Sylvia Dee (born Josephine Moore, October 22, 1914 – June 12, 1967) was an American lyricist and novelist best known for writing the lyrics to " Too Young", a hit for

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, " The End of the World", a hit for Skeeter Davis and " Bring Me Sunshine", which was

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's signature tune.

Biography

Dee was born in

Little Rock, Arkansas ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

and educated at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

. She was a copywriter for a newspaper in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located i ...

, and wrote a number of short stories as well as the Broadway stage scores for " Barefoot Boy With Cheek". Joining ASCAP in 1943, her musical collaborators included Sidney Lippman, Arthur Kent, Elizabeth Evelyn Moore, George Goehring, Al Frisch and Guy Wood. Dee wrote the words to a nonsense song that went to number 1 in 1945 called "Chickery Chick". The music was written by Sidney Lippman and it was played by Sammy Kaye's orchestra. Its nonsense lyrics included "Chickery chick, cha-la, cha-la". She co-wrote "I Taught Him Everything He Knows" with Arthur Kent, recorded by

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, i ...

on her 1968 Capitol release '' Misty Blue''. She co-wrote "

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" with Guy Wood, which was recorded by Sarah Vaughan on ''

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'' and

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on ''

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''. She also wrote songs for

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(" Robot Man") and

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in the films ''

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'' and '' Speedway''. Popular-song compositions also include "It Couldn't Be True", "Stardreams", "I'm Thrilled", "Have You Changed", "After Graduation Day", "Laroo Laroo Lili Bolero", "Angel Lips, Angel Eyes", "Pushcart Serenade", "A House With Love In It", "Moonlight Swim", "That's the Chance You Take", "Somebody Nobody Wants", and "Please Don't Talk to the Lifeguard". At the time of her death in

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, she was the wife of Dr. Jere Faison, a New York

gynecologist Gynaecology or gynecology (see spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, forming the combined ar ...

. She was interred in Greenwood Cemetery, Monmouth County, NJ as Josephine Proffitt Faison.

References

*Virginia L. Grattan: ''American Women Songwriters: A Biographical Dictionary''. Greenwood Press, 1993, , p. 10 * David A. Jason: ''Tin Pan Alley: An Encyclopedia of the Golden Age of American Song''. Routledge, 2003, p. 259 {{DEFAULTSORT:Dee, Sylvia 1914 births 1967 deaths Songwriters from Arkansas Writers from Little Rock, Arkansas 20th-century American musicians University of Michigan alumni