Bart Howard
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Bart Howard (born Howard Joseph Gustafson) (June 1, 1915, Burlington, Iowa —February 21, 2004, Carmel, N.Y.) was the U.S. composer and writer of the famous jazz standard "Fly Me To The Moon", which was performed by (among others) Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Nancy Wilson, Della Reese, and Astrud Gilberto. It was first sung in 1954 by Felicia Sanders at the "Blue Angel" club in Manhattan where the composer became M.C. and accompanist in 1951. The song received wide exposure when Peggy Lee sang it on the Ed Sullivan Show a few years later and although the composer "lived off" this song for the rest of his life, he has forty-nine other songs to his credit (link below).
He began his career as an accompanist at the age of 16 and played for Mabel Mercer, Johnny Mathis and Eartha Kitt among others.
He is survived by a sister Dorothy Lind of Burlington, Iowa and by his companion of 58 years, Thomas Fowler.
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