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Johnny Mercer:
Moon River Johnny Mercer Sings The Johnny Mercer
Songbook (2CD)
He had a phenomenal career during which he wrote over 100
hit songs (more hits than Cole Porter, Burt Bacharach and the Beatles
combined). In 1942 he was co-founder of Capitol Records, the label that
nurtured the careers of such artists as Nat King Cole, Peggy Lee and Frank
Sinatra. He was Sinatra's favorite lyricist. Frank recorded more than 25 Mercer
songs including "Summer Wind" and "One For
My Baby."
It is said that every minute of every day, a Johnny Mercer song is being
performed somewhere around the world on radio and TV. His songs are being used
in over 400 movies. His film songs gathered 18 Academy Award nominations and he
was a four-time Academy Award Winner. His song "Hooray For
Hollywood" is heard every year at the Academy Awards. In an American Film
Institute Poll for the greatest film songs of all time, the top three were
"Over The Rainbow" ( from the Wizard of Oz. 1939 ) "White
Christmas" (from Holiday Inn 1942) and Johnny Mercer and Henry Mancini's
"Moon River" (from Breakfast at Tiffany's 1961 ).
Of all the great American songwriters, Johnny Mercer was the ONLY one who could
have made a living as a singer - and, from time to time, he did sing
professionally. During the 1940s and '50s he had his own radio show which
competed in popularity with such stars as Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra. As a recording
artist, he notched up 28 chart records and was four times number one on
Billboard's Top 100.
Johnny Mercer's career was unique. He was old enough to have been a major force
in the Tin Pan Alley and Hollywood of the 1930s and '40s yet young enough to
have competed in the 1960s and '70s with the likes of Bob Dylan, Burt Bacharach
and the Beatles. In 1974 when he was in London making these recordings and
working on a musical with Andre Previn, he received an invitation to write with
Paul McCartney but was too busy to accept. Soon after, he suffered the brain
tumour from which he died in 1976.
Over the past 75 years, every major singer has sung or recorded a Mercer song -
from Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong and Fred Astaire (in the 1930s and '40s) to
Frank Sinatra, Doris Day and Ella Fitzgerald ( in the
1950s and '60s ) to Elvis Presley, Pat Boone and Bobby Darin ( in the 1960s and
'70s ) to the present day with such artists as Robbie Williams, Westlife, Diana
Krall and Michael Buble. You'll even find Johnny represented on Susan Boyle's
new album.
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DISK #1 Moon River ,. Little Ol'
Tune, Summer Wind , Whatcha Ma Call It , Autumn Leaves, Goody Goody, That Old
Black Magic , Shooby Dooin' , Talk To Me Baby , Come Rain Or Come Shine ,
Something's Gotta Give, Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home , I'm Old Fashioned ,
It's Great To Be Alive . |
