Haven Gillespie

Best-remembered for his seasonal standard "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town," lyricist Haven Gillespie was born February 6, 1888, in Covington, KY. While working as a typesetter for the Cincinnati Times-Star, he began his songwriting career in 1911 by selling lyrics to a local vaudeville act, but held onto his day job for a number of years, ultimately maintaining his membership in the International Typographic Union until his death. Gillespie scored his first major hit with 1925's "Drifting and Dreaming"; the next year yielded "Breezin' Along With the Breeze," co-written with frequent collaborator <a href="spotify:artist:0Q6sCbFppz1bcF6WsU3jXy">Dick Whiting</a>. "By the Sycamore Tree" followed in 1931 and three years later, Gillespie scored his most enduring hit with "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town," written with composer <a href="spotify:artist:5IBkss8RwasiJY2sj5qEdM">J. Fred Coots</a> in the space of a 15-minute New York subway ride; the song debuted on <a href="spotify:artist:2pDFdLHKOmzKiNDzkz7p8L">Eddie Cantor</a>'s Thanksgiving radio special at the insistence of <a href="spotify:artist:2pDFdLHKOmzKiNDzkz7p8L">Cantor</a>'s wife, Ida, and within weeks its sheet music was selling in excess of 25,000 copies daily. 1936's "You Go to My Head" was authored in the wake of a long night at a local speakeasy and was subsequently recorded by singers including <a href="spotify:artist:1YzCsTRb22dQkh9lghPIrp">Billie Holiday</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2I6nP70ltmOHi6xjJUXHMe">Lena Horne</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:602DnpaSXJB4b9DZrvxbDc">Peggy Lee</a>. 1949's "That Lucky Old Sun," meanwhile, was cut by everyone from <a href="spotify:artist:1Mxqyy3pSjf8kZZL4QVxS0">Frank Sinatra</a> to <a href="spotify:artist:19eLuQmk9aCobbVDHc6eek">Louis Armstrong</a> to <a href="spotify:artist:2zyz0VJqrDXeFDIyrfVXSo">Jerry Lee Lewis</a>. A member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, Gillespie died in Las Vegas on March 14, 1975; a decade later, <a href="spotify:artist:5vngPClqofybhPERIqQMYd">George Strait</a> covered his "Right or Wrong" (written in 1921), scoring the ASCAP Country Music Award in the process. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi