Carroll Coates (born 23 September 1929 in
Old Bridge, Huntingdon
The Old Bridge in Huntingdon (now part of Cambridgeshire, England) is a well-preserved medieval stone bridge over the River Great Ouse, connecting Huntingdon to Godmanchester.
History
The town has long been an important bridgehead, with ...
, England) is a songwriter, composer and lyricist whose works have been produced commercially from the 1950s to the 1990s. His songs have been recorded by
Frank Sinatra,
Carmen McRae
Carmen Mercedes McRae (April 8, 1920 – November 10, 1994) was an American jazz singer. She is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century and is remembered for her behind-the-beat phrasing and ironic interpre ...
,
Tony Bennett
Anthony Dominick Benedetto (born August 3, 1926), known professionally as Tony Bennett, is an American retired singer of traditional pop standards, big band, show tunes, and jazz. Bennett is also a painter, having created works under his bir ...
,
Sarah Vaughan,
Shirley Horn
Shirley Valerie Horn (May 1, 1934 – October 20, 2005) was an American jazz singer and pianist. She collaborated with many jazz musicians including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Toots Thielemans, Ron Carter, Carmen McRae, Wynton Marsalis and oth ...
,
Mel Tormé
Melvin Howard Tormé (September 13, 1925 – June 5, 1999), nicknamed "The Velvet Fog", was an American musician, singer, composer, arranger, drummer, actor, and author. He composed the music for " The Christmas Song" ("Chestnuts Roasting on an ...
,
Nancy Wilson and others. His jazz ballad "You'll See" has been recorded by more than a dozen artists. Coates has written at least nine songs for film, including ''
Sunday in New York''.
Biography
In 1996, he reportedly lived in the
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...
.
Following
Sarah Vaughan's death in April 1990, Coates composed a song in tribute to her, called "Sarah". In a tribute concert for Sarah Vaughan on 25 June 1991, the
Shirley Horn
Shirley Valerie Horn (May 1, 1934 – October 20, 2005) was an American jazz singer and pianist. She collaborated with many jazz musicians including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Toots Thielemans, Ron Carter, Carmen McRae, Wynton Marsalis and oth ...
Trio performed "Sarah". Reviewing the concert, ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' reported:
:Carroll Coates's affectionate tribute...praises Vaughan as one who "could do more with a melody than a hip whippoorwill." The final verse imagines Vaughan in heaven, in a quartet with
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop s ...
,
Dinah Washington
Dinah Washington (born Ruth Lee Jones; August 29, 1924 – December 14, 1963) was an American singer and pianist, who has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the 1950s songs". Primarily a jazz vocalist, she performe ...
and
Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith (April 15, 1894 – September 26, 1937) was an American blues singer widely renowned during the Jazz Age. Nicknamed the " Empress of the Blues", she was the most popular female blues singer of the 1930s. Inducted into the Rock an ...
, where instead of squabbling over roles she says to Smith, "I'm new here, you lead."
On 28 April 1996, Coates was honoured in a concert called "Songfest: A Songwriters Celebration", held in
Larkspur, California
Larkspur is a city in Marin County, California, United States. Larkspur is located south of San Rafael, at an elevation of . As of the 2020 Census, the city's population was
13,064. Larkspur's Police Department is shared with that of the n ...
. Before the event, the ''
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The pap ...
'' reported that "Coates will introduce the vocalists who will sing his songs, among them
Rebecca Parris, Faith Winthrop, Shanna Carlson, Buddy Conner and Amy Dondy."
Works
Work for film
Audio Recordings
Awards
Along with co-writers
Peter Nero
Peter Nero (born Bernard Nierow, May 22, 1934) is an American pianist and pops conductor. He directed the Philly Pops from 1979 to 2013, and has earned two Grammy Awards.
Early life
Born in Brooklyn, New York, as Bernard Nierow, he started ...
and Roland Everett, Coates was nominated for a
Golden Globe Award
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 ...
in 1964 for composing the song "Sunday in New York" for the film of the same name.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coates, Carroll
1929 births
English film score composers
English male film score composers
English lyricists
English songwriters
Jazz songwriters
Living people
British male jazz musicians
British male songwriters