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

King Oliver Joseph Nathan "King" Oliver (December 19, 1881 – April 8/10, 1938) was an American jazz cornet player and bandleader. He was particularly recognized for his playing style and his pioneering use of mutes in jazz. Also a notable composer, he ...

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and more. Byron also worked with the composer

Richard A. Whiting Richard Armstrong Whiting (November 12, 1891 – February 19, 1938) was an American composer of popular songs, including the standards "Hooray for Hollywood", "Ain't We Got Fun?" and "On the Good Ship Lollipop". He also wrote lyrics occasiona ...

, 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 , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

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and is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

Stage productions

Gay wrote the music for ''The Uplifters' Minstrels'', L. Frank Baum'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 C. or c. may refer to: * Century, sometimes abbreviated as ''c.'' or ''C.'', a period of 100 years * Cent (currency), abbreviated ''c.'' or ''¢'', a monetary unit that equals of the basic unit of many currencies * Caius or Gaius, abbreviated a ...

) (1914) * " O (Oh!)" (Byron Gay, Arnold Johnson) (1919), (a 1953 recording by Pee Wee Hunt 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 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 1930s, W ...

) (1927)

References

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