Jerry Ragovoy
Jordan "Jerry" Ragovoy (born September 4, 1930 in Philadelphia ; † July 11, 2011 in Manhattan ) was an American songwriter , arranger and record producer .
Live and act
Ragovoy, the son of a Hungarian- Jewish optometrist , learned to play the piano by himself and became interested in gospel and rhythm and blues at an early age when he was growing up in a residential area with a predominantly Afro-American influence.
Ragovoy began his professional career as a record seller at the Tregoobs department store. With its managing director Herb Slotkin, he founded the record label Grand in 1953 , on which the local doo-wop formation The Castelles released their first song My Girl Awaits Me , 100,000 copies of which were sold. After moving to Chancellor Records , he wrote arrangements for Frankie Avalon and wrote the song About This Thing Called Love for Fabian . In 1962 he moved to New York to pursue a career as a Broadway songwriter. In the same year he produced and arranged A Wonderful Dream for the Philadelphia-based vocal group The Majors ; for the song he used the pseudonym Norman Margulies . As Norman Meade , he wrote the song Cry Baby with Bert Berns , which Garnet Mimms & the Enchanters recorded in 1963 and thus reached position 4 on the Billboard charts.
In 1966 Ragovoy worked for the Warner Brothers sub-label Loma Records. He had written the song Stay With Me (Baby) with George David Weiss , which he wanted to record with the gospel singer Lorraine Ellison . Frank Sinatra canceled the session, but allowed Ragovoy to use the orchestra. The song then became popular with covers by the Walker Brothers , Sharon Tandy (1967), David Essex (1978), Ruby Turner (1994), Rebecca Wheatley (2000), and Duffy (2009). Bette Midler used it in her Diva Las Vegas stage show.
His most famous song was the gospel-influenced Time Is on My Side , which Ragovoy had written for the jazz trombonist Kai Winding and his orchestra and which was recorded by Irma Thomas in 1964. When The Rolling Stones released their version, they landed their first Top 10 hit in the United States and played the song on their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show . Another song by Ragovoy became popular in the late 1960s through Janis Joplin , Piece of My Heart, which he in turn composed with Berns and which was first recorded in 1967 by Erma Franklin , Aretha Franklin's older sister. Joplin then recorded the song for their album Cheap Thrills with Big Brother and the Holding Company . Another song known from Joplin was Try (Just a Little Harder) , which came from Ragovoy's collaboration with Chip Taylor , and appeared on the album I Got Dem Ol 'Kozmic Blues Again Mama! . Her last album Pearl received three songs from Ragovoy, My Baby, Get It While You Can and Cry Baby . Another song, I'm Gonna Rock My Way to Heaven , which Ragovoy had written with Jenny Dean, Joplin was unable to record because she died in October 1970.
He also wrote soul-influenced songs for Howard Tate ; Get It While You Can (1967) and Stop , which Jimi Hendrix recorded, and Ain't Nobody Home , which BB King later recorded. In 1969 Ragovoy founded his own recording studio, The Hit Factory; 1973 the short-lived record label Rags, on which recordings by Howard Tate and Lou Courtney appeared. In the 1970s he was the producer of the Butterfield Blues Band's Keep On Moving albums (in which he also played the piano), Streetlights by Bonnie Raitt and Then Came You by Dionne Warwick . He won a Grammy for the production of an album for the Broadway show Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope . One of his last songs was Either Side Of The Same Town , which he wrote with Elvis Costello . In his final years he lived in Stamford, Connecticut . He died in 2011 of complications from a stroke.
Compositions (selection)
Discographic notes
- 2008 - The Jerry Ragovoy Story: Time Is on My Side, 1953-2003 (Ace)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Obituary in The New York Times
- ↑ a b c Obituary in The Independent
- ↑ Marc Myers: Creed Taylor: Time is on My Side ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Obituary in The Guardian
- ↑ Secondhandsongs.com ( Memento of the original from November 27, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ https://www.allmusic.com/artist/mn0000336613/songs
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ragovoy, Jerry |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Ragovoy, Jordan (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American songwriter and record producer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 4th September 1930 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Philadelphia |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 11, 2011 |
| Place of death | Manhattan |