Arthur Singer (February 1, 1919 – May 2, 2008) was an American songwriter, music producer and bandleader. He was the co-writer and producer of the songs "

At the Hop "At the Hop" is a 1950s pop song written by Artie Singer, John Medora, and David White and originally released by Danny & the Juniors. The song was released in the fall of 1957 and reached number one on the US charts on January 6, 1958, bec ...

" and " Rock and Roll Is Here To Stay" by Danny & the Juniors.

Career

Singer began his career as a bass player and performed on

WIP WIP or WiP may refer to: Political parties * Wildrose Independence Party of Alberta, a political party in Alberta, Canada * Western Independence Party of Manitoba, a former Canadian provincial political party * Western Independence Party of Sas ...

radio and on the TV Show '' Paul Whiteman's Goodyear Revue''. He became well known as a vocal coach with his brother Harold, whose students included

Frankie Avalon Francis Thomas Avallone (born September 18, 1940), better known as Frankie Avalon, is an American actor, singer, and former teen idol. He had 31 charting U.S. ''Billboard'' singles from 1958 to late 1962, including number one hits, "Venus" a ...

Chubby Checker Chubby Checker (born Ernest Evans; October 3, 1941) is an American rock and roll singer and dancer. He is widely known for popularizing many dance styles, including The Twist dance style, with his 1960 hit cover of Hank Ballard & The Midnig ...

Al Martino Al Martino (born Jasper Cini; October 7, 1927 – October 13, 2009) was an American singer and actor. He had his greatest success as a singer between the early 1950s and mid-1970s, being described as "one of the great Italian American pop croone ...

and

Bobby Rydell Robert Louis Ridarelli (April 26, 1942 – April 5, 2022), known by the stage name Bobby Rydell, was an American singer and actor who mainly performed rock and roll and traditional pop music. In the early 1960s he was considered a teen idol. ...

, and he was a vocal coach to Danny Kaye in the early 1950s. Singer wrote hundred of songs for the educational children's TV program ''

Gina D's Kids Club ''Gina D's Kids Club'' is an American educational children's television series broadcast on selected stations and networks. It is seen across the U.S. on Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) and its digital subchannel Smile. It can also be seen ...

''. He also led the Artie Singer Orchestra. As a songwriter, music producer and orchestra conductor, Singer's most famous songs were the hits "At the Hop" and "Rock and Roll Is Here to Stay", released in 1957 and 1958, respectively. The songs were originally recorded by Danny & the Juniors. "At the Hop", which Singer co-wrote with

John Medora John L. Medora (born May 28, 1936), also known as John or Johnny Madara, is an American singer, songwriter, composer and record producer best known to have teamed up with David White and Arthur Singer to write the 1957 hit song "At the Hop". ...

and David White, reached number one on the

Billboard Top 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

on January 6, 1958, and remained there for seven consecutive weeks. It was also the number one song of the year. He wrote the score to a Broadway musical, "Dream Weavers" with lyricist Marjorie Badarak, but it was never produced.

Payola involvement

On the 2008 nationally-televised

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of ed ...

documentary ''Wages of Spin: Dick Clark, American Bandstand and the Payola Scandals'', Singer claimed that

Dick Clark Richard Wagstaff Clark (November 30, 1929April 18, 2012) was an American radio and television personality, television producer and film actor, as well as a cultural icon who remains best known for hosting ''American Bandstand'' from 1956 to 198 ...

would not play "At the Hop", the hit song Singer co-wrote, without receiving half of the publishing proceeds. Singer agreed to make the payments and called the situation "bittersweet" because although he didn't like having to give the money, he credited his success in the music industry to Clark and therefore was grateful to him.

Payola Payola, in the music industry, is the illegal practice of paying a commercial radio station to play a song without the station disclosing the payment. Under US law, a radio station must disclose songs they were paid to play on the air as spons ...

was not illegal at the time and Clark sold the song prior to the 1960 payola hearings.

Personal life

Singer was born in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

and moved to

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

, to

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...

, and eventually to

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, where he graduated from

Simon Gratz High School Simon Gratz High School Mastery Charter, formerly Simon Gratz High School is a secondary school in Philadelphia, named after Simon Gratz (1840-1925), a member of the Philadelphia Board of Education. Originally a public high school operated by the ...

. The son of a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

cantor A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. In formal Jewish worship, a cantor is a person who sings solo verses or passages to which the choir or congregation responds. In Judaism, a cantor sings and lead ...

, Singer performed at

High Holiday The High Holidays also known as the High Holy Days, or Days of Awe in Judaism, more properly known as the Yamim Noraim ( he, יָמִים נוֹרָאִים, ''Yāmīm Nōrāʾīm''; "Days of Awe") #strictly, the holidays of Rosh HaShanah ("Jewi ...

services at local synagogues for over 50 years. He was married twice. He and his first wife, Esther (Ivry), deceased, had a son, Richard, and daughter, Marcy Domosh, and two grandchildren. Singer resided in

King of Prussia, Pennsylvania King of Prussia (also referred to as KOP) is a census-designated place in Upper Merion Township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 22,028. The community took its unusual name in the 18th c ...

, when he died on May 2, 2008, at age 89.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Singer, Arthur 1919 births 2008 deaths American record producers Jewish American songwriters 20th-century American musicians 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews