February 27, 1988 in Northridge, Los Angeles ) was an American composer and songwriter. Together with Don Raye he wrote songs like " Star Eyes ", " I'll Remember April " and " You Don't Know What Love Is ".

life and work

Gene De Paul trained as a classical pianist. At the beginning of his musical career he worked as a piano teacher, later as a pianist in dance orchestras, and finally as a singer and arranger in vocal groups.

In the early 1940s De Paul went to Hollywood , where he then worked with the songwriter Don Raye for over a decade ; De Paul composed songs and music for a variety of feature films. One of their first films was Hellzapoppin ' from 1941. For Keep' Em Flying from the same year Paul and Raye wrote the hit “ You Don't Know What Love Is ”, for Ride 'Em Cowboy from 1942 the song “ I'll Remember April "(Both Abbott and Costello films), the title song for He's My Guy from 1943 and " Star Eyes " for I Dood It in the same year . Towards the end of the Second World War , Paul began his military service and continued his collaboration with Raye in 1947 - including for the Disney cartoons The Adventures Of Ichabod And Mr Toad from 1949 and Alice in Wonderland from 1951.

In 1953 De Paul composed the title " Teach Me Tonight ", for which Sammy Cahn wrote the lyrics. For the film musical Seven Brides for Seven Brother from 1954 he composed the score together with the songwriter Johnny Mercer ; the musical Li'l Abner followed for Broadway in 1956 - from which the popular piece " Namely You " originates. Choreographer Michael Kidd played a key role in both productions .

For 1942, De Paul and Raye received an Oscar nomination for the song " Pig Foot Pete ", which was not heard in Hellzapoppin ' (as it was then assigned), but in Keep' Em Flying . In 1985 De Paul was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame .

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Big Bands Database Plus Composers - Gene De Paul
  2. ^ New Musical Express-online De Paul biography
personal data
SURNAME De Paul, Gene
ALTERNATIVE NAMES De Paul, Eugene Vincent
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American composer and songwriter
DATE OF BIRTH June 17, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH February 27, 1988
Place of death Northridge, Los Angeles ( California )