Hal Shaper
| Hal Shaper | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Hal Shaper |
| Born |
July 18, 1931 Muizenberg, Cape Town, South Africa |
| Died | January 8, 2004 (aged 72) Cape Town, South Africa |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Songwriter |
| Years active | 1955–2004 |
| Labels | Sparta Music |
Hal Shaper (Born Harold David Shaper, 18 July 1931 - 8 January 2004) was a South African songwriter. After qualifying as a lawyer in 1955, he travelled to London to begin his five-decade-long musical career during which he worked with and wrote for well-known artists including Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand and David Bowie. After establishing financial stability after releasing his first hit Softly, As I Leave You, he began his own music publishing company. Aside from song titles and lyrics, Shaper also wrote for films as well as musicals.
Shaper was born on the 18th of July 1931 in upscale Muizenberg near Cape Town as the third and youngest child of Jewish parents. His father was from Manchester and his mother from the ghetto of Lodz in Poland. He was inspired to become a songwriter after seeing the Mickey Rooney film Words and Music (1948), saying: he was "enchanted by the quality of the songs and the freshness of them" His initial attempts at musical theatre were performed in local theatres; his professional songwriting career did not begin until later. In 1955, Shaper was certified as a lawyer in Cape Town. However, he did not pursue a career in law but rather left immediately for London in seek of a songwriting career.
In London, he first earned a living washing dishes with the Troubadour restaurant in Earls Court. In the summer of 1955, he was employed as a song plugger by pop music publisher Dave Toff, who, Shaper said, discouraged him from writing lyrics, stating "there was no future in the business for writers". Shaper was then persuaded to move to Robbins Music by Alan Holmes, leaving his job as a plugger in August 1958. In Robbins Music, a higher quality acclaimed label, he began writing songs under the mentorship of Alan Holmes and Joy Connock, marking the beginning of his writing career.
Shaper's English title and lyrics to the Italian melody Softly, As I Leave You (1962) was his first hit. It was initially released by Matt Monro and was soon recorded later in the US by Shirley Bassey. The song was repeatedly released in subsequent years, earning him enough money to start and reluctantly run his own music publishing company in 1964, Sparta Music.
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