George David Weiss

Life and work

George David Weiss was born in 1921 as the son of a Jewish family in Manhattan. He earned a degree at the Juilliard School; during the Second World War, he led a military band.

After the war, white writing arrangements for Stan Kenton, Vincent Lopez and Johnny Richards. 1946 began working with Bennie Benjamin; they wrote hits for Perry Como ( Surrender, 1946), Frankie Carle ( Rumors Are Flying, 1946), Frank Sinatra (Oh, What It Seemed to Be, 1946), Patti Page ( Confess, 1948), Kay Starr ( Wheel of Fortune, 1952). 1952 White wrote the text to George Shearing Lullaby of Birdland. The late 1950s and in the 60s Weiss was involved in several Broadway productions; most successful was designed for Sammy Davis Jr. Musical Mr. Wonderful ( 1956-57 ).

1961 wrote George David Weiss, Luigi Creatore and Hugo Peretti with Can not Help Falling in Love for Elvis Presley. The song was intended for the music film Blue Hawaii. In the same year he worked with the South African Peretti and Creatore song Mbube, had a hit with The Tokens under the title The Lion Sleeps Tonight. In the 1970s, the collaboration yielded two hits for The Stylistics (Let's Put It All Together, Thank You Baby ). 1967 White wrote with Bob Thiele for Louis Armstrong song What a Wonderful World.

White from 1982 to 2000, President of the Songwriters Guild of America ( professional association for songwriters ), 1984 he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

White was married three times; of the marriages were born two sons and a daughter.