'Tenderly', 'Beyond the Sea' songwriter Jack Lawrence dies 96

Jack Lawrence (April 7, 1912 – March 15, 2009) was an American Academy Award-nominated songwriter who was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.

Death of Jack Lawrence
Lawrence died following a fall in his home in Redding, Connecticut on March 16, 2009

One of the first major songs he wrote upon getting out of the service was "Yes, My Darling Daughter", introduced by Dinah Shore on Eddie Cantor's radio program, which was Shore's first record. Another Jack Lawrence song that introduced a new artist was "If I Didn't Care", which introduced the world to The Ink Spots. And, although Frank Sinatra was already a well-known big band singer, Lawrence's "All or Nothing at All" was Sinatra's first solo hit.

"Linda", a popular song, was written by Jack Lawrence and published in 1946. The song was actually written when Lawrence was in the service during World War II, taking its name from the then five-year-old daughter of his attorney, Lee Eastman. (His daughter was Linda Eastman, future first wife of the Beatle Paul McCartney.)

Lawrence wrote the lyrics for "Tenderly", Rosemary Clooney's trademark song (in collaboration with composer Walter Lloyd Gross), as well as the English language lyric to "Beyond the Sea" (based on Charles Trenet's French language song "La mer"), the trademark song for Bobby Darin. Another French song for which Lawrence wrote an English lyric was "La goualante de pauvre Jean", becoming "The Poor People of Paris".

Together with Richard Myers he wrote "Hold My Hand", which was nominated for the 1954 Academy Award for Best Song.

Rosemary Clooney - Tenderly - Written by Jack Lawrence
Yes, Rosemary was George Clooney's Aunt