Gene De Paul was born in New York City. He got his start in the music profession as a piano teacher and then went on to become a pianist in dance orchestras, eventually becoming a singer and arranger for theater vocal groups. As a composer he contributed to a number of Hollywood film scores, often collaborating with Don Raye, including A Date with Judy (1948), A Song is Born (1948), and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954). He also wrote scores of songs including, “I’ll Remember April” (1942), “Cow Cow Boogie” (1943), “Irresistible You” (1944), “Star Eyes” (1943) and “Teach Me Tonight” (1954). With Johnny Mercer he wrote the score to the Broadway musical L’il Abner (1956) which included the standard “Namely You.” DePaul was inducted into the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame in 1985.

-- Jeremy Wilson

Courtesy of JazzStandards.com