Sunny Skylar, 95; prolific songwriter; co-wrote "Besame Mucho", "Amor Amor", "Love Me With All Your Heart", many others
MDB1...@hotmail.com
SUNNY SKYLAR, one of the last surviving 'Tin Pan Alley' songwriters
and a former big band vocalist, died on February 2. He was 95
Born Selig Shaftel in Brooklyn, N.Y. Oct. 11, 1913, Sunny Skylar was
the composer and/or lyricist if more than 300 songs, dozens of them
standards.
Capable of writing both lyrics and music, in this capacity he wrote
some memorable songs, such as "Don't Wait Too long" recorded by Frank
Sinatra for his milestone "September of My Years" album, and "Gotta Be
This or That", recorded by, among others, Ella Fitzgerald for her
"Ella Swings Lightly" album. As Sinatra and Ella were considered by
many music historians the greatest male/female vocalists of the
twentieth century, this alone would have been enough to make any
songwriter proud.
But Sunny Skylar's most enduring songs and distinction would be as the
songwriter who wrote English lyrics to some of the biggest songs of
foreign origin, most notably Mexico.
Mr. Skylar supplied the English lyrics for such classic standards as
Consuelito Velasquez's "Besame Mucho", Gabriel Ruiz's "Amor Amor
Amor", both huge hits in the 1940s as recorded by Jimmy Dorsey and
covered by hundreds of vocalists ever since. They became a staple for
singers who recorded Latin albums, much as Irving Berlin's "White
Christmas" was a sure pick for singers who recorded Christmas albums.
In 1961, brothers Carlos and Mario Rigual's "Cuando Calienta el Sol",
became a hit record in Mexico. Given a new title by Skylar, it became
"Love Me With All Your Heart". The "Ray Charles Singers" would make
this one of their biggest selling records.
Mr. Skylar also added English lyrics to songs which originated in
other countries: French composer Michel Polnareff's "Ame Caline" is
perhaps better known in Skylar's title "Soul Coixing", while another
composition by Dutch composer Jean Senn became "Watching The World Go
By". "Love Me With All Your Heart" and "Soul Coixing", a hit in the
late '60s, gave Skylar, with only a few other songwriters such as
Sammy Cahn and Johnny Mercer, the distinction of being a 'Tin Pan
Alley' writer to have major hits in the Beatles/British Rock dominated
1960s.
Skylar's songwriting even extended to adding English lyrics to music
from the classics: based on Italian opera composer Leoncavallo's
"Mattinata", "You're Breaking My Heart" was a hit for Vic Damone in
1949.
As a performer, Sunny Skylar sang with such bands as Ben Bernie, Paul
Whiteman, Abe Lyman and Vincent Lopez. He performed at such renowned
clubs as The Latin Quarter, and upon moving to Las Vegas, The Flamingo
and El Rancho.
Other notable songs written or co-written by Sunny Skylar included
"Hair of Gold, Eyes of Blue", "And So To Sleep", the latter a hit for
Patti Page, and "Carnaval In Costa Rica". "Be Mine Tonight" for which
Skylar provided English lyrics to Agustin Lara's "Noche de Ronde", was
also a major hit. Skylar had been a member of ASCAP since 1942.
A widower, Sunny Skylar is survived by five children, ten
grandchildren, one great-grandchild, a sister, and a brother, Arthur
Shaftel, who was a musician and bandleader.
AndrewJ
> Alley' writer to have major hits in the Beatles/British Rock dominated
> 1960s.
The Beatles actually recorded 'Besame Mucho' in their early days when
it was already a standard.
And Skylar wound up outliving both John and George.
-- Andrew
La N.
> Las Vegas, Nev.
>
>
Okay, so now I have the song Besame Mucho looping in my head.
Must. Get. Margarita. Now.
- nilita
AndrewJ
Allan Sherman spoofed the song with "Bela Lugosi" -- and Skylar
outlived HIM by over 35 years...
bway...@gmail.com
> it was already a standard.
>
> And Skylar wound up outliving both John and George.
>
> -- Andrew
Actually, The Beatles performed it at their January 1962 audition for
Decca Records, but they never recorded or released it after they were
signed to Parlophone. The reason, according to Paul McCartney: their
producer George Martin didn't like it.
-Tim
R H Draney
>
>On Feb 18, 4:21=A0pm, AndrewJ <ajmil...@cavtel.net> wrote:
>> The Beatles actually recorded 'Besame Mucho' in their early days when
>> it was already a standard.
>>
>> And Skylar wound up outliving both John and George.
>Actually, The Beatles performed it at their January 1962 audition for
>Decca Records, but they never recorded or released it after they were
>signed to Parlophone. The reason, according to Paul McCartney: their
>producer George Martin didn't like it.
To be fair, they didn't like his tie....r
--
"You got Schadenfreude on my Weltanschauung!"
"You got Weltanschauung in my Schadenfreude!"
La N.
Postscript: This happens every time I get a song in my head. I seem
to attract it in some way, shape, or form. Went to the Palm Springs
Street Festival tonight and my ears were greeted by the feature band
singing "Besame Mucho".
- nilita, who refuses to return to Canada until the snow goes away ....