Max Charles Freedman ( Friedman; January 8, 1893 – October 8, 1962) was an American songwriter and lyricist, best remembered for co-writing the song "

Rock Around the Clock "Rock Around the Clock" is a rock and roll song in the 12-bar blues format written by Max C. Freedman and James E. Myers (the latter being under the pseudonym "Jimmy De Knight") in 1952. The best-known and most successful rendition was reco ...

" .

Background

Freedman was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, and became a radio announcer, writer and entertainer, before joining the staff of a music publishing company. Recordings of songs he wrote and co-wrote date back as early as 1919. He joined

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, broadc ...

in 1942. One of his first successes as a writer, credited as Ray Freedman, was "

Sioux City Sue "Sioux City Sue" is a 1945 song and a 1946 movie. Lyricist Ray Freedman and composer Dick Thomas wrote the song. Thomas recorded the song in February 1945 for National Records and it was a number one Country charts hit for him. The song was Th ...

", a hit record for the song's co-writer Dick Thomas in 1945, and later recorded by many others including

Gene Autry Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American actor, musician, singer, composer, rodeo performer, and baseball team owner, who largely gained fame by singing in a Crooner ...

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, comedian, entertainer and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwi ...

Bob Wills James Robert "Bob" Wills (March 6, 1905 – May 13, 1975) was an American musician, songwriter, and bandleader. Considered by music authorities as the founder of Western swing, he was known widely as the King of Western Swing (although Spade C ...

and

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...

. His other successful songs, several of which were written with Morty Berk and Frank Capano, included "Dreamy Old New England Moon", "Heartbreaker" (1947), and "Tea Leaves" (1948). Freedman is credited as co-writer of the landmark song "Rock Around the Clock" with "Jimmy DeKnight", a pseudonym used by music publisher and promoter James E. Myers.Catalog of Copyright Entries: 1953, p. 202. "We're gonna rock around the clock".
/ref> The song was copyrighted on March 31, 1953, although there is evidence that it was written in 1952. There are also claims that Freedman wrote the song in its entirety.
Accessed 12 February 2012 Myers himself confirmed this during a legal deposition in the late 1950s. Although

Bill Haley & His Comets Bill Haley & His Comets were an American rock and roll band formed in 1947 and continuing until Haley's death in 1981. The band was also known as Bill Haley and the Comets and Bill Haley's Comets. From late 1954 to late 1956, the group record ...

were supposed to be the first to record it, a dispute between Myers and Dave Miller, the owner of

Essex Records Essex Records was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1951 by Dave Miller (producer), David Miller primarily to record contemporary country and western, rhythm and blues as well as jazz and Gospel music, gospel. Jack Howard was the promot ...

, prevented Haley from doing so. The first recording of the song was made by an

Italian-American Italian Americans () are Americans who have full or partial Italians, Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeastern United States, Northeast and industrial Midwestern United States, Midwestern ...

novelty group, Sonny Dae & His Knights, on March 20, 1954 only a few weeks before Haley finally recorded it on April 12, 1954 for

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

and in 1955, the song became a no. 1 record, one of the first of the

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

era. Freedman died in 1962 at the age of 69.

References

Sources

* Dawson, Jim. ''Rock Around the Clock: The Record that Started the Rock Revolution''. Backbeat Books, 2005. * John Swenson. ''Bill Haley''. London: W.H. Allen, 1982. * Haley, John W. and John von Hoelle. ''Sound and Glory''. Dyne-American, 1990. {{DEFAULTSORT:Freedman, Max C. 1893 births 1962 deaths Songwriters from Pennsylvania Bill Haley Musicians from Philadelphia