[78-L] Sunny Skylar

[Taylor Bowie]

He sings on some of my favorite sweet band records:  those with George 
Hall's orch and also the fantastic "A Night At the Stork Club" 4-record 
album set on Columbia,  singing with Sonny (aka Sol) Kendis and his great 
little band.

I think I first heard Gotta Be This Or That when I was about six years old 
back in the 50s...I love that song,  ditto his American lyrics for all those 
pretty Latin tunes.

Taylor


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Lennick" <dlennick at sympatico.ca>
To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2009 12:21 PM
Subject: Re: [78-L] Sunny Skylar, Snooks Eaglin both died


So he DID go to Schul.

I guess he went overboard in anglicizing his name..he's definitely Schuyler 
in
30s recordings and Kinkle lists him as Schuyler (later Skylar). Rust has
Schuyler for the George Hall sides.

dl

Bertrand CHAUMELLE wrote:
> <<SUNNY SKYLAR, one of the last surviving 'Tin Pan Alley' songwriters
> and a former big band vocalist, died on February 2. He was 95
>
> Born Selig Shaftel in Brooklyn, N.Y. Oct. 11, 1913, Sunny Skylar was
> the composer and/or lyricist if more than 300 songs, dozens of them
> standards.
>
> Capable of writing both lyrics and music, in this capacity he wrote
> some memorable songs, such as "Don't Wait Too long" recorded by Frank
> Sinatra for his milestone "September of My Years" album, and "Gotta Be
> This or That", recorded by, among others, Ella Fitzgerald for her
> "Ella Swings Lightly" album. As Sinatra and Ella were considered by
> many music historians the greatest male/female vocalists of the
> twentieth century, this alone would have been enough to make any
> songwriter proud.
>
> But Sunny Skylar's most enduring songs and distinction would be as the
> songwriter who wrote English lyrics to some of the biggest songs of
> foreign origin, most notably Mexico.
> Mr. Skylar supplied the English lyrics for such classic standards as
> Consuelito Velasquez's "Besame Mucho", Gabriel Ruiz's "Amor Amor
> Amor", both huge hits in the 1940s as recorded by Jimmy Dorsey and
> covered by hundreds of vocalists ever since. They became a staple for
> singers who recorded Latin albums, much as Irving Berlin's "White
> Christmas" was a sure pick for singers who recorded Christmas albums.
> In 1961, brothers Carlos and Mario Rigual's "Cuando Calienta el Sol",
> became a hit record in Mexico. Given a new title by Skylar, it became
> "Love Me With All Your Heart". The "Ray Charles Singers" would make
> this one of their biggest selling records.
>
> Mr. Skylar also added English lyrics to songs which originated in
> other countries: French composer Michel Polnareff's "Ame Caline" is
> perhaps better known in Skylar's title "Soul Coaxing", while another
> composition by Dutch composer Jean Senn became "Watching The World Go
> By". "Love Me With All Your Heart" and "Soul Coaxing", a hit in the
> late '60s, gave Skylar, with only a few other songwriters such as
> Sammy Cahn and Johnny Mercer, the distinction of being a 'Tin Pan
> Alley' writer to have major hits in the Beatles/British Rock dominated
> 1960s.
> Skylar's songwriting even extended to adding English lyrics to music
> from the classics: based on Italian opera composer Leoncavallo's
> "Mattinata", "You're Breaking My Heart" was a hit for Vic Damone in
> 1949.
>
> As a performer, Sunny Skylar sang with such bands as Ben Bernie, Paul
> Whiteman, Abe Lyman and Vincent Lopez. He performed at such renowned
> clubs as The Latin Quarter, and upon moving to Las Vegas, The Flamingo
> and El Rancho.
>
> Other notable songs written or co-written by Sunny Skylar included
> "Hair of Gold, Eyes of Blue", "And So To Sleep", the latter a hit for
> Patti Page, and "Carnaval In Costa Rica". "Be Mine Tonight" for which
> Skylar provided English lyrics to Agustin Lara's "Noche de Ronde", was
> also a major hit. Skylar had been a member of ASCAP since 1942.
>
> A widower, Sunny Skylar is survived by five children, ten
> grandchildren, one great-grandchild, a sister, and a brother, Arthur
> Shaftel, who was a musician and bandleader.
>
> Le 19 févr. 09, à 20:24, Taylor Bowie a écrit :
>
>> When did Sonny pass?  Last I knew he was in Las Vegas,  retired.
>>
>> Taylor B
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Julian Vein" <julianvein at blueyonder.co.uk>
>> To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
>> Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2009 3:58 AM
>> Subject: Re: [78-L] Sunny Skylar, Snooks Eaglin both died
>>
>>
>>> Bertrand CHAUMELLE wrote:
>>>> BC
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Is Sunny Skylar the same person as Sonny Schuyler? Is was thinking of
>>> the latter for no particular reason yesterday.
>>>
>>>       Julian Vein
>>>
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