December 20 is the birthday of Paul Francis Webster (1907-1984), the American lyricist who won three Academy Awards for Best Song and who was nominated for the award sixteen times. His three Academy Awards were won for "Secret Love" (1953), "Love is a Many-Splendored Thing" (1955), and "The Shadow of Your Smile" (1965). And the last of the three also won a Grammy Award for best song of the year.
Webster's first professional lyric was Masquerade (music by John Jacob Loeb) which became a hit in 1932, performed by Paul Whiteman. Webster's first hit was a collaboration in 1941 with Duke Ellington on the song "I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)". He won his first two Academy Awards in collaboration with Sammy Fain, and the third with Johnny Mandel. Altogether, sixteen of his songs received Academy Award nominations; among lyricists, Webster is second only to Johnny Mercer in number of nominations (Mercer had 18). In addition to his awards and nominations, a large number of Webster's songs became major hits on the popular music charts.
Webster is the most successful songwriter of the 1950s on the U.K. charts. In 1967 he was asked to write the famed lyrics for the Spider-Man theme song of the television cartoon ("Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can..."). Webster was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972.
-
Webster's first professional lyric was Masquerade (music by John Jacob Loeb) which became a hit in 1932, performed by Paul Whiteman. Webster's first hit was a collaboration in 1941 with Duke Ellington on the song "I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)". He won his first two Academy Awards in collaboration with Sammy Fain, and the third with Johnny Mandel. Altogether, sixteen of his songs received Academy Award nominations; among lyricists, Webster is second only to Johnny Mercer in number of nominations (Mercer had 18). In addition to his awards and nominations, a large number of Webster's songs became major hits on the popular music charts.
Webster is the most successful songwriter of the 1950s on the U.K. charts. In 1967 he was asked to write the famed lyrics for the Spider-Man theme song of the television cartoon ("Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can..."). Webster was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972.
No comments:
Post a Comment