Carolyn Leigh
b. 21 August 1926, New York, USA, d. 19 November 1983, New York City, New York, USA. Carolyn Leigh was the lyricist with whom Cy Coleman was most identified. She began writing verse and doggerel when she was only nine-years-old and, after graduating from high school, studied at Queens College and New York University. She began her career by writing announcements for radio station WQXR and working as a copywriter for an advertising agency. By the time she was 25 years old Leigh is reputed to have written about 200 songs, although none had been published. In 1951, she wrote I'm Waiting Just For You, which were minor hits for Lucky Millinder, Rosemary Clooney, and later, Pat Boone. Her first success came in 1954 when Frank Sinatra took her Young At Heart, written with Johnny Richards, to number 2 in the US, and included it in the film of the same title, in which he starred with Doris Day. This led to Leigh being offered the chance to write the songs, with composer Mark Moose Charlap, for the Broadway show PETER PAN. Their score included I'm Flying, I've Gotta Crow and I Won't Grow Up. Her collaboration with Coleman ran from the late '50s to 1962, which by all reports was a ‘stormy’ relationship. After the success of LITTLE ME on Broadway the duo had an ‘on-off’ working relationship. In 1967, they wrote A Doodlin Song’, which was recorded by Peggy Lee. In the same year, Leigh teamed with composer Elmer Bernstein to write the score for HOW NOW, DOW JONES. The songs included Live A Little, Walk Away, He's Here! and Step To The Rear. Leigh was nominated for a Tony Award for her lyrics. During the latter years of her career she continued to write occasionally for the stage, television and films. She wrote the lyrics for the Bicentennial show SOMETHING TO DO and for the television special, HEIDI. Her other songs included How Little It Matters (written with Phillip Springer), Stowaway (with Jerry Livingston), Stay With Me, Love Is A Melody (Short And Sweet), Disenchanted Castle, On Second Thought, In The Barrio, Westport and Bouncing Back For More. Her other collaborators included Morton Gould, Lee Pockriss and Marvin Hamlisch. She was working on a musical adaptation of SMILES with Hamlisch when she died from a heart attack in 1983.