Hoagy Carmichael

Hoagy Carmichael ( born November 22, 1899 in Bloomington, Indiana, † December 27, 1981 in Rancho Mirage, California; actually Hoagland Howard Carmichael ) was an American composer, pianist, actor and singer.

Life

Carmichael grew up in poverty. His father was a laborer and moved the family again and again looking for a job through the Midwest. But the center of the family remained Bloomington, where his mother, Lida was the piano, which adds earned by playing in cinemas and on university dance balls money. In his own words Ragtime was his lullaby. Carmichael studied law in 1920 Science at Indiana University Bloomington, but already played casually in his own band ( Carmichael's Collegians ) - the jazz fever had gripped him since he 1919 in Indianapolis, where the family had moved in 1916, the Louie -Jordan- band had heard. 1916 brought him the pianist Reginald DuValle at improvising. A turning point came in 1922 when he heard Bix Beiderbecke, who inspired him to compose himself and a close friend was. In 1926, he received his law degree and worked briefly as a lawyer in West Palm Beach in Florida.

After moderate success with Washboard Blues (1927 from Whiteman Orchestra played) and Riverboat Shuffle ( Carmichael initially called Freewheeling ), which he wrote for Beiderbecke, he tried his luck in 1929 in New York, but first had to be smaller bond salesman for Wall Street keep brokers afloat.

The breakthrough came in 1930, when jazz greats like Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and the Dorsey brothers that he composed Standards Georgia on My Mind, Lazy River and Rockin 'Chair took up (and of course be first in October 1927 recorded with his band Stardust ). In the 1930 Carmichael was even with the new medium of radio and numerous recordings for the Victor label then leading a star. He teamed up with lyricist Johnny Mercer together, and both had a big hit in 1933 with Lazy Bones.

In 1936 he went to Hollywood, where he also appeared in films such as To Have and Have Not (1942, with Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart, Carmichael as a piano player, with songs like How little we know, Hong Kong blues ) occurred and The Best Years of Our Lives (1946 ). With his composition "Two Sleepy People " who sang Bob Hope and Shirley Ross in the musical Thanks for the Memory, 1938 saw him in a duo with Ella Logan chart success, the Bob Crosby and Fats Waller repeated once. In 1946, he had three hits in the Top Four and received its own radio show, and he also appeared in this year in the Western dramatic fire on the horizon, where the value written by him and John Brooks song Ole Buttermilk Sky received an Oscar nomination. In 1951, he won an Oscar for Mercer In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening. Also in 1951 he succeeded his only hit in the UK with the title My Resistance Is Low, the number 1 on the singles charts reaching. With The Saturday night review it had its own TV show. 1959/60 he played the " Jonesy " in the Western TV series At the foot of the Blue Mountains.

He continued to write songs, published in 1971 a song book for children ( Hoagy Carmichael Music Store ), played golf and collected coins. In 1981, he died after a heart attack at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage.

1936 to 1955 he was married to Ruth Meinardi, with whom he had two sons.

Others

With Mercer, he tried again in 1939 in the musical business. Walk with Music but was not a great success.

In 1950, he also starred in the film biography of his friend Bix Beiderbecke, who died in 1931 Young Man With a Horn with.

Ian Fleming described the character he invented the secret agent James Bond as Hoagy Carmichael similar sight.

Compositions (selection )

• Rockin 'Chair
• Stardust, 1927 ( lyrics by Mitchell Parish )
• Georgia on My Mind, 1930
• I Get Along Without You Very Well ( Except Sometimes ), 1939
• Hong Kong Blues, 6th place in August 1945 (USA)
• Huggin 'and Chalkin ', 1st place in November 1946 (USA)
• Skylark (1942 )
• Lazy Bones (1933 )
• Up the Lazy River ( 1931)
• Heart and Soul
• The Nearness of You

Discography (selection)

• Hoagy Sings Carmichael, 1956 ( with Art Pepper )
• The classical Hoagy Carmichael 1988 ( Edited by Smithsonian Institution, Indiana Historical Society )