Byron Sturges Gay (August 28, 1886 – December 22, 1945) was an American songwriter. One of his best-known songs "Four or Five Times" (co–written with Marco H. Hellman) has been recorded by numerous artists including

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and more. Byron also worked with the composer Richard A. Whiting, together they wrote such songs as "Horses" and "Fire", both popular dance and comedy songs.

Personal life

Gay was born on August 22, 1886, in Illinois to Cassius Mason Gay (1862–1917) and Julia Iona Fessenden Gay (1893–1947). He had two brothers and two sisters, one of whom he outlived by four months. Gay married Ethel May Stokes (June 19, 1893 – May 1, 1947) and had one daughter. He died at age 59 of congestive heart failure on December 22, 1945, in

Tucson, Arizona Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

Stage productions

Gay wrote the music for ''The Uplifters' Minstrels'',

L. Frank Baum Lyman Frank Baum (; May 15, 1856 – May 6, 1919) was an American author best known for his children's fantasy books, particularly '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'', part of a series. In addition to the 14 ''Oz'' books, Baum penned 41 other novels ...

's 1916 stage farce for The Uplifters; he also had songs in ''The Greenwich Village Follies'' of 1919 and 1921.

Selected list of songs

* "Fate" (1921) * "Fast Asleep in Poppy Land" * "Fire!" (Byron Gay, Richard A. Whiting) (1926) * "Four or Five Times" (Byron Gay, Marco H. Hellman) (recorded in 1928 by

) * "Horses" (Bryon Gay, Richard A. Whiting) (1924) * "The Little Ford Rambled Right Along" (Byron Gay, C. R. Foster) (1914) * "

O (Oh!) "O (Oh!)" is a song written by Byron Gay and Arnold Johnson and performed by Ted Lewis and His Band. It reached No. 13 on the U.S. pop chart in 1920. Other charting versions * Pee Wee Hunt and His Orchestra released a version of the song which ...

" (Byron Gay, Arnold Johnson) (1919), (a 1953 recording by

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sold a million copies) * "Sand Dunes" (1918) * "Song of the West" * "The Vamp" (1919) * "Wide Open Spaces" (Byron Gay, Richard A. Whiting,

Paul Whiteman Paul Samuel Whiteman (March 28, 1890 – December 29, 1967) was an American Jazz bandleader, composer, orchestral director, and violinist. As the leader of one of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s and early 193 ...

) (1927)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gay, Byron 1886 births American male songwriters 1945 deaths 20th-century American male musicians