Kay Swift
| Kay Swift | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Katharine Faulkner Swift |
| Born |
April 19, 1897 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | January 28, 1993 (aged 95) Southington, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Composer |
| Years active | 1930–91 |
Katharine Faulkner "Kay" Swift (April 19, 1897 – January 28, 1993) was an American composer of popular and classical music, the first woman to completely score a hit musical. Written in 1930, Fine and Dandy includes some of her best known songs; the title song has become a jazz standard. "Can't We Be Friends?" (1929) was her biggest hit song.
Swift also arranged some of the music of George Gershwin posthumously, such as the prelude "Sleepless Night" (1946).
Swift was educated at the Veltin School for Girls and then trained as a classical musician and composer at the Institute of Musical Art (now known as the Juilliard School). Her teacher of composition was Charles Loeffler, while harmony and composition were taught to her by Percy Goetschius. Her father, a music critic, died when she was young. She had played professionally with the Edith Rubel Trio. While performing at a social event, she met the sister of her future husband, who arranged their meeting. James Paul "Jimmy" Warburg was a member of a distinguished Jewish family that had made a fortune in banking. Swift was Christian, and Warburg's uncle by marriage Jacob Schiff objected to the marriage, although his parents had accepted it. Swift had three children by Warburg between 1919 and 1924. She was also grandmother to the novelist Katharine Weber. Warburg—using the pen name of Paul James—wrote lyrics for Swift's melodies, an extension of his poetry writing which was a family tradition.
Before meeting George Gershwin in 1925, her musical background was classical, though she was a great fan of the songs of Irving Berlin. Gershwin—who had coined her nickname "Kay"— encouraged her interest in popular music and her writing in that vein. He frequently consulted Swift about his musicals and other works, and she became a trusted musical advisor. After Gershwin's death in 1937, his brother Ira Gershwin collaborated with Swift to complete and arrange some of his unpublished works. He said that she knew almost all of George's music, "had taken down sketches as he composed [...] and had total musical recall."
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