Frank Loesser
As a young man in the 1920s, future songsmith and one-day Pulitzer Prize-winner Frank Loesser refused any and all formal training in music. He had decided that popular -- not classical -- music was the way for him, and had come to feel that a stuffy education based on the German master composers would be of little value. Now, a formally untrained songwriter is no extraordinary thing: Irving Berlin, after all, could barely read and write music and could find his way around the keyboard only in certain keys. And in the twenty-first century, classical training is not at all expected or even encouraged for songwriters. But Loesser's refusal to take the prescribed dose of schooling was extraordinary considering the family from which he came. His father was a well-known New York-based classical pianist, who took it upon himself to start Frank's older brother, Arthur Loesser, on the road toward concert pianism. That young Frank somehow escaped classical training is not far short of remarkable. But his decision to remain self-taught in music did have consequences, as it turned out: it took many years for Loesser to find the confidence to write his own music -- years during which he supported himself not by writing music, but by writing lyrics for other peoples' music.
Loesser was born in New York City in early summer of 1910. He taught himself the rudiments of piano playing and, still a teenager, enrolled at the City College of New York. Finding academic life distasteful, he dropped out of college in 1926 and went to work as an errand boy, an official messenger, a newspaper scrub, or whatever came his way. Around this time, he began to write lyrics and, after a few abortive attempts to sell his work, his first published song, "In Love With the Memory of You" with music by William Schumann, appeared in 1931.
The early '30s were spent running between New York and Hollywood. Loesser just couldn't seem to make it work in California and had to rely on his knowledge of the New York nightclub circuit to make ends meet. But in 1936 - 1937, both Universal Pictures and Paramount Pictures noticed his lyric-producing skills and Loesser was off to the races. With Bing Crosby and Bob Hope singing his words on the big screen (in movies like Thanks for the Memory and Sing You Sinners), Hollywood had to sit up and take notice.
The war turned out to be an eventful time for Loesser. While serving in the U.S. Army, he shed his lyricist-only skin and took up composing. The much-loved military swagger-tune "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition" was his first published musical effort that was an instant success, giving Loesser the confidence that he needed to make a real run at full-time composing. After World War II, Loesser took Hollywood songwriting by the reins. He was responsible for both words and music for such classic songs as "Now That I Need You" from Red, Hot and Blue and the Academy Award-winning "Baby, It's Cold Outside" from the film Neptune's Daughter. Broadway was next; Loesser penned words and music for five Broadway shows in all, the two biggest successes being Guys and Dolls (1950) and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1961), the latter of which won him a Pulitzer Prize. He effectively disappeared during the 1960s, however, penning nothing of commercial note in the years leading up to his death.
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Diskografie
11 Album, -en • Geordnet nach Bestseller
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Guys & Dolls (The 2023 London Cast Recording)
Original Soundtrack - Erschienen bei Broadway Records am 29.09.2023
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Guys and Dolls (All Sar Studio Cast, First Complete Score Recording)
Original Soundtrack - Erschienen bei JAY Records am 01.03.1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Most Happy Fella (All Star Studio Cast (Soundtrack from the Musical))
Original Soundtrack - Erschienen bei Jay Records am 01.11.2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Guys and Dolls (1955 Film Score)
Soundtracks - Erschienen bei Classic Film Scores am 06.10.2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brigadoon (1988 London Cast Recording)
Alan Jay Lerner, Frank Loesser
Original Soundtrack - Erschienen bei First Night Records am 06.02.1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Guys and Dolls (All Star Studio Cast Recording)
Original Soundtrack - Erschienen bei JAY Records am 01.05.2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Guys & Dolls Original Broadway Cast
Original Soundtrack - Erschienen bei The Digital Gramophone am 04.09.2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Guys and Dolls. A Musical Fable of Broadway
Jazz - Erschienen bei BLUE MOON am 27.11.2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
West Side Story/Guys and Dolls (Studio Cast Recording)
Original Soundtrack - Erschienen bei Stage Door am 01.01.1962
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
I Believe in You
Jazzgesang - Erschienen bei Emitha LLC am 29.03.2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (Original Broadway Cast 1961)
Original Soundtrack - Erschienen bei Classic Soundtrack Collector am 07.12.2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo