- Jimmy Kennedy
Jimmy Kennedy (
20 July 1902 –6 April 1984 ), O.B.E., was asongwriter , predominantly alyricist putting words to existingmusic like "Teddy Bears' Picnic " and "My Prayer ", or co-writing withcomposer s such as Michael Carr,Wilhelm Grosz (aka Hugh Williams) and Nat Simon among others.Jimmy Kennedy was born on the Brookmount Road in
Omagh ,Ireland . His father was Joseph Hamilton Kennedy, a member of the Royal Irish Constabulary (R.I.C.), the police force of Ireland at that time. However, Jimmy grew up inPortstewart , a famous Ulster sea-side resort located to the north inCounty Londonderry . He was educated atTrinity College, Dublin .He taught for a while in
England before applying to join His Majesty's Colonial Service as a civil servant in 1927. However, Jimmy would never serve in the Colonial Service as his music career "took off" while he was awaiting a posting to Nigeria, which was then a British colony. He embarked on a career in song writing by joining the staff of Bert Feldman, amusic publisher based inLondon 'sTin Pan Alley . In a career spanning more than fifty years he wrote some 2000song s, of which over 200 became world-wide hits and about 50 are all-timepopular music classics.Until
John Lennon andPaul McCartney , he had more hits in theUnited States than any other Irish or British songwriter.fact|date= April 2008 His first success came in 1931 with the "Barmaids Song" sung byGracie Fields . "Red Sails in the Sunset" was inspired by a beautiful summer evening in Portstewart in 1935, and "South of the Border" by a holiday picturepostcard he received fromTijuana, Mexico . While serving in theBritish Army 's Royal Artillery, where he rose to the rank of Captain, he wrote the wartime hit, "We're Going to Hang out the Washing on the Siegfried Line " for theBritish Expeditionary Force . His hits also include "The Isle of Capri", "My Prayer", "Teddy Bears' Picnic" (music byJohn Walter Bratton ), "Love is Like a Violin", "Hokey Cokey" and "Roll Along Covered Wagon".Many of Kennedy's songs were recorded by such famous artists as
Bing Crosby ,Dean Martin ,The Platters ,Vera Lynn ,Petula Clark ,Paul Robeson ,Perry Como ,Fats Domino ,Louis Armstrong ,Nat King Cole ,Glen Miller andElvis Presley . More recently,Englebert Humperdinck (singer) and Belfast-bornBrian Kennedy (singer) have both released recordings of "Red Sails in the Sunset";The Beatles performed the same song during their Hamburg days.Kennedy won two
Ivor Novello Awards for his contribution to music and received anhonorary degree from theNew University of Ulster . He was also awarded the OBE in 1983. In 1997 he was posthumously inducted into theSongwriter's Hall of Fame .Jimmy Kennedy died in
Cheltenham ,England , and is buried inTaunton ,Somerset . He is survived by two sons, Jimmy Junior and Derek.elected songs
*"Barmaids Song"
*"Red Sails in the Sunset"
*"South of the Border"
*"We're Going to Hang out the Washing on the Siegfried Line
*"The Isle of Capri"
*"Istanbul (Not Constantinople) "
*"My Prayer "
*"Teddy Bears' Picnic "
*"Love is Like a Violin"
*"Hokey Pokey "
*"Roll Along Covered Wagon"External links
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D00E3D91638F934A35757C0A962948260 Jimmy Kennedy's obituary at the New York Times, April 1984]
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