Hoagy Carmichael
Hoagland Howard (Hoagy) Carmichael
November 22nd 1899 Indiana - December 27th 1981 Calif:

The year 1899 was a notable one in American music. Duke Ellington and Hoagy Carmichael were born. Hoagy Carmichael was born in Bloomington, Indiana, he was the first child of Howard Clyde Carmichael and Lida Mary Robison. After completing high school, Carmichael entered Indiana University. In 1924, Bix Beiderbecke, a young cornetist from Iowa came to Indiana University, and they became friends. It was for Beiderbecke that Carmichael wrote his first piece of music, titling it Free Wheeling, which was later retitled Riverboat Shuffle. He got a chance to record at Gennett studios, in 1927. One of the numbers he recorded in October, of that year, was a wordless original called Stardust,.. Meanwhile, he managed to secure his Bachelor's degree in 1925 and a law degree in 1926. After completing his law degree he heard a recording of his song Washboard Blues on the radio, so he gave up law for good in favour of music.
Hoagy moved to New York City and worked for a brokerage house in the day, while by night he wrote songs and made contacts, like Beiderbecke and Louis Armstrong, as well as the Dorsey brothers, Benny Goodman, Jack Teagarden, and a lyricist Johnny Mercer. Mercer and Hoagy began writing songs together, songs such as Lazy Bones which became a huge hit in 1933.
In 1929, Mills Music Company of New York published Carmichael's Stardust, still a wordless instrumental. In May of that year, Stardust was published as a song, with lyrics by Mitchell Parrish. In May, 1930, bandleader Isham Jones recorded the song, slowing the tempo and it began to climb in popularity, as more and more musicians were attracted to it.
He was now writing songs that would become jazz standards, notably Rockin' Chair (1930) and Lazy River, (1931). During the five years from 1929 to 1934, he made 36 recordings for the Victor Company, recording with some of the great talents in jazz: Louis Armstrong, Henry 'Red' Allen, Bix Beiderbecke, Benny Goodman, Mildred Bailey, and Jack Teagarden. In 1931, he was admitted to membership in the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). In 1936 he married Ruth Meinardi of Winona Lake, Indiana, and the couple had two sons, Hoagy and Randy but unfortunately the marriage broke up in 1955. He then moved to Hollywood to work for Paramount Pictures, and teamed with lyricist Frank Loesser on such songs as Two Sleepy People, (1931)., Small Fry, and Heart and Soul. After a bit part in the 1937 film Topper, Carmichael was given roles in other movies, including To Have and Have Not (1942) where Lauren Bacall introduced How Little We Know. Then followed The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Canyon Passage (1945, where his performance of Ol' Buttermilk Sky,. helped make it a hit), and Young Man with a Horn (1950). In the 1940s, his career took off as a songwriter, as a singer, as a movie actor, and as a radio star and as an author (his first book of memoirs, The Stardust Road, was published in 1946). Another song with Mercer, the 1951 film song In The Cool, Cool, Cool, Of The Evenibg,. earned them an Academy Award for best song. Several of his songs My Resistance Is Low and Winter Moon found modest success but he would have no more major successes as a songwriter. He had enjoyed a good run of more than twenty years.
In 1977, Carmichael married the actress Wanda McKay.