- Born
- Died
- Birth nameSeymour Kaufman
- Songwriter ("Witchcraft", "Big Spender", "Hey, Look Me Over"), composer and pianist, educated at the High School of Music and Art and the New York College of Music. He also studied with Rudolph Gruen (on scholarship) and Adele Marcus. He gave his first piano recitals at age six in Steinway Hall and Town Hall in New York. Later, he led his own trio and soloed in night clubs and hotels, and on television, and he made many records. He wrote the Broadway stage scores for "Wildcat", "Little Me", and "Sweet Charity", and wrote songs for "Murray Anderson's Almanac". He has also written music for industrial films and productions. He joined ASCAP in 1953, and his chief musical collaborators included Carolyn Leigh, Joseph Allen McCarthy, Bob Hilliard, Peggy Lee, and Dorothy Fields. His other popular-song compositions include "Paris Is My Old Kentucky Home", "Why Try to Change Me Now", "I'm Gonna Laugh You Right Out of My Life", "The Riviera", "Isn't He Adorable?", "Early Morning Blues", "Playboy Theme", "I Walk a Little Faster", "Firefly", "You Fascinate Me So", "On Second Thought", "Tall Hopes", "El Sombrero", "One Day We Dance", "The Best is Yet to Come", "The Other Side of the Tracks", "I've Got Your Number", "Real Live Girl", "Here's to Us", "It Amazes Me", "That's My Style", "A Doodlin' Song", "When in Rome", "Pass Me By", "Pussycat", "Then Was Then, Now Is Now", "There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This", and "Where Am I Going?". He- IMDb Mini Biography By: Hup234!
- SpouseShelby Brown(1997 - November 18, 2004) (his death, 1 child)
- He was a classical trained child prodigy and made his Carnegie Hall debut at age seven.
- On Friday 19 November 2004 the lights in all Broadway theaters were dimmed in his honor and memory.
- Father, with wife Shelby, of a daughter, Lily Cye, born in 2000.
- Won three Tony Awards: in 1978, as Best Score, his music with lyrics by frequent collaborators Betty Comden and Adolph Green for "On the Twentieth Century"; in 1990, as Best Score (Musical), his music with David Zippel's lyrics for "City of Angels"; and in 1991 as Best Score (Musical), his music with lyrics by Comden and Green for "The Will Rogers Follies." In addition, he was Tony-nominated eleven other times: in 1963, as Best Composer and Lyricist with collaborator Carolyn Leigh and his music as part of Best Musical nomination for "Little Me"; in 1966, as Best Composer and Lyricist with collaborator Dorothy Fields and his music a part of Best Musical nomination for "Sweet Charity"; in 1974, as Best Score (Musical), his music with Fields' lyrics, for "Seesaw"; in 1977, Best Score, his music with Michael Stewart's lyrics for "I Love My Wife"; in 1980, as Best Score with Stewart's lyrics and as a co-producer of Best Musical nominee "Barnum"; and in 1997, as Best Original Score, his music with lyrics by Ira Gasman, as Best Book (Musical) with collaborators Gasman and David Newman, and as co-producer of Best Musical nominee "The Life.".
- Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1981.
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