Bob Hilliard

Bob Hilliard
Birth name Hilliard Goldsmith
Born January 28, 1918
New York City, New York, United States
Died February 1, 1971 (aged 53)
Hollywood, California, United States
Occupation(s) Lyricist
Years active Mid 1940s–1971

Bob Hilliard (January 28, 1918 – February 1, 1971)[1] was an American lyricist. He wrote the words for the songs: "Alice in Wonderland," "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning," "Any Day Now," "Dear Hearts and Gentle People," "Our Day Will Come," "My Little Corner of the World," ″Tower of Strength″ and "Seven Little Girls (Sitting in the Back Seat)."

Career

Born named Hilliard Goldsmith[2] in New York City, New York, and after attending secondary school, (the man popularly called) Bob Hilliard began work as a lyricist in Tin Pan Alley. At the age of 28 he wrote the song "The Coffee Song," his first successful work.[3] During his Broadway years, Hilliard wrote successful scores for both Angel in the Wings (1947) and Hazel Flagg (1953).[1] He also worked as lyricist of the film score for Alice in Wonderland (1951).[4] This included providing the words to the theme song "I'm Late" and the unused Cheshire Cat song "I'm Odd." The 1954 comedy film Living It Up included his songs "Money Burns a Hole in My Pocket" and "That's What I Like."[3]

Hilliard had later success as co-composer of the 1960s classic "Our Day Will Come."[3] The song was a No. 1 hit on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1963 for Ruby & the Romantics.[4]

In 1968, he also co-wrote "You Make Me Think About You" with Robert Mersey, the instrumental version of which was included in Doris Day's final film, With Six You Get Eggroll, but Doris Day did not sing the vocal version. That version was sung by Johnny Mathis.[5] Mathis's single (arranged and conducted by Mersey) was released by Columbia Records. The single peaked at 35 on Billboard’s Easy Listening Chart.[6]

Hilliard worked as lyricist and composer with a number of other composers and lyricists over the decades, including Burt Bacharach, Carl Sigman, Jule Styne, Mort Garson, Sammy Mysels, Dick Sanford, Milton DeLugg, Philip Springer, Lee Pockriss and Sammy Fain.[3][4]

Married to Jacqueline Dalya,[7] Hilliard was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1983.[4]

Bob Hilliard died at the age of 53, in Hollywood, California, on February 1, 1971.[1]

Song credits

Between the mid-1940s and the early 1960s,[3] Hilliard co-wrote such hits as:-

     

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Bob Hilliard | IBDB: The official source for Broadway Information". IBDB. Retrieved 2013-09-03.
  2. ↑ "Salomee (with her seven veils) From Hazel Flagg w. by Bob Hilliard, pseud. of Hilliard Goldsmith, m. by Jule Styne". Copyrightencyclopedia.com. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 Layne, Joslyn. "Bob Hilliard". Allmusic. Retrieved December 15, 2010.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "Bob Hilliard biography". Songwritershalloffame.org. Retrieved October 9, 2010.
  5. ↑ "Johnny Mathis - Those Were The Days (Vinyl, LP) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2013-10-12.
  6. ↑ "Overview for Doris Day". Tcm.com. 1922-04-03. Retrieved 2013-10-12.
  7. ↑ "Biography for Jacqueline Dalya". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2013-09-03.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Doc Rock. "The 1970s". The Dead Rock Stars Club. Retrieved 2013-09-03.

External links