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
Dick Whiting. "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
J. Fred Coots in the space of a 15-minute New York subway ride; the song debuted on
Eddie Cantor's Thanksgiving radio special at the insistence of
Cantor'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
Billie Holiday,
Lena Horne, and
Peggy Lee. 1949's "That Lucky Old Sun," meanwhile, was cut by everyone from
Frank Sinatra to
Louis Armstrong to
Jerry Lee Lewis. A member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame,
Gillespie died in Las Vegas on March 14, 1975; a decade later,
George Strait covered his "Right or Wrong" (written in 1921), scoring the ASCAP Country Music Award in the process. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
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