Sid Tepper (June 25, 1918 – April 24, 2015) was an American songwriter. He is best known for his collaborations with Roy C. Bennett, which spawned several hits for

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

. Between 1945 and 1970, Tepper and Bennett published over 300 songs.

Biography

As a youth, Tepper's family moved to

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...

, where Tepper met his future musical collaborator, Roy C. Bennett. Their first hit was " Red Roses for a Blue Lady" (1948), recorded by Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians. Over the next 22 years, the songwriting team wrote for Tony Bennett, Rosemary Clooney, Peggy Lee, Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan,

Dean Martin Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor and comedian. One of the most popular and enduring American entertainers of the mid-20th century, Martin was nicknamed "The King of Cool". M ...

, and many more. Tepper and Bennett adjusted well to the advent of rock 'n roll. In 1961 their song " The Young Ones" was instrumental in boosting the career of

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...

, for whom they wrote 21 compositions. They went on to write 43 songs for Elvis Presley, the most of any songwriter, or song writing team (all related to his movies). In the 1970s Tepper suffered a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which m ...

, which necessitated the end of his songwriting partnership with Bennett. Tepper retired in Surfside, Florida. In 2002 he and Bennett were honored in Memphis for their part in Elvis Presley's career. Tepper lived in Surfside until 2004, when he moved to Williams Island in Aventura just north of the Miami area. He was honored by the town of Surfside for his works in 2008 as Sid Tepper Day. Tepper died on April 24, 2015, in

Miami Beach, Florida Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter of which sep ...

, aged 96. More about the songwriting partnership of Tepper and Bennett, including YouTube play links to many of their songs, is at this ''commemorative web site'' created in 2020.

References

1918 births 2015 deaths People from Miami Beach, Florida Songwriters from New York (state) Musicians from Brooklyn Jewish American songwriters Songwriters from Florida People from Surfside, Florida 21st-century American Jews {{US-songwriter-stub