Roy C. Bennett (born August 12, 1918 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American songwriter known for the songs he wrote with Sid Tepper, which spawned several hits for Elvis Presley. Between 1945 and 1970, Tepper and Bennett published over 300 songs.
Born into an Eastern European immigrant family, as a young boy growing up in Brooklyn he befriended a newly arrived neighbor by the name of Sid Tepper. Their mutual interest in music led to a highly successful music collaboration that spanned more than twenty-five years.
Roy Bennett graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in the East New York neighborhood in Brooklyn, then he studied music at City College of New York. Although blessed with a good singing voice he chose to pursue his lifelong interest in writing words and music. However, his career plans were interrupted by World War II when he served with the United States Army Air Forces. After the war he joined ASCAP and worked as a staff writer for Mills Music Inc. (now EMI Mills Music Inc.)
Partnered with Sid Tepper, between 1945 and 1970 Bennett had close to three hundred musical compositions published. In 1948 they wrote "Red Roses for a Blue Lady" first recorded by Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians and was a No.3 hit single for vocalist Vaughn Monroe. The song has been recorded by others such as Wayne Newton, Vic Dana, Eddy Arnold and Andy Williams. Bennett and Tepper scored big again in 1951 when Rosemary Clooney recorded their composition "Suzy Snowflake." In 1955, their 1954 composition of "Naughty Lady of Shady Lane" was a top-10 hit for both Dean Martin and the Ames Brothers and the novelty song "Nuttin' For Christmas" by the Art Mooney band and singer Barry J. Gordon went to No. 6 on the music charts and was recorded by four other singers. In 1958, the popular singer and TV variety show host Perry Como had a top-10 hit with their "Kewpie Doll."
Other successful artists who recorded Bennett & Tepper songs include The Beatles, Perry Como, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Robert Goulet, Dinah Shore, Burl Ives, Eartha Kitt, Les Paul & Mary Ford, Frank Sinatra, Cliff Richard, Duke Ellington, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Marty Robbins, the Ames Brothers, Jo Stafford, Wayne Newton, and Sarah Vaughn. While these songs were very important in the music world, they prospered significantly with the onset of Rock and Roll music. They wrote fifteen songs for British superstar Cliff Richard, including his biggest selling single ever, "The Young Ones" which was also used in Richard's 1961 motion picture of the same name and two decades later in the 1982-1984 UK television series with the same title, The Young Ones. In 2002, Mr. Bennett was invited to England to meet Cliff Richard and sang "The Young Ones" with him before an audience of 12,000 people in Birmingham.
Other pop music artists who recorded their songs include Connie Francis and The Beatles but most significantly are forty-two songs recorded by Elvis Presley that appear on a number of Presley's music albums and film soundtracks.
Their collaboration ended in the 1970s when Sid Tepper suffered a heart attack and retired to Florida. Bennett remained active, and published the Choral Singer's Handbook[1] which still in print today. Fascinated by the desktop computer, he also helped create a software program called PowerMacros for WordPerfect.
In 2002, Roy Bennett and Sid Tepper were honored at ceremonies in Memphis, Tennessee by Lisa Marie Presley for their contribution to her father's success. They were also honored for having written almost half the album in Presley fans favorite, Blue Hawaii.