Mort Shuman My brother-in-law |
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Shuman, Mortimer [„Mort“] (12/11/1936-2/11/1991) Mein Schwager Mort Shuman About Mort Shuman Brooklyn born Mort Shuman inherited from his parents a passion for art
and music, he studied philosophy at school, but dispite winning a place
at the city college of New York Mort wasted little time in pointing himself
towards a career in the music business and began writing songs. He identified
with the city's black community and moved up to live in Harlem. When Mort
was barely 16 he met 31 year old Doc Pomus, a singer of some repute around
the spots on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village. Pomus was also a songwriter
and in him Mort found a soulmate. Pomus became Mort's friend and mentor
and they began writing songs together despite the 15 year age differential
between them.
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Shuman, Mortimer [„Mort“] (1936-1991)
Mort(imer) Shuman est né à Brooklyn en 1938 au sein d'une
famille originaire de Pologne. La mixité raciale et culturelle de
ce quartier pauvre de New York forme la véritable éducation
musicale d'un jeune homme que la musique attire depuis toujours. Son ami
Doc Pomus (paroles) et lui (musiques) se font vite connaître en écrivant
des hits pour des vedettes pop et rock, dont le King Presley en personne
!
Ses chansons sont de gros succès, en particulier "Le lac majeur" : Initialement boudé par les radios qui trouvent le titre trop long, la demande est telle qu'elles se trouvent bientôt contraintes de le diffuser. Les enregistrements se succèdent mais Mort Shuman, timide et préférant se concentrer sur la composition, apparaît relativement peu sur scène. Artiste doué et généreux, il disparaît en 1991, à seulement 54 ans, des suites d'une opération du foie. Une santé de porcelaine pour un talent majeur.
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b. 12 November 1936, Brooklyn, New York, USA, d. 2
November 1991, London, England. After studying music, Shuman began
writing songs with blues singer Doc
Pomus in 1958. Early in 1959 two of their songs were Top 40 hits:
"Plain Jane" for Bobby
Darin, and Fabian's
"I'm A Man". During the next six years, their catalogue was
estimated at over 500 songs, in a mixture of styles for a variety of
artists. They included "Surrender", "Viva Las
Vegas", "Little Sister" and "Kiss Me Quick" (Elvis
Presley), "Save The Last Dance For Me", "Sweets
For My Sweet" and "This Magic Moment" (the Drifters),
"A Teenager In Love" (Dion
And The Belmonts), "Can't Get Used To Losing You" (Andy
Williams), "Suspicion" (Terry
Stafford), "Seven Day Weekend" (Gary
"U.S." Bonds) and "Spanish Lace" (Gene
McDaniels). Around the time of the team's break-up in 1965,
Shuman collaborated with several other writers. These included John
McFarland for Billy
J. Kramer's UK number 1, "Little Children", Clive
Westlake for "Here I Go Again" (the Hollies),
ex-pop star Kenny Lynch, for "Sha La La La Lee" (Small
Faces), "Love's Just A Broken Heart" (Cilla
Black), producer Jerry Ragovoy for "Get It While You
Can" and "Look At Granny Run, Run" (Howard
Tate) --------- Subsequently, Shuman moved to Paris, where he
occasionally performed his own one-man show, and issued solo albums such
as Amerika and Imagine ..., as well as writing several
songs for Johnny Halliday. In 1968 Shuman translated the lyrics
of French composer Jacques
Brel; these were recorded by many artists including Dusty
Springfield, Scott
Walker and Rod
McKuen. Together with Eric Blau, he devised, adapted and wrote
lyrics for the revue Jacques Brel Is Alive And Well And Living In Paris.
Shuman also starred in the piece, which became a world-wide success. In
October 1989, Budgie, a musical set in London's Soho district,
with Shuman's music and Don Black's lyrics, opened in the West
End. It starred former pop star, turned actor and entrepreneur, Adam
Faith, and UK soap opera actress, Anita Dobson. The show closed
after only three months, losing more than £1,000,000. Shuman wrote
several other shows, including Amadeo, Or How To Get Rid Of It,
based on an Ionesco play, a Hong Kong portrayal of Madame Butterfly
and a reworking of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt
Weill's opera Aufstieg Und Fall Der Stadt Mahogonny. None
has yet reached the commercial theatre. After undergoing a liver
operation in the spring of 1991, he died in London. While either on his own, or teamed with songwriting partner Doc
Pomus, Mort
Shuman has authored some of the most lasting songs in pop music, including
"Save the Last Dance For Me" and "Teenager in Love." Born in
Brooklyn to Jewish immigrant parents, ShumanRuth
BrownShuman
started penning lyrics at 18 and found success when his songs such as
"Surrender" were recorded by Elvis.
In 1958 the songwriter met fellow white r&b devotee Doc
Pomus and the two took up residence in a small Greenwich Village flat,
forming a successful songwriting partnership. Together the duo signed on as
writers at the Brill Building, penning hits for the Drifter's ("Save the
Last Dance For Me" and "Sweets For My Sweet"), Elvis
("Little Sister") and Dion and the Belmonts ("Teenager in
Love"). Those early '60s songs represented the zenith of Shuman's creative
output ("...Last Dance" alone has been played across the airwaves over
4 million times), but the songwriter continued to write for Janis
Joplin, Andy
Williams and the Small Faces, among others. In 1966 Shuman
had somewhat of an epiphany when he heard the work of Belgian composer Jacques
Brel. He immediately moved to France and began translating Brel's work into
english. In the early '70s he wrote and directed a musical around his
translations of Brel's
songs and titled it Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Livin
studied at the New York Conservatory, but felt rejected and alienated by his
peers in Brooklyn. Identifying with the Black Community in Harlem, Shuman's true
musical education came within the area's raucous r&b clubs, where he soaked
up the sounds of and others. g in Paris. ShumanShuman
died at the age of 52 in a London hospital from complications due to a liver
operation. ~ Steve Kurutz, All Music Guide
also became a star in his own right in France when several of his French
language songs (filtered through a New York accent) became hits. In 1991,
shortly before undertaking a musical based on his life, |
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My name is Mortimer My name is Mortimer
My name is Mortimer
Please call me Mortimer
Pour poor old Mortimer
My name is Mortimer
My name is Mortimer My name is Mortimer Poor old Mortimer I will sing you of my life,
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