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Mitchell Parish

 
Artist: Mitchell Parish
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Pop Artists

Formal Connection With:

Sammy Fain, Irving Mills, Duke Ellington, Peter de Rose
  • Born: July 10, 1900, Shreveport, LA
  • Died: March 31, 1993, New York, NY
  • Active: '20s, '30s, '40s, '50s
  • Genres: Vocal Music
  • Instrument: Lyricist, Composer, Songwriter

Biography

Lyricist Mitchell Parish collaborated with great American composers, including Duke Ellington, and had a long list of hit songs spanning the 1920s through the 1950s. Although he was born in Shreveport, LA, on July 10, 1900, Parish grew up in N.Y.C. and later studied at Columbia and N.Y.U. He got a job as a staff writer for a music publisher and had his first song published by the time he was in his late twenties. His first big success came in 1928 with "Sweet Lorraine." Long interested in literature and poetry, Parish became a first-rate lyricist who followed up this hit with the words for Hoagy Carmichael's "Star Dust," which became one of the top American pop songs . Parish went on to work with many other composers, including Duke Ellington and Oscar winner Sammy Fain, and collaborated with lyricist Irving Mills. His songs were used in such stage shows as Blackbirds of 1934, Blackbirds of 1939, Earl Carroll's Vanities (1940), and It Happens on Ice (1940), as well as in the 1953 film Ruby Gentry. Some of his most successful songs were "Mood Indigo" and "Corrine, Corrina" (1931), "Sophisticated Lady" (1933), "It's Wonderful" (1938), "Moonlight Serenade" (from Blackbirds of 1939), "Let Me Love You Tonight" (1944), and "All My Love" (1950). Parish also added lyrics to existing songs, as with the Leroy Anderson songs "Blue Tango" and "Sleigh Ride," Claude Debussy's "Clair de Lune" (which became "Moonlight Love" in 1956), and the Italian song "Volare" (1958). ~ Joslyn Layne, All Music Guide
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Wikipedia: Mitchell Parish
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Mitchell Parish
Birth name Michael Hyman Pashelinsky
Born July 10, 1900(1900-07-10)
Origin Lithuania
Died March 31, 1993 (aged 92)
Manhattan, U.S.A.
Occupation(s) Lyricist

Mitchell Parish (July 10, 1900 – March 31, 1993) was an American lyricist.

Contents

Early life

Parish was born Michael Hyman Pashelinsky to a Jewish family in Lithuania.[1] His family emigrated to the United States, arriving on February 3, 1901 on the SS Dresden when he was less than a year old. They settled first in Louisiana where his paternal grandmother had relatives, but later moved to New York City.

Career

By the late 1920s Parish was a well regarded Tin Pan Alley lyricist in New York City.

His best known works include the lyrics to songs such as "Star Dust", "Sweet Lorraine", "Deep Purple", "Stars Fell on Alabama", "Sophisticated Lady", "Volare" (English lyrics), "Moonlight Serenade", "Sleigh Ride", "One Morning in May", and "Louisiana Fairy Tale", which was the first theme song used in the PBS Production of This Old House.

Besides providing the lyrics to Hoagy Carmichael's "Star Dust", the two collaborated on standards such as "Riverboat Shuffle" and "One Morning in May".[2]

In 1949, Parish added lyrics to bandleader Al Goodman's tune, "The Allen Stroll", used as the theme song of The Fred Allen Show. The new song, "Carousel of Love", premiered on The Fred Allen Show on April 4, 1949. It was sung by the DeMarco Sisters and played by Al Goodman and his Orchestra.

In 1987 a revue titled Stardust was staged on Broadway featuring Parish's lyrics. It ran for 101 performances and was revived in 1999.

Parish's great nephew was the Grateful Dead roadie Steve Parish, who described Parish's meeting with Jerry Garcia in his autobiography, "Home Before Day Light".

Death

Mitchell Parish died in 1993 in Manhattan at the age of 92. He was buried in Beth David Cemetery in Elmont, New York.

Work on Broadway

References

  • Hill, Tony L. "Mitchell Parish, 1900-1993," in Dictionary of Literary Biography 265. Detroit: Gale Research, 2002.

Footnotes

  1. ^ Bloom, Nate (2006-12-19). "The Jews Who Wrote Christmas Songs". InterfaithFamily. http://www.interfaithfamily.com/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=ekLSK5MLIrG&b=297399&ct=3303147. Retrieved 2006-12-19. 
  2. ^ Holden, Stephen (1987-02-01), "Theater; Mitchell Parish: A Way With Words", New York Times, http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DEFD71E3DF932A35751C0A961948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print 

External links



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Learn More
Hits: Flirty 30's (1997 Album by Lew Raymond & His Orchestra)
The Spectacular Trumpet/By the Fireside (2005 Album by Kenny Baker/Bobby Pratt)
Visit with: Mitchell Parish - A Musical Life in Concert (1991 Music Film)

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