ASCAP Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Jack Lawrence with ASCAP Foundation President Marilyn Bergman |
Ninth Annual ASCAP Foundation
Awards Presented in New York
Lifetime Achievement Awards Presented to Songwriters
Jack Lawrence and Bob Russell
The Ninth annual ASCAP Foundation Awards ceremony and reception were held on December 2nd at the Walter Reade Theater at Manhattan's Lincoln Center. Honors were presented to a wide variety of Award, Scholarship and Fellowship recipients, all of whom benefit from programs of The ASCAP Foundation. Two Lifetime Achievement awards given to veteran songwriters Jack Lawrence and the late Bob Russell highlighted the evening.
Jack Lawrence was born in Brooklyn, New York and although he had little musical training, he began writing songs at an early age. Jack became a member of ASCAP in 1932, at the age of 20, with his first song "Play Fiddle Play," an international hit. He was the youngest member to be accepted by ASCAP at that time. Over the years he had many more hits including: "If I Didn't Care," "All or Nothing at All," "Yes, My Darling Daughter," and the Academy Award- nominated "Hold My Hand." There was also the song Jack wrote for the daughter of his attorney, Lee Eastman. The song and the girl were both known as "Linda." "Linda" topped the charts in 1947 and little Linda Eastman would grow up to marry Paul McCartney.
Jack also produced or co-produced Broadway shows, including Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music and Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean.
Jack's songs helped to launch or solidify the careers of many well-known entertainers, including Frank Sinatra, Dinah Shore, The Ink Spots, Rosemary Clooney and Bobby Darin. Most recently, Jack has completed his autobiography, They All Sang My Songs. And the new film depicting the life of Bobby Darin features one of Jack's songs in the film as well as in its title: "Beyond the Sea."
Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Bob Russell achieved so very much as a lyric writer in his abbreviated lifetime. Bob Russell passed away at the age of 56, but he filled his years with many great standards that covered a broad range of styles. He was an elegant writer and an elegant man.
A native of Passaic, New Jersey, Bob was determined to study journalism in college, but the Great Depression forced a change in plans. His first efforts in songwriting involved creating special material for nightclub acts. By 1941, he was enjoying three simultaneous entries on the hit parade – "Time Was," "Frenesi," and "Maria Elena." Two of Bob's most celebrated works began their musical lives as neglected Duke Ellington instrumentals. One was called "Never No Lament." Bob's new title and lyrics made the song a multi-million selling and enduring hit: "Don't Get Around Much Anymore." The other, "Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me," was also a Duke Ellington instrumental, "Concerto for Cootie."
In subsequent years, Bob would enjoy collaborations with Harry Warren, Bronislau Kaper, Carl Sigman, among many others. And from his pen would come such favorites as "Brazil," "Crazy He Calls Me," "Ballerina" and, toward the end of his life, two academy award-nominated collaborations with Quincy Jones, "The Eyes of Love" and "For Love of Ivy." Among the great stars to record Bob's songs are Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Bing Crosby, Tony Bennett, Eydie Gorme, Mel Torme, Aretha Franklin, Glen Campbell, Billie Holiday, Neil Diamond and The Hollies. Tragically, Bob died in 1970, not long after one of his last songs, "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother," co-written with Bobby Scott, became a worldwide hit.
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