Mort Shuman

Mort Shuman ( civil Mortimer Shulman, born November 12, 1936 in New York City; † 3 November 1991 ) was an American singer and songwriter.

The first successes

Mort Shuman studied music and was a trained concert pianist; but his love was "black" R & B, which stimulated him to write songs. However, it required the encounter with the already established song - writers Doc Pomus in 1958, before he came to success in partnership with this. Both found a job in New York's Brill Building, a Mecca of pop music industry.

Shuman's first composition with Pomus was Plain Jane was for Bobby Darin in January 1959. Followed for Fabian in the same month I'm A Man, and the follow-up piece Turn Me Loose in March 1959. First big hit for most of the music composing Shuman in April 1959, the romantic A Teenager in Love for the Italo - pop group Dion and the Belmonts. Getting top placement in the U.S. pop charts was for the Drifters in September 1960, held in the Latino rhythm Save the Last Dance For Me

Due to the rising success, the management of Elvis Presley on the young team was attentive. Had Turn Me Loose still is rejected, A Mess of Blues was - taken on March 21, 1960 - tentatively still relegated to the B- side of the single Elvis It's Now Or Never. Thus began a nearly five -year partnership of the authoring teams with Elvis.

Then were Pomus - Shuman with Surrender Post the first A-side of Presley. However, the copyright of the recorded on October 30, 1960 songs already goes back to 1904, under the original Italian title Torna a Surriento ( "Come back to Sorrento " ), written by Giambattista and Ernesto de Curtis. Pomus - Shuman had this varies the score and wrote an English text. 56 -year-old cover version became the first # 1 ranking of the team for Presley in its English version. Overall, the team Pomus - Shuman 19 compositions has written ( including Viva Las Vegas, Suspicion, Little Sister, His Latest Flame ) for Presley.

Meanwhile, Fabian was honored Man ( November 1959 ), nor with Tiger (June 1959) and Hound Dog. In the same year a successful collaboration with The Drifters began. First composition of Pomus - Shuman for - subjected to strong fluctuations personnel - black vocal group was (If You Cry ) True Love, True Love in September 1959, two more hits followed, until their collaboration culminated in Save the Last Dance For Me. I Count the Tears ( December 1960 ) and Sweets for My Sweet ( September 1961 ) came in the original also of the Drifters, but were successfully gecovert two years later by the Searchers for the English market. From many other songs for other artists is still a big hit of Pomus - Shuman for Andy Williams emphasized: Can not Get Used to Losing You by February 1963 was also placed in the U.S. and UK # 2 in the charts.

Move to Europe

Pomus - Shuman settled in 1964 to England, where Shuman composed with other partners. Together with John Leslie McFarland was created for the managed by Brian Epstein and produced by George Martin Formation Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas in March 1964 Little Children, a # 1 in England. The Hollies benefited from Shuman; he co-authored with Clive Westlake in May 1964 Here I Go Again. In cooperation with Kenny Lynch was born in February 1966 for the Small Faces pop classics Sha -la -la -la -lee.

When he came in the same year on the work of Jacques Brel, he was intrigued: he spent his songs into English the following year, and even wrote in 1968 a musical about him, Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, the celebrated some success as an off- Broadway play. At the same time undertook Shuman in France, his first steps as a solo artist and had several hits, including 1973, the number one Le lac majeur. The also sung by him German -language version of the song was called Lago Maggiore in the snow, but did not chart. For this he had in June 1977 a minor hit in Germany with the title Sorrow ( # 24 ), who belonged Finding the little Englishwomen to the soundtrack of the film. For the soundtrack Shuman was nominated for the César.

After living for 15 years in Paris, Shuman moved back to London in 1986 to make in the English speaking than singing career. But the success hoped for did not materialize. In October 1988, he co-authored with Don Black the little successful musical Budgie.

Mort Shuman died in London in 1991 at the age of 54 years during liver surgery. He was inducted posthumously into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992.

Song Statistics

Together with his partner Jerome "Doc" Pomus, who mostly contributed the text, they wrote over 500 songs. Broadcast Music Incorporated According to Shuman for a total of 681 songs are registered, of which 26 alone for Elvis Presley

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