Donald Wolf
Donald Wolf, also known as Donald E. Wolf and Don Wolf is a jazz and pop lyricist and composer credited on over 300 recordings,[1] including a number of top 100 charting songs, mainly in the US though with some success in the UK, including Love Is All We Need, which peaked at #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1958 for Tommy Edwards,[2] Azure-Te which reached number 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in September 1952 when sung by Frank Sinatra,[3] and Exclusively Yours sung in 1961 by Mark Wynter that reached #32 in the UK charts.[4]
Biography
New York Daily News described Wolf as an ex-GI in January 1947.[5] Wolf started working for Ted Steele as an administrative assistant at WMCA in June 1949.[6] Wolf supervised the pop music department at Merrymount Music Press in the 1950s,[7] a music publisher in New York[8] whose catalog was acquired by Mercury Music Corporation, and then in 1969 by Theodore Presser.[9] He married Nancy Cook, an executive at Macy's, on February 14, 1960.[10]
Works
Wolf's lyrics include:
- Love Is All We Need, a song written jointly with Ben Raleigh sung by Tommy Edwards which in December 1958 peaked at #15 during its four month ranking on the Billboard Hot 100.[2] also sung by Jimmy Breedlove of The Cues and others,[11] Vic Dana got to #53 with the same song in 1964.[12], Mel Carter reaching #58 with it in 1966.[13]
- Azure-Te (Paris Blues), a song written for a Wild Bill Davis tune, first recorded in April 1952 by the Tympany Five, subsequently a minor hit for Frank Sinatra which reached #30 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in September of the same year,[3][14] also sung by Nat King Cole among others,[15] including Karrin Allyson who named her third album after the song, and was also featured in the musical "Five Guys Named Moe".
- Exclusively Yours, a song recorded by English singer Mark Wynter that reached #32 in the UK charts in June 1961,[4] following Carl Dobkins Jr. who reached #75 in the US in May 1960.[16]
- The jazz standard "Until I Met You (Corner Pocket)" sung by Sarah Vaughan with Count Basie,[17][18] Tony Bennett (1963-02-18), Marvin Gaye and Mary Wells (1964 Motown), Diane Schuur,[19] The Four Tops,[20] The Manhattan Transfer (who won the 1982 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Duo or Group singing the song), Joe Williams. (NB this is not the Judy Rodman song from 1986)
- Let's be lovers, recorded in April, 1958 by The Playmates, charted at #87 in the US,[21]
- Majesty of Love, a duet recorded by Marvin Rainwater and Connie Francis, peaked at #93 and sold over a million copies in 1957,[22]
- Gyp The Cat with Bobby Darin,[23][24]
Two of his songs have subsequently been used in film:
- Now He Tells Me, composed with Alan Brandt, performed by the King Cole Trio in the 1948 film Killer Diller,[25]
- Sleep Walk, sung by Betsy Brye in 1959, with Wolf's lyrics set to the Santo & Johnny instrumental Sleep Walk, was used in the 2013 film The Conjuring.[26]
Wolf also wrote lyrics for the title songs of the 1964 film Fate Is the Hunter, in collaboration with Jerry Goldsmith,[27] and the 1965 film John Goldfarb, Please Come Home! composed by John Williams and sung by Shirley MacLaine.[28]
References
- ↑ "Don Wolf". Discogs.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "The Hot 100 Chart week of December 22, 1958". Billboard.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lonergan, David F. (2005). Hit Records, 1950-1975. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-5129-0. Search this book on
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 British Hit Singles & Albums. Guinness. 2005. p. s-56. ISBN 978-1-904994-00-8. Search this book on
- ↑ "Daily News from New York, New York on January 14, 1947 · 504". Newspapers.com.
Dick has chosen -Get A Pin-Up Girl", written by ex-G.I. Don Wolf, as his theme song on his daily program at 9:45 A.M. over WNEW. Monday thru Friday.
- ↑ The Billboard (PDF). 11 June 1949. p. 40. Search this book on
- ↑ Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 31 October 1953. p. 16. Search this book on
- ↑ Friskin, James; Freundlich, Irwin. Music for the Piano: A Handbook of Concert and Teaching Material from 1580 to 1952. Courier Corporation. p. 424. ISBN 978-0-486-22918-8. Search this book on
- ↑ "Presser". Grove Music Online. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.22310. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
- ↑ "The Cash Box, Music" (PDF). World Radio History. 13 February 1960. p. 24.
- ↑ "Cover versions of Love Is All We Need by Jimmy Breedlove". SecondHandSongs.
- ↑ "Don Wolf - Top Songs as Writer". www.comicsvf.com. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
- ↑ "The Hot 100 Chart". Billboard.
- ↑ "Azure-te (Paris blues)". WorldCat. Columbia. 1952.
- ↑ "Cover versions of Azure-Té (Paris Blues) written by Don Wolf". SecondHandSongs.
- ↑ "The Hot 100 Chart". Billboard.
- ↑ "Until I Met You". Rockol.
- ↑ "Jazz Standards Songs and Instrumentals (Until I Met You (Corner Pocket))". www.jazzstandards.com. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
- ↑ "Diane Schuur (Ft. Count Basie Orchestra) – Until I Met You (Live)". Retrieved 9 May 2021.
- ↑ "The Four Tops – Until I Met You". Genius. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
- ↑ "The Playmates". Music Finder. 2014-09-11.
- ↑ Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. p. 95. ISBN 0-214-20512-6. Search this book on
- ↑ "Don Wolf playlist". WQXR. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
- ↑ "Gyp The Cat (Remastered)". JioSaavn. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
- ↑ "Killer Diller - Pop Culture Cross". POPisms. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
- ↑ "Sleep Walk - Song recorded by Betsy Brye". The Sheet Music Warehouse. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
- ↑ Office, Library of Congress Copyright (1967). Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series. p. 1398. Search this book on
- ↑ "The John Williams Collection". www.jw-collection.de. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
External links
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