Raymond Jessel (16 October 1929 – 17 July 2015) was a Welsh songwriter,

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

orchestrator Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orch ...

, and

musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatre, theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, ...

composer. Born in Cardiff, he moved to Canada in 1955 and started a career as an orchestrator and composer for

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

and

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

. He met a Canadian pianist Marian Grudeff, who became his songwriting partner. He received five

MAC Awards The MAC Awards, established in 1986, are presented annually to honor achievements in cabaret, comedy and jazz. They are administered by the non-profit Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs (MAC), founded in 1983, and voted on by the MAC member ...

for "Original Song" and the 2004

Bistro Award Backstage is a prominent global casting platform and entertainment industry publication that connects performers, content creators, and behind-the-scenes professionals with casting directors and production teams across film, television, theate ...

. He was most recognised for his audition for ''

America's Got Talent ''America's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated as ''AGT'') is an American talent show competition, and is part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. The program is produced by Fremantle (as well as distributed by) and ...

'' in 2014 in which he sang an original song about a

transgender woman A trans woman or transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity and may experience gender dysphoria (distress brought upon by the discrepancy between a person's gender identity and their ...

. With little success in Toronto, Jessel and Grudeff moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

where they made their first success with the

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

musical, ''

Baker Street Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster in London. It is named after builder James Baker. The area was originally high class residential, but now is mainly occupied by commercial premises. The street is ...

'', in 1964.Mel Atkey.
A Million Miles from Broadway -- Musical Theatre Beyond New York and London
'. Lulu.com; 2012. . p. 137. Jessel contributed to ''

The Dean Martin Show ''The Dean Martin Show'' is a TV Variety show, variety-Television comedy, comedy series that ran from 1965 to 1974 for 264 episodes. It was broadcast by NBC and hosted by Dean Martin. The theme song to the series was his 1964 hit "Everybody Loves ...

'', ''

The Carol Burnett Show ''The Carol Burnett Show'' is an American variety/sketch comedy television show that originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 279 episodes, and again with nine episodes in fall 1991. It starred Carol Burnett, Harv ...

'', '' The Smothers Brothers Show'', ''

The Bob Newhart Show ''The Bob Newhart Show'' is an American television sitcom produced by MTM Enterprises that aired on CBS from September 16, 1972, to April 1, 1978, with a total of 142 half-hour episodes over six seasons. Comedian Bob Newhart portrays a psychol ...

'' and others. In the 1970s and 1980s he was a writer and editor for numerous episodes of ''

The Love Boat ''The Love Boat'' is an American romantic comedy-drama television series created by Wilford Lloyd Baumes that originally aired on ABC from September 24, 1977, to May 24, 1986. In addition, three TV movies aired before the regular series pre ...

'' and ''

Head of the Class ''Head of the Class'' is an American sitcom television series that ran from 1986 to 1991 on the ABC television network. The series follows a group of gifted students in the Individualized Honors Program (IHP) at the fictional Millard Fillm ...

'', among other series, and co-wrote lyrics for '' I Remember Mama'' in 1979.

Early life and career

Jessel was born and raised in

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

, where his family ran a clothing shop.
Later stages: essays in Ontario theatre from the First World War to the 1970s
'. University of Toronto Press; 1997. . p. 188, 207. He received a degree in music from the

University of Wales The University of Wales () is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff – the university was the first universit ...

. With a one-year scholarship for studying

musical composition Musical composition can refer to an Originality, original piece or work of music, either Human voice, vocal or Musical instrument, instrumental, the musical form, structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new pie ...

, he went to Paris and studied under

Arthur Honegger Arthur Honegger (; 10 March 1892 – 27 November 1955) was a Swiss-French composer who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. Honegger was a member of Les Six. For Halbreich, '' Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher'' is "more even ...

. He moved to Canada with his family in 1955 at the age of 26. He started his career as an orchestrator and composer for

and

. There he met his lifelong songwriting partner, Marian Grudeff, a Canadian pianist. Together they played active roles in orchestral and theatrical compositions. Among their first works were songs for the Toronto revue ''Spring Thaw.''Mel Atkey.
Broadway North: The Dream of a Canadian Musical Theatre
'. Dundurn; 30 October 2006. . p. 116. Their major breakthrough came when producer Alexander H. Cohen signed them to write the songs for the 1964

musical ''

'', about

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. Their next score was for a new version of ''Hellzapoppin'', based on the 1938 hit musical revue of the same name. This new musical was not a success, but its title song was recorded by

Jimmy Durante James Francis Durante ( , ; February 10, 1893 – January 29, 1980) was an American comedian, actor, singer, and pianist. His distinctive gravelly speech, Lower East Side New York accent, accent, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced son ...

and

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

. He moved to

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

and made a successful career with musicals and sketches for ''

'', ''

'', '' The Smothers Brothers Show'', ''

'', ''Comedy Factory'', and various

John Denver Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997), known professionally as John Denver, was an American Country music, country and Folk music, folk singer, songwriter, and actor. He was one of the most popular acoustic m ...

specials. He was a story editor of the

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comedy ''

'' from 1977 to 1980, and writer and consultant of ''

'' from 1986 to 1991. He wrote and produced the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

TV series ''

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''. He also co-wrote, with

Martin Charnin Martin Charnin (November 24, 1934 – July 6, 2019) was an American lyricist, writer, and theatre director. Charnin's best-known work is as conceiver, director, and lyricist of the musical '' Annie.'' Life and career Charnin was born in New Yor ...

, lyrics for '' I Remember Mama'' in 1979.

Performing career and later years

In the 1990s, Jessel began to perform comedy songs at parties. He was persuaded by

Michael Feinstein Michael Jay Feinstein (born September 7, 1956) is an American singer, pianist, and music Revivalist artist, revivalist. He is an archivist and interpreter for the repertoire known as the Great American Songbook. In 1988, he won a Drama Desk Spec ...

and Shelly Goldstein to perform his original song, ''Wanna Sing a Show Tune'', with Feinstein. The song was recorded on Feinstein's album ''Live at the Algonquin''. His first stage performance was at age 72. He performed at the Hollywood’s Gardenia Room in 2002 and developed his own cabaret act. He continued to perform cabaret until shortly before his death, appearing in June 2015 at the

Adelaide Cabaret Festival The Adelaide Cabaret Festival is an annual arts festival featuring cabaret held in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. It has been held in June each year since 2001, with the exception of 2020 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia ...

in Australia. He met Cynthia Thompson in 1980 and married her approximately ten years later. He wrote a number of songs with her. The most successful are "Whatever Happened to Melody?", which was recorded by Michael Feinstein (on ''Forever''), David Campbell (in ''Yesterday Is Now''), and by

Masters of Harmony Founded in 1985 with just a few dozen men, the Masters of Harmony is a 110-member men's chorus, based in Greater Los Angeles, California. Winner of eight consecutive gold medals (1990–2011) in international barbershop chorus competitions, the ...

(on ''California Gold Rush''); and "I'm All Right Now" on

John Pizzarelli John Paul Pizzarelli Jr. (born April 6, 1960) is an American jazz guitarist and vocalist. He has recorded over twenty solo albums and has appeared on more than forty albums by other recording artists, including Paul McCartney, James Taylor, Ros ...

's CD '' New Standards.'' They wrote scripts and songs for the

Shari Lewis Shari Lewis (born Phyllis Naomi Hurwitz; January 17, 1933 – August 2, 1998) was a Peabody awards, Peabody-winning American Ventriloquism, ventriloquist, puppeteer, children's entertainer, television show host, dancer, singer, actress, author, a ...

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

show ''

The Charlie Horse Music Pizza ''The Charlie Horse Music Pizza'' is a children's television show that was shown on PBS Kids in the United States from January 5, 1998, to January 17, 1999, with reruns continuing to air until September 3, 1999. Reruns again aired on PBJ until 2 ...

''. He was a recipient of five

for "Original Song", and the 2004

. At age 84, he auditioned for ''

'' in 2014. He performed an original comic song, "What She's Got", about a man who discovers that his girlfriend whom "I just adore ... has much more than I had bargained for" ... a

penis A penis (; : penises or penes) is a sex organ through which male and hermaphrodite animals expel semen during copulation (zoology), copulation, and through which male placental mammals and marsupials also Urination, urinate. The term ''pen ...

. The judges, the public and some publications loved it, and he qualified for the next round of the competition. The audition was viewed more than 100,000 times on YouTube overnight following his performance. Jessel did not perform on the show a second time, but the video was eventually restored to the ''America's Got Talent'' YouTube channel, where it has been viewed more than 15 million times.Jessel, Ray
"Ray Jessel: 84-Year-Old Sings a Naughty Original Song – America's Got Talent 2014"
''America's Got Talent'' on YouTube, 1 July 2014 On 17 July 2015, Jessel died of natural causes at his home in

Studio City Studio City is a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, United States, in the southeast San Fernando Valley, just west of the Cahuenga Pass. It is named after the studio lot that was established in the area by film producer Mack Sennett in 19 ...

, California.

References

External links

*
Discography at DiscogSong tracks at Allmusic"Identity Theft"
by Jessel (2014)
"Short Term Memory Loss Blues"
by Jessel (2012)
Ray Jessel's page
on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Jessel, Ray 1929 births 2015 deaths Welsh composers Welsh male composers British Ashkenazi Jews Musicians from Cardiff America's Got Talent contestants People from Studio City, Los Angeles Welsh emigrants to Canada Jewish British musicians