Solid!
The encyclopedia of big band, lounge, classic jazz and space-age sounds.
Harold Arlen
Born
- February 15, 1905
- Buffalo, NY
Died
- April 23, 1986
- New York, NY
Real Name
- Hyman Arluck
Web Site
Harold Arlen
- BIOGRAPHY
- FILMOGRAPHY
- COMPOSITIONS
One of the great composers of American popular music, Harold Arlen includes among his portfolio many of the most memorable tunes of all-time. Together with such lyricists as Ted Koehler, Dorothy Fields, Yip Harburg, and Johnny Mercer, Arlen left an idelible mark on popular culture. ''Stormy Weather,'' ''Over the Rainbow,'' ''I've Got a Right to Sing the Blues,'' and ''I've Got the World on a String'' are only a small sampling of his work. George Gershwin called Arlen ''the most original of us all.''
Born into a musical family, Arlen's father was a cantor at his local synagogue. Young Harold found an interest in music at an early age. Dropping out of high school at age 15 he began playing piano at silent movie theaters and with ragtime outfits around the Buffalo area. He later formed his first group, the Snappy Trio, which later became the Southbound Shufflers, where he played piano, arranged and sang. The group played at local venues as well as on Lake Erie steamboats. He then took a job as pianist and singer with a dance band called the Buffalodians. The orchestra later moved to New York City, where it eventually broke up. Arlen remained in the city, earning a living by playing in pit orchestras, dance bands and on the vaudeville circuit. Arlen's big break came unexpectedly when lyricist Ted Koehler put words to one of his vamps. ''Get Happy,'' became a big hit, and Arlen and Koehler were hired as staff composers for Harlem's Cotton Club. There they worked with some of the top African-American artists of the era and produced many memorable hits, including the classic ''Stormy Weather.''
Arlen later went to Hollywood, where he composed for such films as The Wizard of Oz, Star-Spangled Rhythm, and the Marx Brothers vehicle At the Circus. As he grew older Arlen became increasingly unhappy with his personal life and disenchanted with both Hollywood and Broadway. Harold Arlen passed away in 1986.