Arthur Hamilton Stern (born October 22, 1926),Stern, Arthur “Art”
''Mar-Ken.org''. Retrieved January 14, 2016 known professionally as Arthur Hamilton, is an American songwriter. He is best known for writing the song " Cry Me a River", first published in 1953, and recorded by

Julie London Julie London (née Peck; September 26, 1926 – October 18, 2000) was an American singer and actress whose career spanned more than 40 years. A torch singer noted for her sultry, languid contralto vocals, London recorded over thirty album ...

and numerous other artists.

Biography

Arthur "Art" Stern was born in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

, Washington, the son of songwriter and comedian Jacob Abraham "Jack" Stern (1896–1985) and Grace Hamilton Stern Leet (1883–1953). He moved as an infant with his family to Hollywood, California. He learned piano as a child, and also studied music theory and counterpoint. He later began using the name Arthur Hamilton. In 1949 he wrote an early live television musical for

KTTV KTTV (channel 11) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV ou ...

in Los Angeles, California. He also worked for a music publishing company. In 1953, when under contract to

Jack Webb John Randolph Webb (April 2, 1920 – December 23, 1982) was an American actor, television producer, director, and screenwriter, who is most famous for his role as Sgt. Joe Friday in the ''Dragnet'' franchise, which he created. He was a ...

, he contributed three songs to the film '' Pete Kelly's Blues'', including " Sing A Rainbow" and "He Needs Me", sung by

Peggy Lee Norma Deloris Egstrom (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002), known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress, over a career spanning seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalis ...

. However, Hamilton's third song, " Cry Me a River", sung by

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, 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, phrasing, timing, i ...

, was dropped from the film, although Ella did go on to record it later in her career. The song's first release and most famous recording was by actress and singer Julie London – who had been Jack Webb's wife "How London Found Path To "River"", ''Billboard'', 11 November 2000, p.45
/ref> – in 1955. Her performance of the song in the 1956 film ''

The Girl Can't Help It ''The Girl Can't Help It'' is a 1956 American musical comedy film starring Jayne Mansfield in the titular role, Tom Ewell, Edmond O'Brien, Henry Jones, and Julie London. The picture was produced and directed by Frank Tashlin, with a screen ...

'' helped to make it a million-selling hit, reaching # 9 in the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' chart and # 22 in the UK. The song, which was also covered by Joe Cocker in 1970, contains the lyric: 'told me love was too plebeian, told me you were through with me 'n...'. In 2010, Hamilton attended a recording session at

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

in Los Angeles, where the song was performed by

Michael Bublé Michael Steven Bublé ( ; born September 9, 1975) is a Canadian singer. A four-time Grammy Award winner, he is often credited for helping to renew public interest and appreciation for traditional pop standards and the Great American Songb ...

. His compositions have been recorded by Dinah Washington,

Archie Shepp Archie Shepp (born May 24, 1937) is an American jazz saxophonist, educator and playwright who since the 1960s has played a central part in the development of avant-garde jazz. Biography Early life Shepp was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but ...

Harry Connick Jr. Joseph Harry Fowler Connick Jr. (born September 11, 1967) is an American singer, pianist, composer, actor, and television host. He has sold over 28million albums worldwide. Connick is ranked among the top60 best-selling male artists in the Uni ...

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers awar ...

Johnny Mathis John Royce Mathis (born September 30, 1935) is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standard music, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum s ...

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Ge ...

Diana Krall Diana Jean Krall (born November 16, 1964) is a Canadian jazz pianist and singer known for her contralto vocals. She has sold more than 15 million albums worldwide, including over six million in the US. On December 11, 2009, '' Billboard'' maga ...

, The Dells (whose version of "Sing a Rainbow" was an international hit in 1969), and others. On many occasions, Hamilton worked exclusively as a lyricist; his long list of collaborators includes such composers as Walter Jurmann, Armando Manzanero, Jerry Fielding, Johnny Mandel,

Michel Legrand Michel Jean Legrand (; 24 February 1932 – 26 January 2019) was a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, and jazz pianist. Legrand was a prolific composer, having written over 200 film and television scores, in addition to many so ...

David Raksin David Raksin (August 4, 1912 – August 9, 2004) was an American composer who was noted for his work in film and television. With more than 100 film scores and 300 television scores to his credit, he became known as the "Grandfather of Film Music ...

Robert Ragland Robert Oliver Ragland (July 3, 1931 – April 18, 2012) was an American film score composer, best known for his soundtracks to numerous Film genre, genre films ranging from blaxploitation (Abby (film), ''Abby''), to Horror film, horror (''Mansi ...

, Riz Ortolani, Terry Trotter, Lori Barth, Barry Mann, Dave Grusin, Walter Scharf, Joe Harnell, Leroy Holmes, Harriet Schock,

Ron Anthony Ron Anthony (December 16, 1933 – January 19, 2021) was an American jazz guitarist and singer. Early life The son of a postal worker, Anthony was born and raised in Pittsburgh. He got his first guitar when he was sixteen, taking lessons from a ...

, and Patrick Williams. Hamilton has also been nominated for an Oscar, two Emmys, and a

Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

. He is a member of the board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Music Branch), and a member of the board of the

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

Foundation. "About The ASCAP Foundation"
Retrieved 7 March 2020

References

External links

*
Arthur Hamilton
''TheMusicEdge.com'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Arthur Living people 1926 births Musicians from Seattle Songwriters from Washington (state)