Composers

American musical comedy composer Cole Porter was born in Peru, Indiana on June 9, 1891, into a well-to-do family. He began his musical studies at an early age with piano and violin. His first song, "Song of the Birds," was written at age ten, and soon after his mother had his next composition, "Bobolink Waltz," privately published.

Porter attended Yale, where he wrote several school songs which are still popular among Yale students and alumni. Following his graduation his wealthy grandfather persuaded him to enter Harvard Law school, but he lasted there only two years before he transferred to the School of Arts and Sciences to study music.

His first musical See America First premiered in 1916 and was a flop, closing after only 15 performances. Shortly afterwards he moved to Paris, where he enjoyed life as one of the period's famous expatriates. His inherited wealth allowed him to live a lavish lifestyle, giving many fabulous parties and entertainments. He continued his musical studies there at the Schola Cantorum, composing for musical theater and ballet.

His marriage to socialite beauty Linda Lee Thomas in 1919 lasted until her death in 1954. By the end of the decade, he began to achieve success on Broadway with Paris in 1928, followed by Fifty Million Frenchmen in 1929. In the 1930's he produced one musical comedy hit show after another, including The Gay Divorcee, Anything Goes, Jubilee, Red, Hot, and Blue, and Dubarry Was a Lady. He also wrote a number of scores for Hollywood musicals, including Born to Dance, High Society, and others.

A 1937 horseback riding accident left Porter crippled his legs and for the rest of his life he was in almost constant pain. He buried himself in work, producing Panama Hattie and Something for The Boys. After a number of slow years, his all-time greatest success, Kiss Me, Kate premiered in 1948, and ran more than a thousand performances. Silk Stockingsand Can-Can followed in the 50's.

Perhaps Cole Porter's greatest legacy is the treasure trove of songs which were introduced in his musicals, but became beloved for themselves as performed by leading vocalists of the popular concert stage. Who can forget "Begin the Beguine," "So In Love," "In the Still of The Night," "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home to," and so many others. In 1960 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by his alma mater, Yale University.

Much more reclusive after the amputation of one of his crippled legs in 1958, Cole Porter died in Hollywood in October of 1964.

"At two of the sessions following Crazy Man Crazy [Bill] Haley presented a song called Rock Around The Clock, but Dave Miller [Essex label] refused to cut it because of an ongoing dispute with James Myers, probably over the publishing assignation.

Rock Around The Clock had been written in 1953 by Max C. Freedman, a Philadelphia songwriter, already 60 years old.

The co-writer 'Jimmy DeKnight' was a WASP-y pseudonym for Myers who cut himself in for 50% of the composer credit and 100% of the publishing. After Miller refused to cut Rock Around The Clock, Myers placed it with veteran country artist Sonny Dae and the song made its inauspicious debut on Jack Howard's Arcade label in 1953.

The dispute over Rock Around The Clock and the failure of the follow-ups to Crazy Man Crazy convinced those close to Haley that they must free themselves from the Essex contract. Haley's contract came up for renewal in 1954 while Miller was in Germany working on his pet project, the 101 Strings. Using Miller's failure to exercise the renewal option on time, Myers and [Jim] Ferguson freed Haley from Essex and sought out a label that was more attuned to Haley's music.

By June 1955 Rock Around The Clock was number one