J. Fred Coots
John Frederick "Fred" Coots (born May 2, 1897 in Brooklyn , † April 8, 1985 in New York City ) was an American songwriter . He wrote more than 700 songs. The best known is the Christmas carol " Santa Claus Is Coming to Town ", which is one of the greatest economic successes in American music history.
Live and act
Coots received piano lessons from his mother. After high school he first worked at a bank, but switched to the music business in 1914, where he first performed the latest songs as a pianist in a sheet music store; he also tried his hand at composing. In 1917 his first song was published. In the next few years he worked for the vaudeville scene and wrote his songs for Sophie Tucker, among others . From 1922 he began to work for Broadway and composed the music for shows such as Sally, Irene and Mary or Artists and Models . In 1929 he wrote the hit Sons o 'Gun and then moved to Hollywood . There he wrote songs like “ A Precious Little Thing Called Love ” (text by Lou Davis) for the film The Shopworn Angel , “I Still Get a Thrill. (Thinking Of You) "(1930, text by Benny Davis)," Love Letters in the Sand "(1931, text by Nick and Charles Kenny)," Two Tickets to Georgia "(text by Charles Tobias) or" Beautiful Lady In Blue "(1935, text by Sam M. Lewis , with whom he had previously written" For All We Know "). In 1934 he wrote “ For All We Know ” (with Sam M. Lewis) and his Christmas song “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” together with the lyricist Haven Gillespie , with whom he continued in 1935 “A Beautiful Lady in Blue” and 1938 “ You Go to My Head ”. He created the composition for "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" on October 10, 1933 within five minutes as a notation on an envelope during a metro ride. The called out metro stations are said to have inspired him to the melody. In 1936, 1938 and 1939 he also wrote songs for the Cotton Club's revue .
Web links
- Entry in the Songwriters Hall of Fame (with a list of his compositions)
- J. Fred Coots at Allmusic (English)
- John Frederick Coots in the Internet Broadway Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Stefanie Maeck in: Spiegel-online one-day advent calendar Hurriedly captured in the subway, "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" became one of the greatest Christmas hits in history.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Coots, J. Fred |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Coots, John Frederick (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American songwriter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 2, 1897 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Brooklyn |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 8, 1985 |
| Place of death | New York City |