Charles Segal

Charles Segal (born in Joniškis, Lithuania) is a classically trained jazz and commercial pianist, and composer. At the age of 2, his family moved to South Africa. Segal studied classical music, becoming an Associate (ATCL) and a Licentiate of the Trinity College of London (LTCL) in performance and teaching. Segal had a well-known musical career as a pianist, composer, publisher, arranger and teacher. He was a founding member of the Southern African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO) and the Drama and Literary Rights Organization (DALRO) in 1961 along with Dr. Gideon Roos Senior. He founded the Charles Segal Music School in Pretoria and Cape Town.

Charles Segal, an English-speaking, Jewish pianist first gained public recognition in 1952 when his first song, the Afrikaans "Miskien" ("Perhaps") won the Rooi Roos magazine song-writing competition. From 1953 through 1986 Segal performed regularly on live and recorded SABC radio shows in South Africa, such as "Piano Playtime" "Sundown Serenade" and "SA Showtime" and, in the US has been featured on Supreme Master Television. "The Music of Charles Segal" on the SABC television network was a 1985 TV special featuring a wide range of South African musicians performing Charles Segal original compositions. Segal composed, performed and arranged 50 transcription long-playing recordings for the SABC and was frequently commissioned to compose music for SABC productions, such as "The Forsyte Saga", "Story of an African Farm", and "The Saga of Prunella" and "The Summons". His song, "Carousel" was the theme for the "Radio RSA" overseas broadcasts from 1969 through 1996. Numerous Charles Segal compositions have become part of traditional South African music: songs such as "Africa," "Kwela, Kwela," "Sy Kom Van Kommetjie," "Kalkoenkie" and "Hy-Ba-Ba-Rie-Bab," many of which were sung in Afrikaans. In 1973, Segal's song, "My Children, My Wife" (Segal-Roos), was voted by the South African audiences as the Song of the Year. Charles was presented the SARI Award (equivalent to a Grammy Award) by Dr. Christiaan Barnard, renowned surgeon who performed the world's first heart transplant. "My Children, My Wife" (Segal-Roos) was subsequently recorded in the Netherlands, Germany and Israel and reached European hit parades.

...
Wikipedia