Richard A. Whiting

Richard A. Whiting
Richard A. Whiting circa mid 1930's
Background information
Birth name	Richard Armstrong Whiting
Born	(1891-11-12)November 12, 1891 Peoria, Illinois
Died	February 19, 1938(1938-02-19) (aged 46) Beverly Hills, California
Occupation(s)	composer, songwriter
Years active	1910-1938
Associated acts	Raymond B. Egan Gus Kahn Leo Robin Oscar Hammerstein II Johnny Mercer

Richard Armstrong Whiting (November 12, 1891 – February 19, 1938) was an American composer of popular songs including the standards "Hooray for Hollywood", "Ain't We Got Fun?" and "On the Good Ship Lollipop". (He also wrote lyrics occasionally, most notably for the standard "She's Funny That Way")

He was nominated for an Academy Award for best original song in 1936 for "When Did You Leave Heaven" from the movie Sing, Baby Sing.

He was born in Peoria, Illinois to a musical family. His father, Frank Whiting, was a real estate agent and gifted violinist and his mother Blossom was a piano teacher, together they instilled a love of music and worked towards nurturing his natural gift of piano playing. He attended the Harvard Military School in Los Angeles. Upon his graduation, Whiting started a vaudeville act with his college friend Marshall Neilan, together they briefly toured the U.S. writing songs, singing, and playing the piano. Unfortunately neither one had the stage presence or singing talent to become full-time performers. They broke up the duo and went their separate ways, Neilan to Hollywood where he would go on to be a very successful film director and actor, and Whiting to Detroit to try and jump-start a career as a professional songwriter. In 1913 Whiting began his career as a song plugger for Jerome H. Remick publishing company, within a year, he was the manager of the Detroit office, being paid US$25 per week. As an occasional talent scout, Whiting nurtured the careers of several songwriters from the day, including most notably, George Gershwin, Whiting, heard Gershwin playing one day and gave him a job as a song plugger for Remick company, this act of kindness resulted in a lifelong friendship between the two powerhouse composers. To supplement his income, at the time, Whiting worked with a local hotel's Hawaiian band, playing piano in light blackface, earning him an extra $10 a week. In 1914 Whiting had his first two hit songs, "I Wonder Where My Lovin' Man Has Gone" and "It's Tulip Time in Holland" the latter song became a massive hit, selling over a million copies, Whiting however received none of the royalties, having sold off the publishing to Remick in exchange for a Steinway Grand. During his time at Remick Whiting had a substantial output, mostly with former bank-clerk, Ray Egan including the beloved classic, "Till We Meet Again" published in 1918. The song quickly became the largest sheet music seller of all-time, even today. At last count the song was said to have sold over 11 million copies. Other hit songs by Whiting, while he was working at Remick, include "Where the Black-Eyed Susans Grow", "The Japanese Sandman", "Bimini Bay" (lyrics by Egan and Gus Kahn), "Ain't We Got Fun?" (lyrics by Egan and Kahn) and "Ukulele Lady" (lyrics by Kahn).