Harold Arlen

Pianist, singer and composer, born 15 February 1905 in Buffalo, New York, died 23 April 1986 in New York, New York.

[b] >> When credited with [a=Johnny Mercer], please use the joint credit: [a=Harold Arlen & Johnny Mercer] << [/b]

Active as a pianist and singer since the early 1920s, Arluck began songwriting using the name Harold Arlen in the late 1920s.

During the first half of the 1930s he often collaborated with [a=Ted Koehler] with whom he composed songs such as [i]Between The Devil And The Deep Blue See[/i] (1931), [i]Stormy Weather[/i] (1933) and [i]Let's Fall In Love[/i] (1933). For the second half of the 1930s he mostly collaborated with [a=E.Y. Harburg]. It was with Harburg that he composed the [i]Wizard Of Oz[/i] soundtrack, containing the classic song [i]Somewhere Over The Rainbow[/i] (1939).

Arlen's common songwriting partner during the 1940s was [a=Johnny Mercer]. Together they wrote hit songs such as [i]Blues In The Night[/i] (1941), [i]One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)[/i] (1943) and [i]Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive[/i] (1944). Although he was less active in later years, he successfully remained composing well into the 1970s.

Harold Arlen was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1971.