Ray Gilbert

American songwriter, composer and author.

Born 5 September 1912 in Hartford, Connecticut

Died 3 March 1976 in Los Angeles, California.

Married to actress [a436931] (1962-1976, his death) & father of actress [a3125186].

Active as songwriter since 1940s, he wrote lyrics to many songs for [i]Walt Disney[/i] movies.

He had 23 songs chart in the U.S. and U.K., nine of them in the top 10. Nineteen of the songs came between 1944 and 1968, the rest between 2003-4.His top-selling song was [i]You Belong to My Heart[/i] (lyrics by [a266489]). The song first charted in 1944 by Phil Brito (#17) then charted three times in 1945, first by Charlie Spivak and His Orchestra (#6), then by Xavier Cugat and His Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra (#3), and finally by Bing Crosby and Xavier Cugat and His Orchestra (#3).

His next best known song is [i]Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah[/i] (lyrics by [a654499]) which charted four times, three in 1946-7 by Johnny Mercer, Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye, and The Modernaires with Paula Kelly (all in the top 11). It also charted in 1962 by Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans (#8). His other big song was [i]Cuanto Le Gusta[/i] (lyrics by [a727980]), which charted by four different artists in 1948-9.

He won an Academy award for "Best Original Song" with lyricist Allie Wrubel, for "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah", for Song of the South (1946).

Gilbert has also translated many of [a=Antonio Carlos Jobim]'s (and other Latin-American artists) songs into English.

His music publishing: [l951807], [l361866], [l668984] and [l2890880] was inherited and has been managed by his wife after his death.