Hy Zaret (born Hyman Harry Zaritsky, August 21, 1907 – July 2, 2007) was an American
Tin Pan Alley
Tin Pan Alley was a collection of History of music publishing, music publishers and songwriters in New York City that dominated the American popular music, popular music of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It origin ...
lyricist and composer who wrote the lyrics of the 1955 hit "
Unchained Melody," one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century.
Personal life
Zaret was born on August 21, 1907 in New York City to Max Zaritsky and Dora Shiffman, who had emigrated from Russia in the 1890s. He attended
West Virginia University
West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State Coll ...
and
Brooklyn Law School
Brooklyn Law School (BLS) is a private law school in New York City. Founded in 1901, it has approximately 1,100 students. Brooklyn Law School's faculty includes 60 full-time faculty, 15 emeriti faculty, and a number of adjunct faculty.
Brooklyn ...
, where he received an
LLB. He shortened his name legally from Zaritsky to Zaret in 1934.
Zaret served in the
Army
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
's
Special Services division during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
.
[Biography of Hy Zaret](_blank)
www.argosymusiccorp.com. Retrieved August 12, 2021.
Zaret had two sons, and was married to the former Shirley Goidel. He died at his home in
Westport, Connecticut
Westport is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, along the Long Island Sound within Connecticut's Gold Coast. It is northeast of New York City. The town had a population of 27,141 according to the 2020 U.S. Census.
History
...
on July 2, 2007, at the age of 99.
Career
He scored his first major success in 1937, when he teamed up with
Saul Chaplin
Saul Chaplin (February 19, 1912 – November 15, 1997) was an American composer and musical director.
He was born Saul Kaplan in Brooklyn, New York.
He had worked on stage, screen and television since the days of Tin Pan Alley. In film, he wo ...
and
Sammy Cahn
Samuel Cohen (June 18, 1913 – January 15, 1993), known professionally as Sammy Cahn, was an American lyricist, songwriter, and musician. He is best known for his romantic lyrics to films and Broadway songs, as well as stand-alone songs premi ...
to co-write the pop standard "Dedicated to You." The early 1940s brought some collaborations with
Alex C. Kramer and
Joan Whitney, including 1941's "It All Comes Back to Me Now" and the
socially conscious
Social consciousness or social awareness, is collective consciousness shared by individuals within a society.[WWII
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...]
-themed "
My Sister and I." In 1941
Vaughn Monroe
Vaughn Wilton Monroe (October 7, 1911 – May 21, 1973) was an American baritone singer, trumpeter, big band leader, actor, and businessman, who was most popular in the 1940s and 1950s. He has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for rec ...
had a top 5 hit with the song “
There I Go
There may refer to:
* ''There'' (film), a 2009 Turkish film (Turkish title: ''Orada'')
* ''There'' (virtual world)
*''there'', a deictic adverb in English
*''there'', an English pronoun used in phrases such as '' there is'' and ''there are''
{ ...
,”
which Zaret co-wrote with
Irving Weiser.
[
Zaret wrote the lyrics for an English translation of the ]French Resistance
The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...
song " La Complainte du Partisan" ("The Song of the French Partisan"). The song became popular after it was recorded by Leonard Cohen
Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death, and romantic relationships. He was inducted in ...
and others as "The Partisan". In 1944 he and Lou Singer wrote the popular hit novelty song
A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick, a piece of humor, or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs, which are more explicitly based on humor, and wit ...
" One Meatball", based on a song popular among Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
undergraduates.["Song for Hard Times"](_blank)
''Harvard Magazine
''Harvard Magazine'' is an independently edited magazine and separately incorporated affiliate of Harvard University. Aside from ''The Harvard Crimson'', it is the only publication covering the entire university, and also regularly distributed t ...
'', May–June 2009
"Unchained Melody"
Zaret's biggest success, though, was " Unchained Melody," a song he co-wrote with film composer Alex North
Alex North (born Isadore Soifer, December 4, 1910 – September 8, 1991) was an American composer best known for his many film scores, including ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' (one of the first jazz-based film scores), '' Viva Zapata!'', '' S ...
for the 1955 prison film '' Unchained'' (hence the title), which was nominated for the 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 (AMPAS). It is presented to the ''songwriters'' who have composed ...
. No fewer than three versions of the song—by Les Baxter
Leslie Thompson "Les" Baxter (March 14, 1922 – January 15, 1996) was a best-selling American musician and composer. After working as an arranger and composer for swing bands, he developed his own style of easy listening music, known as exotica a ...
, Al Hibbler
Albert George Hibbler (August 16, 1915 – April 24, 2001) was an American baritone vocalist, who sang with Duke Ellington's orchestra before having several pop hits as a solo artist. Some of Hibbler's singing is classified as rhythm and blue ...
, and Roy Hamilton
Roy Hamilton (April 16, 1929 – July 20, 1969) was an American singer. By combining semi-classical technique with traditional black gospel feeling, he brought soul to Great American Songbook singing.
Hamilton's greatest commercial success ca ...
—hit the U.S. Top Ten that year, with Hibbler's version ranking as the best-known for the next ten years. The song was also recorded successfully by Eddie Fisher
Edwin Jack Fisher (August 10, 1928 – September 22, 2010) was an American singer and actor. He was one of the most popular artists during the 1950s, selling millions of records and hosting his own TV show, ''The Eddie Fisher Show''. Actress Eli ...
, whose version bowled over critics, Jimmy Young and Liberace
Władziu Valentino Liberace (May 16, 1919 – February 4, 1987) was an American pianist, singer, and actor. A child prodigy born in Wisconsin to parents of Italian and Polish origin, he enjoyed a career spanning four decades of concerts, recordi ...
, and covered by countless others. And The Righteous Brothers
The Righteous Brothers are an American musical duo originally formed by Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield but now comprising Medley and Bucky Heard. Medley formed the group with Hatfield in 1963. They had first performed together in 1962 in the Lo ...
' 1965 version was perhaps the biggest selling version, reaching the U.S. pop Top Five. That recording was revived in 1990 thanks to its inclusion in the film, ''Ghost
A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to re ...
'', and nearly reached the U.S. Top Ten all over again, whilst it reached No.1 in the U.K on this release. Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the " King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His ener ...
, Sam Cooke
Samuel Cook (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964), known professionally as Sam Cooke, was an American singer and songwriter. Considered to be a pioneer and one of the most influential soul music, soul artists of all time, Cooke is common ...
, Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million ...
, Roy Orbison
Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician known for his impassioned singing style, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. His music was described by critics as ...
and Donny Osmond
Donald Clark "Donny" Osmond (born December 9, 1957) is an American singer, dancer, actor, television host, and former teen idol. He first gained fame performing with four of his elder brothers as the Osmonds, earning several top ten hits and go ...
also recorded versions of the song. This song is unique in that it has made No.1 on the U.K. singles charts in four different guises by four different artists over a period of nearly fifty years: Jimmy Young (1955), The Righteous Brothers (1990), Robson & Jerome
Robson & Jerome are an English pop duo who were active in the mid-1990s, consisting of actors Robson Green and Jerome Flynn. They rose to prominence via the English television series ''Soldier Soldier''.
The duo's musical catalogue was compos ...
(1995) and Gareth Gates
Gareth Paul Gates (born 12 July 1984) is an English singer-songwriter and actor. He was the runner-up in the first series of the ITV talent show ''Pop Idol'' in 2002. As of 2008, Gates had sold over 3.5 million records in the UK. He is ...
(2002). The latter three versions have all recorded certified sales in excess of one million copies in the U.K. alone.
Children's music
Zaret turned his attention to educational children's music in the late 1950s, collaborating with Lou Singer on a six-album series called "Ballads for the Age of Science"; different volumes covered space
Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consi ...
, energy and motion, experiments, weather, and nature. The records were quite successful, and the songs " Why Does the Sun Shine?" (aka "The Sun Is a Mass of Incandescent Gas") and "A Shooting Star Is Not a Star" were even covered by alternative rock band They Might Be Giants
They Might Be Giants (often abbreviated as TMBG) is an American alternative rock band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years, Flansburgh and Linnell frequently performed as a duo, often accompanied by a dr ...
in 1993 and 2009, respectively. (source: Steve Huey, Allmusic)
See also
* Great American Songbook Foundation
The Great American Songbook Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the music of the Great American Songbook. The Songbook Foundation's administrative offices are located on the Gallery lev ...
- where Hy Zaret's papers are housed. A collection guide can be foun
here
References
External links
*
*
Great American Songbook Foundation
Argosy Music Corp.
Publishing administrator for "Unchained Melody"
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zaret, Hy
1907 births
2007 deaths
20th-century American Jews
20th-century American musicians
21st-century American Jews
Brooklyn Law School alumni
Jewish American songwriters
Musicians from New York City
People from Westport, Connecticut
Songwriters from New York (state)
American people of Russian-Jewish descent