Please DONATE to help with maintenance and upkeep of the Wind Repertory Project!

Jay Livingston

From Wind Repertory Project
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Jay Livingston

Biography

Jay Livingston (born Jacob Harold Levison 28 March 1915, McDonald, Penn. – 17 October 2001, Los Angeles, Calif.) was an American composer.

Livingston studied piano with Harry Archer in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he organized a dance band and met long-time composing partner Ray Evans, a fellow student in the band. Their professional collaboration began in 1937.

After moving to Hollywood, Livingston studied film scoring at the University of California at Los Angeles. He organized his own dance band, which played locally and on cruise ships. He was a pianist and arranger for several radio shows and then worked for Paramount Pictures as an arranger (1945-1955).

Livingston and Evans won the Academy Award for Best Original Song three times, in 1948 for the song Buttons and Bows, written for the movie The Paleface; in 1950 for the song Mona Lisa, written for the movie Captain Carey, U.S.A.; and in 1956 for the song Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be), featured in the movie The Man Who Knew Too Much. They also wrote Tammy for the movie Tammy and the Bachelor in 1957.

Livingston and Evans also wrote popular TV themes for shows including Bonanza and Mister Ed, which Livingston sang. They also wrote the Christmas song Silver Bells in 1951, for the film The Lemon Drop Kid.

Livingston is an inductee in the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2004, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission installed a historical marker in McDonald, Pennsylvania, commemorating his achievements.


Works for Winds

Adaptable Music

  • Silver Bells (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Vinson) (1950/2009)


All Wind Works


Resources

Retrieved from "https://www.windrep.org/index.php?title=Jay_Livingston&oldid=233022"