Roy Alfred (May 14, 1916 – 2008) was an American

Tin Pan Alley Tin Pan Alley was a collection of History of music publishing, music publishers and songwriters in New York City that dominated the American popular music, popular music of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Originally ...

lyricist whose successful songs included " The Hucklebuck", " Rock and Roll Waltz", " Who Can Explain?", and "

Let's Lock the Door (And Throw Away the Key) "Let's Lock the Door (And Throw Away the Key)" is a song written by Roy Alfred and Wes Farrell and was released by Jay and the Americans in 1964. The song went to No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as ...

". His first major success as a lyricist was "The Best Man", written with Fred Wise, and a hit for Nat "King" Cole in 1946. In 1949, Alfred wrote the words for "The Hucklebuck", a tune originally written as an instrumental credited to Andy Gibson, which was first recorded by Paul Williams and his Hucklebuckers. The vocal version became a hit for

Roy Milton Roy Bunny Milton (July 31, 1907 – September 18, 1983) was an American R&B and jump blues singer, drummer and bandleader. Career Milton's grandmother was Chickasaw. He was born in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, and grew up on an Indian reservation bef ...

, the

Tommy Dorsey Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. (November 19, 1905 – November 26, 1956) was an American jazz trombone, trombonist, composer, conductor and bandleader of the big band era. He was known as the "Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" because of his smooth-to ...

Orchestra, and

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...

in 1949, and was later also successful for

Chubby Checker Chubby Checker (born Ernest Evans; October 3, 1941) is an American singer and dancer. He is widely known for popularizing many dance styles, including the Twist, with his 1960 hit cover of Hank Ballard & The Midnighters' R&B song " The Twis ...

(1960) and in Britain for Coast to Coast (1981). Songs written by Roy Alfred
''MusicVF.com''. Retrieved 19 October 2015 Alfred also wrote the lyrics for "Kee-Mo Ky-Mo", written with

Bob Hilliard Bob Hilliard (born Hilliard Goldsmith; January 28, 1918 – February 1, 1971) was an American lyricist. He wrote the words for the songs: "Alice in Wonderland", " In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning", " Any Day Now", " Dear Hearts and Gentl ...

in 1949, and continued to write successfully through the 1950s and 1960s, often writing

novelty Novelty (derived from Latin word ''novus'' for "new") is the quality of being new, or following from that, of being striking, original or unusual. Novelty may be the shared experience of a new cultural phenomenon or the subjective perception of an ...

lyrics. One of his most successful lyrics was "Rock and Roll Waltz", composed by Shorty Allen and an international hit for Kay Starr in 1955. Alfred's other successes included "Wisdom of a Fool" (written with

Abner Silver Abner Silberman (28 December 1899 in New York City, New York, United States – 24 November 1966) as pen name Abner Silver, was an American songwriter who worked primarily during the Tin Pan Alley era of the craft. Career Usually composing the ...

, 1956), " That's It, I Quit, I'm Movin' On" (written with Del Serino, 1961), and "Let's Lock the Door (and Throw Away the Key)", written with

Wes Farrell Wesley Donald Farrell (December 21, 1939 – February 29, 1996) was an American musician, songwriter and record producer, who was most active in the 1960s and 1970s. Career Farrell was born in New York, United States. Farrell's catalogue incl ...

and a hit for Jay and the Americans in 1964. He set up the Jonroy music publishing company in 1988, and died in 2008.

References

External links

Discogs.com

DBoPM.com
1916 births 2008 deaths American lyricists {{US-songwriter-stub