Mildred J. Hill
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Mildred J. Hill (June 27, 1859 - June 5, 1916) was an American songwriter, who composed one of the best-known songs in the world -- "Good Morning to All," better known as "Happy Birthday to You".
The song "Happy Birthday" was written by American sisters Patty and Mildred Hill in 1893 when they were school teachers in Louisville, Kentucky. The verse was originally intended as a classroom greeting entitled "Good Morning To All". The lyrics were copyrighted in 1935, 11 years before Patty's death, and the ownership has swapped hands in multi-million dollar deals ever since. The copyright is currently owned by Warner Communications who bought the rights for $28 million in 1985 and is scheduled to expire in 2021
[edit] Biography
Mildred J. Hall, born in Louisville, Kentucky, was the oldest of three sisters, Mildred, Patty, and Jessica. She learned music from her father, Calvin Cody, and Adolph Weidig.
Mildred Hill was a kindergarten and Sunday-school teacher, like her younger sister Patty Smith Hill. She moved into music, teaching, composing, performing, and specializing in the study of Negro spirituals. Hill and her sister were honored at the Chicago World's Fair for their work in the progressive education program at the experimental kindergarten, the Louisville Experimental Kindergarten School.
Mildred J. Hill died in Chicago, Illinois, in 1916. She is buried with her sister at Cave Hill Cemetery and Arboretum, in Louisville, Kentucky.
[edit] Happy Birthday
In 1893 while teaching at the Louisville Experimental Kindergarten School, Mildred came up with the basic melody better known as "Happy Birthday (to you)"; her sister Patty added the lyrics to "Good Morning to All." The song was first published in 1893 in Song Stories for the Kindergarten as a greeting song for teachers to sing to their students.
The "Happy Birthday to You" lyrics first appeared in 1924, as a second verse in an unauthorized publication in a songbook by Robert H. Coleman. By the mid-1930s the first verse had been dropped in performances in Broadway and the song was well-known as "Happy Birthday to You." None of these uses were compensated or even credited to the Hill sisters. Jessica Hill administered the copyright, and eventually proved the copyright to the "Happy Birthday" song in court in 1934. The song was then published and copyrighted as "Happy Birthday" in 1935. Under the 1998 Copyright Term Extension Act, the 1935 edition of "Happy Birthday" is under copyright until at least 2030, when it will enter the public domain. The copyright is currently held by Summy-Birchard Music, a subsidiary of AOL, and royalties are split between Summy-Birchard and the Hill Foundation, reportedly earning six to seven figures annually in royalties.
Hill and her sister were posthumously inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame on June 12, 1996.
