Sylvia Dee
Sylvia Dee (October 22, 1914 – June 12, 1967) was an American lyricist and novelist best known for penning the lyrics to Too Young, a hit for Nat King Cole, The End of the World, a hit for Skeeter Davis and Bring Me Sunshine. She also penned songs for Elvis Presley in the films Blue Hawaii and Speedway. She was born as Josephine Moore Proffitt in Little Rock, Arkansas.
She co-wrote "I Taught Him Everything He Knows" with Arthur Kent; this song was recorded by Ella Fitzgerald on her 1968 Capitol release Misty Blue.
Dee penned the words to a nonsense song that went to number 1 in 1945 called Chickery Chick. The music was written by Sidney Lippman, and it was played by Sammy Kaye's orchestra. It was quite memorable because of its nonsense lyrics, which included "Chickery chick, cha-la, cha-la". At the time of her death in New York City, she was the wife of Dr. Jere Faison, a New York gynecologist.
She was the lyricist for the 1947 Broadway musical Barefoot Boy with Cheek.
References
- Virginia L. Grattan: American Women Songwriters: A Biographical Dictionary. Greenwood Press, 1993, ISBN 9780313285103, p. 10
- David A. Jason: Tin Pan Alley: An Encyclopedia of the Golden Age of American Song. Routledge, 2003, p. 259
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