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Norman Gimbel

Norman Gimbel (November 16, 1927 – December 19, 2018) was an American lyricist and songwriter of popular songs and themes to television shows and films. He wrote the lyrics for songs including "Ready to Take a Chance Again" (with composerCharles Fox) and "Canadian Sunset". He also co-wrote "Killing Me Softly With His Song". He wrote English-language lyrics for many international hits, including "Sway", "Summer Samba", "The Girl from Ipanema", "How Insensitive", "Drinking-Water", "Meditation", "I Will Wait for You" and "Watch What Happens". Of the movie themes he co-wrote, five were nominated forAcademy Awards orGolden Globe Awards or both, including "It Goes Like It Goes", from the filmNorma Rae, which won theAcademy Award for Best Original Song for 1979. Gimbel was inducted into theSongwriters Hall of Fame in 1984.

Norman Gimbel
Born(1927-11-16)November 16, 1927
New York City, U.S.
DiedDecember 19, 2018(2018-12-19) (aged 91)
EducationBaruch College,Columbia University
Occupation(s)Lyricist, songwriter
Spouses
  • Elinor Rowley (divorced)
  • Victoria Carver (divorced)
Children4
AwardsAcademy Award for Best Original Song (1980)

Background

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The Tennessee Wig-Walk sheet music cover, published byFrancis, Day & Hunter Ltd. in 1953

Gimbel was born on November 16, 1927, inBrooklyn, New York City, the son of Lottie (Nass) and businessman Morris Gimbel.[1][2][3] His parents were Jewish immigrants from Austria.[4][5] He studied English atBaruch College andColumbia University.[4]

Career

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Early successes

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Gimbel was self-taught in music and following initial employment with music publisher David Blum, progressed to become a contract songwriter with Edwin H. Morris Music. He wrote the lyrics for the song "Tennessee Wig Walk" (aka "The Tennessee Wig-Walk"), composed byLarry Coleman and recorded byBonnie Lou in 1953. Small successes and moderate fame came as a result of lively novelty songs "Ricochet", which was popularized in a 1953 recording byTeresa Brewer from which was developed the 1954Judy Canova filmRicochet Romance, and "A Whale of a Tale", sung byKirk Douglas in another 1954 production,Disney's20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Greater success was earned withDean Martin's recording of "Sway", for which Gimbel wrote English lyrics for the song, which was originally in Spanish.[4] It reached #6 on theUK Singles Chart, followed by his first big success,Andy Williams' rendition of "Canadian Sunset", which scored a #1 in 1956.

Two Broadway musicals

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Top songwriterFrank Loesser became Gimbel's mentor and, through Loesser, he met composerMoose Charlap with whom he wrote the first of his numerous songs to appear in films, "Past the Age of Innocence", from the 1951Monogram musical,Rhythm Inn.

At the end of the decade, he collaborated with Charlap on the onlyBroadway musicals for which he wrote lyrics,Whoop-Up andThe Conquering Hero.[4]Whoop-Up opened at theShubert Theatre on December 22, 1958, and, despite some encouraging reviews, ended after a disappointing 56 performances on February 7, 1959.

The opening night ofConquering Hero was almost two years later, on January 16, 1961. Ultimately,Hero fared even worse thanWhoop-Up, closing on January 21, after only 7 performances.

English lyrics for foreign songs

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In 1963, Gimbel was introduced by music publisherLou Levy to a group of young Brazilianbossa nova composers, includingAntônio Carlos Jobim,Luiz Bonfá andBaden Powell, for whose works he started writingEnglish-language lyrics, the kind of work he had previously done for "Sway". Most notably, he created the lyrics forMarcos Valle's "Summer Samba," also known as "So Nice", as well as Jobim's "How Insensitive", "The Girl from Ipanema" (turning it into a top hit forAstrud Gilberto) and "Meditation", which has gained the status of a "classic" in the jazz and bossa nova genres. He also provided the lyrics for French composersMichel Legrand (two themes fromThe Umbrellas of Cherbourg—"Watch What Happens" and theOscar-nominated "I Will Wait for You"),[4]Eddy Marnay and Emil Stern ("Amazing") and singer-composerGilbert Bécaud ("You'll See" and other songs). He also provided the lyrics for Belgian jazz harmonica playerToots Thielemans ("Bluesette")."Only Love" sung byNana Mouskouri – No 2 United Kingdom (performed in a Command Performance for the Queen Mother).

Career as a lyricist of film songs and TV themes

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In October 1968, Norman Gimbel moved to Los Angeles, where he became active in film and television.[4] Among the Hollywood composers with whom he worked wereElmer Bernstein,Bill Conti,Jack Elliott,Charles Fox,Dave Grusin,Maurice Jarre,Quincy Jones,Fred Karlin,Francis Lai,Peter Matz,Lalo Schifrin,David Shire andPatrick Williams.

Gimbel received fourGolden Globes nominations, the first of which was for the song "Circles in the Water," with music byFrancis Lai), written for the American distribution of the 1967 French filmLive for Life, while the second honored "Stay" (with composerErnest Gold), heard in the 1969 filmThe Secret of Santa Vittoria. The other two were for the songs "Richard's Window," from 1975'sThe Other Side of the Mountain, and "Ready to Take a Chance Again", used in 1978'sFoul Play. Both songs, whose lyrics Gimbel wrote to music that had been composed by Charles Fox, his most frequent collaborator, were also nominated forOscars.

In 1971, Gimbel and Fox signed 19-year-old singer-songwriterLori Lieberman to a management contract, taking 20% of her income—double the usual amount. Aged 44 years, Gimbel began an extra-marital affair with Lieberman which would last several years.[6] Gimbel said that he relied on Lieberman to inspire his songwriting creativity since he had passed the most creative days of his youth: "Now I need a reason to write, and Lori is one of the best reasons a lyricwriter could have."[7] Lieberman was inspired by a performance ofDon McLean to write some lyrics for a song; she shared these with Gimbel who fleshed out the lyrics while Fox wrote the music. Lieberman, Gimbel and Fox collaborated on the song's title, adapted from Gimbel's notebook of ideas. The song became "Killing Me Softly with His Song", which Lieberman recorded in 1972 in thefolk style. Gimbel and Fox produced the song and took full writing credit, cutting Lieberman out of future profits.[6]Roberta Flack heard this version and remade the song in her own style in 1973, creating a hit. The song was very profitable for Gimbel, and won him his secondGrammy Award for Song of the Year.[8]

Also in 1973, the Gimbel and Fox song "I Got a Name", recorded byJim Croce and used in the 1973 filmThe Last American Hero, was voted Best Film Song by the Young New York Film Critics.[4] In 1979, Gimbel had his onlyEmmy nomination for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series forThe Paper Chase, which he again shared with Fox. Los Angeles theater work with Fox included a rock/pop version ofA Midsummer Night's Dream for the city's Shakespeare Festival, seen at the Ford Amphitheatre, andThe Eleventh, which played the Sunset Theater. The year 1980 was a banner year at theOscars for Norman Gimbel with a win forBest Original Song, ("It Goes Like It Goes"), written withDavid Shire for the filmNorma Rae.

Continuing his working relationship withCharles Fox, Gimbel wrote lyrics for the theme songs of many TV series, includingThe Bugaloos,Happy Days,Laverne & Shirley,Angie,Wonder Woman, theEmmy-winning theme forThe Paper Chase, and the song score forPufnstuf, the 1970 film version of the 1969–71 Saturday-morning children's seriesH.R. Pufnstuf.[4]

In 1984, Gimbel was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and continued to be active in film into 2009.[4] He wrote all the songs, including "A World Without Fences", for Disney's 2001 direct-to-video animated featureLady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure, receiving a nomination for the Video Premiere Award, in addition to having provided song scores forThe Phantom Tollbooth (1969),Where's Poppa? (1970),A Troll in Central Park (1994) andThe Thief and the Cobbler (a/k/aArabian Knight) (1995 U.S. version). Over the years, his songs were used in over ninety films, with some of the most popular titles, such as "The Girl from Ipanema", heard in 1997'sDeconstructing Harry, 2002'sCatch Me If You Can, 2005'sV for Vendetta andMr. & Mrs. Smith and 2007'sThe Invasion, and "Sway" heard in 2004'sShall We Dance? and2046, 2006'sBella, 2007'sNo Reservations and 2008'sParis. Additional films which used his songs include 1980'sCloud Dancer (with composerFred Karlin), 1984'sJohnny Dangerously (with composerJohn Morris), 2006'sInvincible ("I Got a Name") andClick ("So Nice") and the 2007 French filmRoman de Gare, which featured his English-language lyrics to Gilbert Bécaud's "You'll See".

He had been a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences since 1970.

Personal life and death

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Norman Gimbel was married twice, to model Elinor Rowley and then to lawyer Victoria Carver; both marriages ended in divorce.[4] He had four children.[4] Gimbel died on December 19, 2018, at his home inMontecito, California, aged 91.[4][1]

References

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  1. ^abBarnes, Mike; Bartlett, Rhett (December 28, 2018)."Norman Gimbel, Famed Oscar- and Grammy-Winning Lyricist, Dies at 91".The Hollywood Reporter. RetrievedDecember 29, 2018.
  2. ^The Lori Lieberman Team, Billboard Magazine, June 22, 1974, page53
  3. ^Who's who in Entertainment. Marquis Who's Who. 1989. p. 233.ISBN 9780837918501.
  4. ^abcdefghijklGates, Anita (January 2, 2019)."Norman Gimbel, 91, Who Thrilled Softly With His Songs".The New York Times. p. B10.ISSN 0362-4331. RetrievedFebruary 13, 2022.
  5. ^"United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X4JR-P3C : accessed 29 December 2018), Norma Gimbel in household of Morris Gimbel, Brooklyn (Districts 1751-1953), Kings, New York, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 1931, sheet 27B, line 83, family 627, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 1525; FHL microfilm 2,341,260.
  6. ^abEdgers, Geoff (January 24, 2020)."She sang 'Killing Me Softly' before Roberta Flack. Now she just wants you to hear her side of the story".The Washington Post.
  7. ^"The Lori Lieberman Team".Billboard. June 24, 1974. p. 53.
  8. ^"Norman Gimbel, GRAMMY-winning Lyricist, Dies At 91".GRAMMY.com. January 2, 2019. RetrievedJanuary 2, 2019.

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