Songwriter . His other popular-song compositions include "Paris Is My Old Kentucky Home", "Why Try to Change Me Now", "I'm Gonna Laugh You Right Out of My Life", "The Riviera", "Isn't He Adorable?", "Early Morning Blues", "Playboy Theme", "I Walk a Little Faster", "Firefly", "You Fascinate Me So", "On Second Thought", "Tall Hopes", "El Sombrero", "One Day We Dance", "The Best is Yet to Come", "The Other Side of the Tracks", "I've Got Your Number", "Real Live Girl", "Here's to Us", "It Amazes Me", "That's My Style", "A Doodlin' Song", "When in Rome", "Pass Me By", "Pussycat", "Then Was Then, Now Is Now", "There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This", and "Where Am I Going?". He
He was a classical trained child prodigy and made his Carnegie Hall debut at age seven.
On Friday 19 November 2004 the lights in all Broadway theaters were dimmed in his honor and memory.
Father, with wife Shelby, of a daughter, Lily Cye, born in 2000.
Won three Tony Awards: in 1978, as Best Score, his music with lyrics by frequent collaborators Betty Comden and Adolph Green for "On the Twentieth Century"; in 1990, as Best Score , his music with David Zippel s lyrics for "City of Angels"; and in 1991 as Best Score , his music with lyrics by Comden and Green for "The Will Rogers Follies." In addition, he was Tony-nominated eleven other times: in 1963, as Best Composer and Lyricist with collaborator Carolyn Leigh and his music as part of Best Musical nomination for "Little Me"; in 1966, as Best Composer and Lyricist with collaborator Dorothy Fields and his music a part of Best Musical nomination for "Sweet Charity"; in 1974, as Best Score , his music with Fields lyrics, for "Seesaw"; in 1977, Best Score, his music with Michael Stewart s lyrics for "I Love My Wife"; in 1980, as Best Score with Stewarts lyrics and as a co-producer of Best Musical nominee "Barnum"; and in 1997, as Best Original Score, his music with lyrics by Ira Gasman, as Best Book with collaborators Gasman and David Newman , and as co-producer of Best Musical nominee "The Life.".
Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1981.
Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume 7, 2003-2005, pages 89-91. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2007.
His musical, "Barnum" at the Mercury Theater Chicago was nominated for a 2013 Equity Joseph Jefferson Award for Midsize Musical Production.
David Zippel and his musical, "City of Angels" at the Marriott Theatre in Chicago, Illinois was nominated for a 2015 Joseph Jefferson Equity Award for Best Musical Large Production.
