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Jimmy Van Heusen

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Jimmy Van Heusen

Jimmy Van Heusen (January 26, 1913 - February 7, 1990), was an American composer. Writing songs for films and television, he won four Academy Awards for Best Original Song, and an Emmy.

Biography

Christened Edward Chester Babcock in Syracuse, New York, he began writing music while at high school, and renamed himself at age 15, to use as his on-air name during a local radio show.

Studying at Cazenovia Seminary and Syracuse University, he became friends with Jerry Arlen, the younger brother of Harold Arlen. With the elder Arlen's help, Van Heusen wrote songs for the Cotton Club revue, including "Harlem Hospitality."

He then became a staff pianist for some of the Tin Pan Alley publishers, and wrote "It's the Dreamer in Me" (1938) with lyrics by Tommy Dorsey.

Collaborating with lyricist Eddie DeLange, on songs such as "Heaven Can Wait", "So Help Me", and "Darn That Dream", his work became more prolific, writing over 60 songs in 1940 alone. It was in 1940 that he teamed up with the lyricist Johnny Burke. Burke and Van Heusen moved to Hollywood writing for stage musicals and films throughout the '40s and early '50s, winning an Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Swinging on a Star" (1944). Their songs were also featured in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949).

He also worked as a part time test pilot for Lockheed Corporation in World War II.

Van Heusen then teamed up with lyricist Sammy Cahn. Their three Academy Awards for Best Song were won for "All the Way" (1957) from The Joker Is Wild, "High Hopes" (1959) from A Hole in the Head, and "Call Me Irresponsible" (1963) from Papa's Delicate Condition. Their songs were also featured in Rear Window (1954) and Ocean's Eleven (1960).

Cahn and Van Heusen also wrote "Love and Marriage" (1955), "To Love and Be Loved", "Come Fly with Me", "Only the Lonely", and "Come Dance with Me" with many of their compositions being the title songs for Frank Sinatra's albums of the late 50's.

Van Heusen wrote a musical in 1965 entitled Skyscraper, and the 1966 musical Walking Happy. He became an inductee of the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1971.

Van Heusen composed over 800 plus songs of which 50 songs became standards.

Van Heusen songs are featured in over one hundred eighty films.

Van Heusen retired in the late 1970s, and died in Rancho Mirage, California in 1990, at the age of 77.

Awards

  • Van Heusen was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song 14 times in 12 different years (in both 1946 and 1964 he was nominated for two songs), and won 4 times: in 1944, 1957, 1959, and 1963. He won an Emmy Award for "Best Musical Contribution" in 1956, and was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1965.

Trivia

Songs

Academy Awards

Van Heusen won four Academy Awards for Best Song:

Emmy Award

Van Heusen won one Emmy Award for Best Musical Contribution:

References

  • Wilfred Sheed (2007). "The House That George Built", "Jimmy Van Heusen: On The Radio With Bing and Frank" Pages 225-251.
  • Berry, David Carson (2000). “The Popular Songwriter as Composer: Mannerisms and Design in the Music of Jimmy Van Heusen,” Indiana Theory Review 21, 1-51.
  • Alec Wilder (1990). "American Popular Song", "The Great Craftsmen: Jimmy Van Heusen" Pages 442-451.


Template:Great American Songbook

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