Sunny Skylar | |
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 Sunny Skylar in a 1944 advertisement | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as | Sonny Schuyler, Sonny Skyler |
| Born | Selig Sidney Shaftel (1913-10-11)October 11, 1913 New York City, US |
| Died | February 2, 2009(2009-02-02) (aged 95) |
| Genres | Jazz,Big Band,Tin Pan Alley |
| Occupation(s) | Musiccomposer,lyricist,singer,publisher |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals,Piano |
| Labels | Decca Records,Capitol Records,Mercury Records,Bluebird Records,Columbia Records,RCA Victor Records,MGM Records,Universal Music Group,Warner Brother Records,Atlantic Records,Apple Records,Polydor Records,EMI Records,Sony Classical Records,CBS Record Group[1] |
| Formerly of | Vincent Lopez,Abe Lyman,Paul Whiteman,Ben Bernie,Jack Denny,Freddie Perren,George Hall,Henry (Hank) Sylvern,Henry King,Adrian Rollini, Ben Marden, Carl Hoff, CBS House Orchestra, Manhattan Beach House Orchestra |
Sunny Skylar (October 11, 1913 – February 2, 2009) was an American musiccomposer,singer,lyricist, andmusic publisher,[2] often recognized as one of the most prominent songwriters of theTin Pan Alley era. Sunny Skylar had written over 300 songs according toASCAP,[3] and was inducted into theSongwriter's Hall of Fame in 2010.[4]
His compositions have been performed and recorded by countless timeless acts such asFrank Sinatra,Dean Martin,Ella Fitzgerald,Nat King Cole,The Beatles,Tony Bennett,Louis Armstrong,Bing Crosby, andBenny Goodman. He may be best remembered for adapting English lyrics to popular songs like "Bésame Mucho" and "Amor", as well as his original compositions such as "Don't Wait Too Long", "Gotta Be This or That", "Waitin' For The Train to Come In", "You're Breaking My Heart", "Hair of Gold, Eyes of Blue", "A Little Bit South of North Carolina", and many more. Included in theGreat American Songbook andThe Real Book, many of Sunny Skylar's songs have remained jazz standards.[5]
Sunny Skylar was bornSelig Sidney Shaftel inBrooklyn, New York on October 11, 1913. His father, Jack, was born in Russia and immigrated to the United States around the age of 10, while his mother, Sarah, was born in the state of New York, both in the 1880s. Jack and Sarah Shaftel occasionally performed a song and dance act invaudeville shows. Sunny was one of four children and grew up with his family in Brooklyn, New York.
Sunny Skylar began his professional singing career at the age of 18, with the Harold Stern band at a resort known as "Manhattan Beach" in 1932, after his friends jokingly pushed him on the bandstand and encouraged him to sing. After numerous requests and encores, the crowd and band enjoyed his singing enough to hire Skylar that day as the new resident vocalist for at Manhattan Beach. Classified as abaritone, by 1938, he was the featured singer in the orchestras ofVincent Lopez andPaul Whiteman, and soon appeared with a number ofbig bands, including those led byBen Bernie,Jack Denny,Freddie Perren,Abe Lyman,George Hall, Ben Marden,Henry "Hank" Sylvern, Carl Hoff,Henry King,Adrian Rollini, and the CBS House Orchestra, under the nameSonny Schuyler (pronounced: "Skylar"). It was band leader,Vincent Lopez, who changed the singer's professional name fromSonny Schuyler toSunny Skylar, based in his strong belief innumerology in 1940. Lopez believed that the reduced number of letters was an omen of good fortune. Only a few months later, the newly named, Sunny Skylar, had his first chart-topping hit song.
In 1942, after entertaining for five years withVincent Lopez and His Hotel Taft Orchestra, Skylar embarked on a singing career in entertainment that was not tied to just one orchestra or bandleader. Instead, he entertained as a vocalist, mostly performing his own popular tunes as a headliner at music venues inNew York City, such as theLatin Quarter, Montreal,El Morocco, andLa Martinique. With a growing demand for top performers in the newly developingLas Vegas Strip, Skylar securedresidencies at hotels such asThe Flamingo,El Rancho,El Cortez, andThe Dunes, among others. In August 1949, Sunny Skylar was a featured entertainer onThe Ed Sullivan Show, performing a four-minutemedley of some of his biggest songs on live television. He continued to perform innightclubs andtheaters until 1952, when he retired from singing, at the end of the big band era.
Though Skylar had many of his singing performances withbig bands pressed ontorecords throughout his career, it was his songwriting that would become his legacy. Skylar began as a songwriter in New York City'sTin Pan Alley, which is said to be the birthplace ofpop music in theUnited States. Like many up-and-coming songwriters of the time, he was writing and refining songs for other composers, oftentimes not receiving credit for his work until he could prove himself as a consistent hit songwriter.
One of his first notable hit songs, "Don't Cry", was performed by Skylar with Vincent Lopez & His Suave String Orchestra forSoundies on June 31, 1940, displayed on theMills Panoram Jukebox. His next hit song also came about in 1940, when during a live performance, Sunny observed Vincent Lopez overworking his orchestra, and spontaneously created the humorous lyrics which became known as "Fifteen Minute Intermission". He graduated to even greater popularity with his song "Just A Little Bit South of North Carolina" in 1941. His next two hits, "Move It Over" and "Paper Troopers", were written as wartime anthems for theUnited States Armed Forces duringWorld War II, both released in 1943.
One of Sunny Skylar's most well-known song credits is "Bésame Mucho", which was originally written by the famed Mexican songwriterConsuelo Velázquez. Skylar discovered the song while at theLa Martinique club in New York City. He noticed that people kept coming up to the bandleader requesting the same song every few minutes. He became really fond of the song and wrote his version of English lyrics to the melody. A common practice during theBig Band Era was to adapt lyrics for audiences around the world. The English version of "Bésame Mucho" was first released in 1944 byJimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra. The song became and instant hit and has been covered countless times since its release. "Bésame Mucho" has been said to be one of the most popular songs of the 20th century. In 1999, it was recognized as the most recorded and covered song in of all time. "Bésame Mucho" was even the song recorded byThe Beatles on their demo that they used for a chance at arecord deal withDecca Records on January 1, 1962. Compared to the original Spanish lyrics byVelázquez published in 1941, Skylar's 1944 English version has been criticized for its overly romantic theme, as it is not a true Spanish to English translation. Skylar continued adapting English lyrics to songs and made two more hits,"Amor" (originally byGabriel Ruiz) and "Be Mine Tonight (Noche De Ronda)" through the end of the 1940s.
Many hit songs followed such as "Gotta Be This or That", "You'll Always Be The One I Love", "And So To Sleep Again", "Atlanta, G.A.", "Waitin' For The Train To Come In", "Cry, Cry, Cry", "Hair of Gold, Eyes of Blue", "It Must Be Jelly ('Cause Jam Don't Shake like That)", "It's All Over Now", "Louisville, K.Y.", "Nola", "Put That Ring on My Finger", "Song of New Orleans", and "Whatta Ya Gonna Do". Skylar's song "You're Breaking My Heart", began asRuggero Leoncavallo's 1904Italian opera tune, "Mattinata", which Skylar wrote lyrics and a melody to, and singerVic Damone made popular in 1949. Sunny Skylar has had hundreds of songs published throughASCAP andBMI, with the officialASCAP database showing over 300 song credits to his name.
Popular music shifted from theBig band era torock and roll in the 1950s, but Skylar continued to have a few hits until 1965, making him one of only a few songwriters (includingSammy Cahn andJohnny Mercer) to transition from the era ofTin Pan Alley songwriting to the newer sounds of the 1950s and 1960s."Love Me With All Your Heart", the song originally titled,"Cuando Calienta El Sol", was released in 1964 byThe Ray Charles Singers, and would prove to be one their biggest sellingsingles. His song "Don't Wait Too Long" on theFrank Sinatra album,September of My Years, was released in 1965. Numerous songs credit his older brother, Arthur ("Artie") Shaftel as a co-songwriter with Skylar. Many of Skylar's compositions have been included inThe Real Book byHal Leonard Music Publishing, which continues to be a relevant collection of songs, which jazz musician learn from. Some of these titles include "Bésame Mucho", "Don't Wait Too Long", "Gotta Be This or That", "Love Me With All Your Heart", "Be Mine Tonight (Noche De Ronda)", and "Amor".[6][7][8][9]
With a talent for recognizing hit songs, Sunny Skylar, began working as a music publisher atPeer-Southern Music following his singing career. Peer-Southern Music was the company Skylar used most often to publish his own songs. In 1965, he moved toSão Paulo, Brazil and began working as a consultant for foreign songs. He relocated theirHollywood, California branch and worked closely with Roy Kohn and Bobby Mellin. Peer-Southern Music is known to be the largest independent music publisher in the world.[10][11]
Sunny Skylar died at the age of 95 on February 2, 2009, inLas Vegas, Nevada.
Among the songs he wrote (either music and/or lyrics) are:
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