Gloria Shayne

• Genres: Spoken Word
• Instrument: Arranger, Composer, Conductor

Biography

Although composer Gloria Shayne authored a series of pop hits, she remains best known for the modern Christmastime classic "Do You Hear What I Hear?," written in collaboration with husband Noel Regney. Born Gloria Adele Shain in Brookline, Massachusetts on September 4, 1923, she earned a bachelor's degree from the Boston University School of Music, later working as a pianist, arranger and background vocalist for composers including Irving Berlin. During the late 1950s she emerged as a pop composer of considerable commercial renown, penning hits including James Darren's "Goodbye Cruel World" and Mike Douglas' "The Men in My Little Girl's Life"--after marrying Regney (a classically-trained pianist who, drafted against his will to serve alongside the Nazis during World War II, became a clandestine member of the French resistance), Shayne shifted her emphasis to writing lyrics, with her new husband composing melodies. The couple nevertheless swapped their traditional roles for "Do You Hear What I Hear?," a plea for peace written in 1962 in the midst of the Cuban Missile Crisis. First popularized by Bing Crosby, whose rendition sold in excess of one million copies, "Do You Hear What I Hear?" soon attained holiday perennial status, with subsequent recordings by artists including Robert Goulet, Gladys Knight & the Pips and Destiny's Child. Shayne and Regney divorced in 1973, with the latter passing away in 2002--after a long bout with cancer, Shayne died at her Stamford, Connecticut home on March 6, 2008. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide