Ruth Lowe (August 12, 1914 – January 4, 1981) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

and songwriter. She composed the first ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' top 80 song "

I'll Never Smile Again "I'll Never Smile Again" is a 1939 song which became a 1940 ''Billboard'' chart-topper by Tommy Dorsey written by Ruth Lowe. It has been recorded by many other artists since, becoming a jazz and pop standard. The most successful and best-know ...

Early life

Born in Toronto but raised in

Glendale, California Glendale is a city located primarily in the Verdugo Mountains region, with a small portion in the San Fernando Valley, of Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is located about north of downtown Los Angeles. As of 2024, Glendale ha ...

, Lowe returned to her birth country of Canada as a young woman and began working as a pianist. In 1936, Lowe was working in the 'Song Shop' in Toronto when

Ina Ray Hutton Ina Ray Hutton (born Odessa Cowan; March 13, 1916 – February 19, 1984) was an American singer, bandleader, and the elder sister of June Hutton. She led one of the first all-female big bands. Biography A native of Chicago, Hutton began d ...

brought her

all-female band An all-female band is a musical ensemble, musical group in popular music that is exclusively composed of female musicians. This is distinct from a girl group, in which the female members are solely vocalists, though this terminology is not universa ...

(the

Melodears There were two independently created and independently operating groups known as the Melodears or Melo-Dears in the 1930s and 1940s, one a band, the other a vocal trio, with similar names only by coincidence. There is no known connection between th ...

) to town. Her piano player had taken ill, and Hutton was frantically trying to locate a good-looking blonde lady replacement. Lowe auditioned, and became the regular pianist in Ina Ray's band. At age 23 in 1938, Lowe married Harold Cohen, a Chicago music publicist. It was a happy marriage that only lasted one year until Cohen's death of kidney failure during an operation o in 1939. In her deep grief, Lowe returned to live in Toronto. In her apartment, she composed "

Songwriter

The song "I'll Never Smile Again" was first heard on the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is the Canadian Public broadcasting, public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a Crown corporation that serves as the national public broadcaster, with its E ...

's (CBC) radio program ''Music By Faith'', in an arrangement by Canadian musician

Percy Faith Percy Faith (April 7, 1908 – February 9, 1976) was a Canadian–American bandleader, orchestrator, composer and conductor, known for his lush arrangements of instrumental ballads and Christmas standards. He is often credited with popularizin ...

, who would soon go on to fame in the US and the world. Approximately a year later, Lowe passed a copy of the tune to a guitarist in 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 ...

band, Carmen Mastren, hoping to have Dorsey hear the tune. Dorsey initially passed on the song, giving it to

Glenn Miller Alton Glen "Glenn" Miller (March 1, 1904 – December 15, 1944) was an American big band conductor, arranger, composer, trombonist, and recording artist before and during World War II, when he was an officer in the United States Army Air Forces ...

, but then had it arranged for his young singer,

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 ...

, and the Pied Pipers. It was an early, major hit song for Sinatra. Lowe wrote the lyrics for another Frank Sinatra hit, " Put Your Dreams Away (For Another Day)". She and her son Tom Sandler wrote the song "Take Your Sins to the River" for The Travellers.

Personal life and legacy

In 1945, Lowe married Nathan Sandler and the union produced two sons, Tommy and Stephen. Lowe died of cancer in 1981. "I'll Never Smile Again" was inducted into the

Grammy Hall of Fame The Grammy Hall of Fame is a hall of fame to honor musical recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance. Inductees are selected annually by a special member committee of eminent and knowledgeable professionals from all branches of ...

in 1982. In 2020,
Until I Smile at You: How One Girl’s Heartbreak Electrified Frank Sinatra’s Fame!
', a biography written by Peter Jennings with Tom Sandler, Lowe’s son, was published by Castle Carrington Publishing. In 2021,
Ruth's Wonderful Song
', a children's book biography by Jennings, was published by Tellwell Talent. in 2022, Canadian writer and filmmaker Jamila Pomeroy optioned and began development of a screen adaptation o
Until I Smile at You

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lowe, Ruth Canadian women songwriters 1914 births 1981 deaths People from Verdun, Quebec Musicians from Montreal 20th-century Canadian pianists Melodears members Canadian expatriates in the United States 20th-century Canadian women pianists