Jay Livingston
Encyclopedia
Jay Livingston was an American
composer
and singer best known as half of a songwriting duo with Ray Evans
that specialized in songs composed for film
s. Livingston wrote the music and Evans the lyrics
.
Livingston was born Jacob Harold Levison in McDonald, Pennsylvania
; he was Jewish. Livingston studied piano
with Harry Archer in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
, and worked as a musician at local clubs while still in high school. He attended the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania
, where he organized a dance band and met Evans, a fellow student in the band. Their professional collaboration began in 1937. Livingston and Evans won the Academy Award for Best Original Song
three times, in 1948 for the song Buttons and Bows
, written for the movie The Paleface; in 1950 for the song Mona Lisa
, written for the movie Captain Carey, U.S.A.
; and in 1956 for the song "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)
," featured in the movie The Man Who Knew Too Much
. Livingston and Evans wrote popular TV themes for shows including Bonanza
and Mr. Ed. They also wrote the Christmas
song Silver Bells in 1951 for the film The Lemon Drop Kid
as well as "Never Let Me Go" for the 1956 film The Scarlet Hour.
Livingston is an inductee in the Songwriters Hall Of Fame.
Livingston died in Los Angeles, California
, and was interred there in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
. His brother, longtime Capitol Records
executive Alan W. Livingston
, is best known for creating "Bozo the Clown
" and signing Frank Sinatra
and The Beatles
among other legends with Capitol.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and singer best known as half of a songwriting duo with Ray Evans
Ray Evans
Raymond Bernard Evans was an American songwriter. He was a partner in a composing and songwriting duo with Jay Livingston, known for the songs they composed for films...
that specialized in songs composed for film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
s. Livingston wrote the music and Evans the lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
.
Livingston was born Jacob Harold Levison in McDonald, Pennsylvania
McDonald, Pennsylvania
McDonald is a borough in Allegheny and Washington counties in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, 18 miles southwest of Pittsburgh. In the past, manufactories of bottles, oil-well drilling tools, flour-mill products, etc., existed here. Oil and coal were and still are procured in the area...
; he was Jewish. Livingston studied piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
with Harry Archer in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, and worked as a musician at local clubs while still in high school. He attended the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, where he organized a dance band and met Evans, a fellow student in the band. Their professional collaboration began in 1937. Livingston and Evans won the Academy Award for Best Original Song
Academy Award for Best Original Song
The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . It is presented to the songwriters who have composed the best original song written specifically for a film...
three times, in 1948 for the song Buttons and Bows
Buttons and Bows
"Buttons and Bows" is a popular song. The music was written by Jay Livingston with lyric by Ray Evans. The song was published in 1947. The song appeared in the Bob Hope and Jane Russell film, The Paleface, and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song...
, written for the movie The Paleface; in 1950 for the song Mona Lisa
Mona Lisa (Nat King Cole song)
"Mona Lisa" is a song written by Ray Evans and Jay Livingston for the Paramount Pictures film Captain Carey, U.S.A. . It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for 1950. The arrangement was by Nelson Riddle and the orchestral backing was played by Les Baxter and his Orchestra...
, written for the movie Captain Carey, U.S.A.
Captain Carey, U.S.A.
Captain Carey, U.S.A. is a 1950 drama film starring Alan Ladd, Wanda Hendrix, and Francis Lederer. An American returns to post-World War II Italy to bring a traitor to justice.The film was based on the novel No Surrender by Martha Albrand...
; and in 1956 for the song "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)
Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Qué Será, Será)
"Que Sera, Sera ", first published in 1956, is a popular song which was written by the Jay Livingston and Ray Evans songwriting team....
," featured in the movie The Man Who Knew Too Much
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956 film)
The Man Who Knew Too Much is a suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring James Stewart and Doris Day. The film is a remake in widescreen VistaVision and Technicolor of Hitchcock's 1934 film of the same name....
. Livingston and Evans wrote popular TV themes for shows including Bonanza
Bonanza
Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...
and Mr. Ed. They also wrote the Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
song Silver Bells in 1951 for the film The Lemon Drop Kid
The Lemon Drop Kid
The Lemon Drop Kid is a 1951 comedy film based on the short story of the same name by Damon Runyon, starring Bob Hope and Marilyn Maxwell, and directed by Sidney Lanfield.The song "Silver Bells," sung by Hope and Maxwell, was introduced in the film...
as well as "Never Let Me Go" for the 1956 film The Scarlet Hour.
Livingston is an inductee in the Songwriters Hall Of Fame.
Livingston died in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, and was interred there in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
The Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery is a cemetery in the Westwood Village area of Los Angeles, California. It is located at 1218 Glendon Avenue in Westwood....
. His brother, longtime Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
executive Alan W. Livingston
Alan W. Livingston
Alan Wendell Livingston , born Alan Wendell Levison, was an American businessman best known for his tenures at Capitol Records, first as a writer/producer best-known for creating Bozo the Clown for a series of record-album and illustrative read-along children's book sets, then as the executive who...
, is best known for creating "Bozo the Clown
Bozo the Clown
Bozo the Clown is a clown character very popular in the United States, peaking in the 1960s as a result of widespread franchising in early television.Originally created by Alan W...
" and signing Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
and The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
among other legends with Capitol.
Work on Broadway
- Oh, Captain!Oh, Captain!Oh, Captain! is a musical comedy based on the film The Captain's Paradise, which had been written by Alec Coppel and Nicholas Phipps. The film starred Alec Guinness as a philandering ship's captain, with a wife in one port and a mistress in another. The musical starred Tony Randall, and updated the...
(1958) - musical - co-composerComposerA composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and co-lyricistLyricistA lyricist is a songwriter who specializes in lyrics. A singer who writes the lyrics to songs is a singer-lyricist. This differentiates from a singer-composer, who composes the song's melody.-Collaboration:...
with Ray EvansRay EvansRaymond Bernard Evans was an American songwriter. He was a partner in a composing and songwriting duo with Jay Livingston, known for the songs they composed for films...
- TonyTony AwardThe Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
Nomination for Best MusicalTony Award for Best MusicalThis is a list of winners and nominations for the Tony Award for Best Musical, first awarded in 1949. This award is presented to the producers of the musical.-1940s:* 1949: Kiss Me, Kate – Music and lyrics by Cole Porter, book by Samuel and Bella Spewack... - Let It RideLet It Ride (musical)Let It Ride is a Broadway musical based on the 1935 Broadway farce Three Men on a Horse by George Abbott. The musical, with book by Abram S. Ginnes and music and lyrics by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, opened in New York at the Eugene O'Neill Theater on October 12, 1961, and played 68 performances...
(1961) - musical - co-composerComposerA composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and co-lyricistLyricistA lyricist is a songwriter who specializes in lyrics. A singer who writes the lyrics to songs is a singer-lyricist. This differentiates from a singer-composer, who composes the song's melody.-Collaboration:...
with Ray EvansRay EvansRaymond Bernard Evans was an American songwriter. He was a partner in a composing and songwriting duo with Jay Livingston, known for the songs they composed for films... - Sugar BabiesSugar BabiesSugar Babies is a musical revue conceived by Ralph G. Allen and Harry Rigby, with music by Jimmy McHugh, lyrics by Dorothy Fields and Al Dubin and various others. The show is a tribute to the old burlesque era...
(1979) - revueRevueA revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...
- featured songwriterSongwriterA songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
with Ray EvansRay EvansRaymond Bernard Evans was an American songwriter. He was a partner in a composing and songwriting duo with Jay Livingston, known for the songs they composed for films...
for "The Sugar Baby Bounce"
External links
- Jay Livingston obituary from The New York Times.
- Jay Livingston biography
- Jay Livingston at the Internet Broadway DatabaseInternet Broadway DatabaseThe Internet Broadway Database is an online database of Broadway theatre productions and their personnel. It is operated by the Research Department of The Broadway League, a trade association for the North American commercial theatre community....