Charlie Smalls (October 25, 1943 – August 27, 1987) was an American composer and

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

, best known for writing the music and lyrics for playwright William F. Brown's 1975

Broadway musical Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...

The Wiz ''The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical "Wonderful Wizard of Oz"'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls (and others) and book by William F. Brown. It is a retelling of L. Frank Baum's children's novel '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' ...

'' and the 1978 film version of the same name.

Career

A musical

prodigy Prodigy, Prodigies or The Prodigy may refer to: * Child prodigy, a child who produces meaningful output to the level of an adult expert performer ** Chess prodigy, a child who can beat experienced adult players at chess Arts, entertainment, and ...

, Smalls attended the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...

at age 11 in 1954, staying until 1961. He wrote the song "From Me to You" for

Hugh Masekela Hugh Ramapolo Masekela (4 April 1939 – 23 January 2018) was a South African trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, singer and composer who was described as "the father of South African jazz". Masekela was known for his jazz compositions and for ...

's 1966 album ''

Hugh Masekela's Next Album ''Hugh Masekela's Next Album'' is the fourth studio album by South African jazz trumpeter Hugh Masekela. It was recorded in New York City and released in December 1966 via MGM Records label. The album consists mainly of covers of pop songs. Tra ...

'' and a song for

John Cassavetes John Nicholas Cassavetes ( ; December 9, 1929 – February 3, 1989) was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter. First known as a television and film actor, Cassavetes also helped pioneer American independent cinema, writing and direc ...

's 1968 film ''

Faces The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may affe ...

'' called "Never Felt Like This Before." Smalls appeared in the tag scene of the "Some Like It Lukewarm" episode of ''

The Monkees The Monkees were an American rock and pop band, formed in Los Angeles in 1966, whose lineup consisted of the American actor/musicians Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork alongside English actor/singer Davy Jones. The group was con ...

'', which aired on March 4, 1968, chatting at a piano with singer Davy Jones. After graduating from the High School of Performing Arts, Smalls toured as a member of the New York Jazz Repertory Company before beginning work on ''The Wiz''. An African-American urbanized retelling of

L. Frank Baum Lyman Frank Baum (; May 15, 1856 – May 6, 1919) was an American author best known for his children's books, particularly ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' and its sequels. He wrote 14 novels in the ''Oz'' series, plus 41 other novels (not includ ...

's ''

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' is a children's novel written by author L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. It is the first novel in the Oz series of books. A Kansas farm girl named Dorothy ends up in the magical Land of Oz afte ...

'', ''The Wiz'' was adapted into a feature film in 1978. Smalls also wrote the score for the 1976 film '' Drum''.

Death

Smalls was in Belgium accompanying the tour of professional jazz dance instructor Sue Samuels, to whom he was engaged to be married, when he died at the age of 43 during emergency surgery to repair a burst appendix. At the time of his death, Smalls was working on a new musical, ''Miracles'', a musical adaptation of ''

The Man Who Could Work Miracles ''The Man Who Could Work Miracles'' is a 1937 London Films British fantasy-comedy film directed by Lothar Mendes and produced by Alexander Korda. The film stars Roland Young with a cast of supporting players including Sir Ralph Richardson. ...

'' by H.G. Wells. He had recorded some songs with

Geoffrey Holder Geoffrey Lamont Holder (August 1, 1930 – October 5, 2014) was a Trinidadian-American actor, dancer, musician, and artist. He was a principal dancer for the Metropolitan Opera Ballet before his film career began in 1957 with an appearance in ' ...

and the Harlem Boys Choir. In 1989 Smalls's score for ''The Wiz'' was donated to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture by Mildred Harper, the mother of producer and creator of ''The Wiz'', Ken Harper, along with Harpers' papers.

Honors

Smalls won the 1975

Tony Award for Best Score The Tony Award for Best Original Score is the Tony Award given to the composers and lyricists of the best original score written for a musical or play in that year. The score consists of music and/or lyrics. To be eligible, a score must be writt ...

for his work on ''The Wiz''.Search for "Charlie Smalls" at
Past Winners Search
".
The American Theater Wing's Tony Awards
'. Retrieved January 20, 2008.

References

External links

Charlie Smalls scores for The Wiz, 1974
Music Division, The New York Public Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Smalls, Charlie 1943 births 1987 deaths American musical theatre composers Tony Award winners People from Queens, New York Drama Desk Award winners 20th-century American composers Juilliard School alumni