Ann Ronell
| Ann Ronell | |
|---|---|
Ann Ronell
|
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Ann Rosenblatt |
| Born |
December 28, 1906 Omaha, Nebraska, United States |
| Died | December 25, 1993 (aged 86) New York City, New York, United States |
| Occupation(s) | Lyricist, composer |
Ann Rosenblatt, known as Ann Ronell (December 28, 1906 or 1908 — December 25, 1993) was an American composer and lyricist best known for the jazz standard "Willow Weep for Me" (1932).
Ronell was born in Omaha, Nebraska on December 28, 1906 (some sources list 1908) to Morris and Mollie Rosenblatt. Ronell graduated from Omaha's Central High School in 1923. She enrolled in Wheaton College, Massachusetts, but transferred after her sophomore year to pursue a more serious music education. She graduated from Radcliffe College, where she studied music with Walter Piston. While at Radcliffe, Ronell wrote music for college plays and contributed reviews and interviews to the school's music publication. After interviewing George Gershwin, she struck up a friendship with the composer, who hired her as a rehearsal pianist for his show Rosalie. It was Gershwin who suggested that she change her name from Rosenblatt to Ronell.
Ronell was, along with Dorothy Fields, Dana Suesse, and Kay Swift, one of the first successful Hollywood and Tin Pan Alley female composers or librettists. In1929 she put her first song in a show, Down By the River. In 1930, she wrote her first hit, "Baby's Birthday Party." Originally written for a musical, Ronell shopped the song around several music publishers to no avail until Famous Music agreed to publish it. In 1932, she produced the two more songs that gained her notoriety, "Rain on the Roof" and "Willow Weep for Me," the latter of which she dedicated to George Gershwin.
In 1933, Ronell moved to Hollywood. There, she cowrote Disney's first hit song, "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" with Frank Churchill for the cartoon Three Little Pigs (1933). She was notable for being one of the only composers at the time to handle both music and lyrics.
...
Wikipedia