Ray Evans
Biography
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One of these, DEAR HEART, which they wrote with Henry Mancini, received an Academy nomination. Other Mancini lyrics include IN THE ARMS OF LOVE, DREAMSVILLE, and BYE-BYE (the "Peter Gunn" theme), and MR LUCKY, Mancini's theme for that TV show. They have also written lyrics for picture themes by Max Steiner, Victor Young, David Raksin, David Rose, Percy Faith, and Neil Hefti.
In 1958 Livingston & Evans were assigned to write the score for a Broadway show, OH CAPTAIN! Written and directed by Jose Ferrer, and starring Tony Randall and Abbe Lane, it was based on the Alec Guiness film, "The Captain's Paradise." The show got mostly rave reviews and everyone was happy, until a man came across the river from New Jersey and demanded to know why he wasn't getting any statements, as he was an investor. But his name didn't appear on the rolls, and that's when the creative team knew that one of the producers was a crook. He simply pocketed the man's money, and otherwise dipped in the till at random. The show ran for six months and then closed to a full house because there was no money to pay the actors. There have been a hundred different recordings from OH CAPTAIN!, including six different albums of the entire score. A second Broadway show, LET IT RIDE, starred George Gobel and Sam Levene. A new version of this show was produced by the All Souls Players, an off-Broadway group that has been producing plays and musicals since 1963. It opened on January 31, 1991. The York Theatre Company did a staged reading of OH CAPTAIN! in 1995 in New York in which a talented company read the book and sang the songs. Livingston and Evans wrote THE SUGAR BABY BOUNCE for the hit Broadway show, "Sugar Babies," starring Mickey Rooney and Ann Miller. WARM AND WILLING, originally written with Jimmy McHugh for a 20th Century Fox picture, is also in the show, which is still playing on the road. They have been writing special material for Bob Hope's personal appearances since 1947. They have also written special night-club material for Betty Hutton, Joel Grey, Mitzi Gaynor, Cyd Charisse, Polly Bergen, and others. They also write material for many charity shows; the most prestigious is the annual SHARE Boomtown Party, for which they have provided music and lyrics for twenty years. They also do benefit appearances with their "And-Then-I-Wrote" act. This act is of professional quality, and they have appeared with stars like Bob Hope, Milton Berle, George Jessel, Carol Burnett, and Helen Reddy. In 1996 the Motion Picture Academy honored them with an evening of their songs and accomplishments, including film clips and live performances at the Sam Goldwyn Theatre. Also in 1996, the City of Los Angeles dedicated their annual Music Week to Livingston and Evans, along with Peggy Lee and Joe Williams. The same year, the Young Musicians Foundation, which discovers and helps train young concert artists, presented an evening honoring Jay Livingston, giving him their Lifetime Achievement Award because of the work he has done over the years to help them. In 1996 Columbia Records released two CD's containing twenty-three Livingston and Evans songs in their Great American Composers series. Livingston and Evans had twenty-six songs that have sold over a million records or more, and the total record sales of their songs has exceeded 400 million.Ray Evans, who was a Wharton School graduate and handy with numbers, kept meticulous books on the sales of their songs, and came up with the following statistics: Livingston and Evans had twenty-six songs that have sold over a million records or more, and the total record sales of their songs has exceeded 400 million. Livingston and Evans received their star on the Hollywood Boulevard Walk of Fame in 1995. Sadly, Jay Livingston passed away on October 17, 2001 and Ray Evans passed away on February 15, 2007. |
BIRTH NAME
Raymond Bernard Evans
BORN
February 4, 1915
Salamanca, NY, USA DIED
February 15, 2007
Los Angeles, CA, USA Age: 92 MARRIED TO
Wyn Ritchie Evans
(1901-2003)
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NPR's Scott Simon speaks with musician Michael Feinstein and Ray Evans. February 1, 2003 (13:09)