Philip Medley (April 9, 1916 – October 3, 1997) was an American

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

, notable for his composition "

Twist and Shout "Twist and Shout" is a 1961 song written by Phil Medley and Bert Berns (later credited as "Bert Russell"). It was originally recorded by The Top Notes, but it did not become a hit in the record charts until it was reworked by the Isley Broth ...

", which he wrote along with

Bert Russell Bertrand Russell Berns (November 8, 1929 – December 30, 1967), also known as Bert Russell and (occasionally) Russell Byrd, was an American songwriter and record producer of the 1960s. His songwriting credits include "Twist and Shout", "Piece ...

. The song was made famous by both

The Isley Brothers The Isley Brothers ( ) are an American soul group originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, that began as a vocal trio consisting of the brothers O'Kelly Isley Jr., Rudolph Isley and Ronald Isley in the 1950s. With a career spanning over seven decades, ...

and

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

. Medley also managed a music group called The Everglades composed of Jerry Hayward (Lead), Robert Leak (a.k.a. Bobby "T-Boy" Taylor of "Magnetic Touch", father of Robert Taylor Jr.), James McCauthin, David Cox, & Herbie Hancock. Phil composed and produced a song for them entitled "Limbo Lucy" in 1962 on Capitol Records. Medley also wrote " A Million to One" and co-wrote, also with Russell, "If I Didn't Have a Dime" for

Gene Pitney Gene Francis Alan Pitney (February 17, 1940 – April 5, 2006) was an American pop and country singer, songwriter, and musician. Pitney charted 16 top-40 hits in the United States, four in the top ten. In the United Kingdom, he had 22 top-40 h ...

. He was also a co-writer of the song "Killer Joe", recorded by many bands including the Rocky Fellers, the Rivieras and

the Kingsmen The Kingsmen are a 1960s American rock band from Portland, Oregon. They are best known for their 1963 recording of R&B singer Richard Berry's "Louie Louie", which held the No. 2 spot on the ''Billboard'' charts for six weeks and has bec ...

. In 1994, he played guitar for The Jeffersons at the Great Oak Farm Benefit. He wrote "Styrofoam Airplane". His niece is singer Sharon Brown, who had a top ten hit on the ''Billboard''

Hot Dance Club Play The Dance Club Songs (also known as National Disco Action, Hot Dance/Disco Club Play, and Hot Dance Club Play) was a chart published weekly between 1976 and 2020 by ''Billboard'' magazine. It used club disc jockeys set lists to determine the mos ...

chart in 1982 with the song "

I Specialize in Love "I Specialize in Love" is a song written by Lotti Golden and Richard Scher. Mixing engineer, Mixed by Tee Scott, the song was a club hit in the early 1980s when recorded by American singer Sharon Brown (singer), Sharon Brown, the niece of songwrite ...

". Whitburn, Joel (2004). ''Hot Dance/Disco 1974-2003'', (Record Research Inc.), page 46.

References

1916 births 1997 deaths American male songwriters 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians {{US-songwriter-stub