Bart Howard (born Howard Joseph Gustafson, June 1, 1915 – February 21, 2004) was an American composer and songwriter, most notably of the

jazz standard Jazz standards are musical compositions that are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they are widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive List ...

Fly Me to the Moon "Fly Me to the Moon", originally titled "In Other Words", is a song written in 1954 by Bart Howard. The first recording of the song was made in 1954 by Kaye Ballard. Frank Sinatra, Frank Sinatra's 1964 version was closely associated with the Apo ...

", which has been performed by Kaye Ballard,

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Tony Bennett Anthony Dominick Benedetto (August 3, 1926 – July 21, 2023), known professionally as Tony Bennett, was an American jazz and traditional pop singer. He received many accolades, including 20 Grammy Awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, ...

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April25, 1917June15, 1996) was an American singer, songwriter and composer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phra ...

, Nancy Wilson,

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, Bobby Womack,

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, Sia and RAYE and Super Tough among others. It is played frequently by

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and popular musicians around the world. It was also used as the outro for the popular

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series

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. Howard wrote the song for his partner of 58 years, Thomas Fowler.

Biography

Howard was born in

Burlington, Iowa Burlington is a city in, and the county seat of, Des Moines County, Iowa, United States. The population was 23,982 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, a decline from the 26,839 population in 2000 United States Census, 2000. Burlington ...

. He began his career as an accompanist at the age of 16 and played for Mabel Mercer,

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and

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, among others. "Fly Me to the Moon" was first sung in 1954 by Felicia Sanders at

the Blue Angel ''The Blue Angel'' () is a 1930 German musical comedy-drama film directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring Marlene Dietrich, Emil Jannings and Kurt Gerron. Written by Carl Zuckmayer, Karl Vollmöller and Robert Liebmann, with uncredite ...

nightclub in Manhattan, where the composer became M.C. and accompanist in 1951. The song received wide exposure when

sang it on ''

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the ''CB ...

'' several years later. Bart Howard "lived off" this song for the rest of his life, although he had 49 other songs to his credit. These include "Let Me Love You", " On the First Warm Day", "One Love Affair", "Be My All", "The Man in the Looking Glass", "My Love Is a Wanderer", "Who Wants to Fall in Love" and "Don't Dream of Anybody But Me". Howard died February 21, 2004, at age 88, in Carmel, New York. He was survived by his partner of 58 years, Thomas Fowler and a sister Dorothy Lind of Burlington, Iowa.

Notes

The original title was "In Other Words", but so many people referred to it by the first lyric line, ("fly me to the moon") the publisher changed the title to "Fly Me to the Moon".

References

* Todd S. Jenkins (2004), ''Free Jazz and Free Improvisation: An Encyclopedia'', Greenwood Press

External links

* 1915 births 2004 deaths 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century American pianists 20th-century American jazz composers 20th-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century American pianists 21st-century American jazz composers 21st-century American LGBTQ people Accompanists American LGBTQ composers American male jazz composers American male pianists Jazz musicians from New York (state) LGBTQ jazz composers People from Burlington, Iowa People from Carmel, New York {{US-composer-20thC-stub