- Byname of:
- Hoagland Howard Carmichael
- Born:
- November 22, 1899, Bloomington, Indiana, U.S.
- Died:
- December 27, 1981, Rancho Mirage, California (aged 82)
- Awards And Honors:
- Academy Award (1952)
- Notable Works:
- “In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening”
Hoagy Carmichael
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Who was Hoagy Carmichael?
Hoagy Carmichael (1899-1981) was a versatile American talent known as a composer, singer, self-taught pianist, and actor. His compositions became highly regarded popular standards in American music. Carmichael's early musical influences included ragtime and the music from Black churches and families in his neighborhood. He was also influenced by jazz music, and he made efforts to hear as much jazz as possible.
His notable songs include "Stardust," "Lazy River," "Rockin’ Chair," and "Georgia on My Mind". In Hollywood, he composed for films and acted, often as a philosophical piano player, such as in To Have and Have Not (1944). He won an Oscar for the best film song of 1951, "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening". Carmichael was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1971.
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What types of music did Hoagy Carmichael compose and perform?
Hoagy Carmichael was an American composer, singer, self-taught pianist, and actor who composed and performed in various popular styles. Carmichael was influenced by ragtime and jazz music, which is evident in his early work with jazz bands and his later compositions, such as "Skylark".
Carmichael composed numerous popular standards, including "Stardust," "Lazy River," and "Georgia on My Mind". Additionally, he wrote songs for films, such as "Two Sleepy People" and "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening". In his later years, Carmichael also composed children’s music, releasing Hoagy Carmichael’s Music Shop in 1971.
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What are some of Hoagy Carmichael's most famous songs?
Hoagy Carmichael, a self-taught pianist, was an American composer, singer, and actor who wrote many popular standards in American music.
Some of Carmichael's most famous songs include:
* "Stardust," which became one of the most renowned standards in American music after Isham Jones and his Orchestra had a hit with it in 1930.
* "Lazy Bones," his first hit with lyricist Johnny Mercer in 1933.
* "Georgia on My Mind".
* "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening," which won an Oscar for best film song in 1951.
* "Skylark," another collaboration with Mercer.1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How did Hoagy Carmichael's musical style influence American music?
Hoagy Carmichael, an American composer, singer, and actor, significantly shaped American music through his popular standards.
Carmichael's exposure to ragtime and jazz as a youth, along with his collaborations with lyricist Johnny Mercer, led to the creation of hits like "Lazy Bones". His unique style, characterized by improvisational melodies, is evident in "Skylark," which one music scholar noted seemed to have improvisations built right into the melody. Carmichael's contributions to the Great American Songbook solidify his lasting influence.
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In addition to music, what other careers did Hoagy Carmichael have?
Beyond his successful music career, Hoagy Carmichael also explored other professional avenues. After graduating from Indiana University, where he led a jazz band, Carmichael briefly practiced law in Florida. However, upon learning of the success of his song "Washboard Blues," he left law to become a musician and composer in New York City. Later, Carmichael moved to Hollywood, California, where he composed songs for films and established himself as a character actor, often playing a philosophical piano player. In the 1950s, he took on various television roles, including a recurring part in the western series Laramie. In his later years, Carmichael dedicated his time to hobbies such as golf and coin collecting.
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How is Hoagy Carmichael remembered today in the world of music and entertainment?
Hoagy Carmichael, who lived from 1899 to 1981, is remembered as an iconic American composer, musician, singer, and actor. His self-taught piano skills and early exposure to ragtime and jazz shaped his career, leading him to write some of the most highly regarded popular standards in American music.
Carmichael's legacy includes timeless hits like "Stardust," "Skylark," and "Georgia on My Mind," which have been recorded by numerous artists and remain popular today. Beyond music, his appearances as a character actor, often as a philosophical piano player, have solidified his place in entertainment history. Carmichael was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1971.
1 Britannica SourceCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Hoagy Carmichael (born November 22, 1899, Bloomington, Indiana, U.S.—died December 27, 1981, Rancho Mirage, California) was an American composer, singer, self-taught pianist, and actor who wrote several of the most highly regarded popular standards in American music.
Carmichael’s father was an itinerant electrician, and his mother earned extra money for the family as a pianist for dances and silent movies; from her, Carmichael absorbed the basics of playing the piano. He was strongly influenced by ragtime music and by the music he heard from Black families and churches in his neighbourhood. As a teenager, he made every effort to hear and play as much jazz as possible, studying in Indianapolis, Indiana, with pianist Reginald DuValle and traveling to Chicago to hear Louis Armstrong. While studying at Indiana University in Bloomington (LL.B., 1926), Carmichael led a small jazz band that had some success playing for college dances throughout the Midwest. In the spring of 1924, Carmichael became friends with Bix Beiderbecke after engaging the young cornetist to play for several fraternity parties. Carmichael’s first composition, “Free Wheeling,” was retitled “Riverboat Shuffle” when recorded by Beiderbecke and his band, the Wolverines, later the same year; the recording subsequently became a jazz classic.
After graduating from college, Carmichael practiced law in Florida for a brief period. During this time, he happened to hear a recording of his song “Washboard Blues,” by Red Nichols and his Five Pennies. Surprised that the song had been recorded and encouraged by this mark of success, he abandoned law and moved to New York City to embark on a career as a musician and composer. He recorded a version of his song “Stardust” in 1927; the song, an instrumental until fitted with lyrics by Mitchell Parrish in 1929, attracted little notice at first. In 1930 Isham Jones and his Orchestra had a hit with the song, and it went on to become one of the most renowned and most recorded standards in all of American music. During his stay in New York, Carmichael became friends with the young lyricist Johnny Mercer; the two collaborated on several songs throughout the years, with “Lazy Bones” being their first hit in 1933. Other hits composed during Carmichael’s years in New York include “Lazy River,” “Rockin’ Chair,” and “Georgia” (also known as “Georgia on My Mind”).
Carmichael moved to Hollywood, California, in 1936. There he composed songs for films and found additional success as a character actor, often playing the role of a philosophical and world-weary piano player, as in To Have and Have Not (1944). His hit songs for movies include “Two Sleepy People,” “Small Fry,” “Heart and Soul,” “Ole Buttermilk Sky,” “The Nearness of You,” and “In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening,” which won an Oscar for the best film song of 1951. One of his best-known compositions of the 1940s was “Skylark,” another collaboration with Mercer, and a song that reflected Carmichael’s jazz influences in that, according to one music scholar, it “seemed to have the improvisations built right into the melody.”
As the golden age of American popular song waned during the advent of rock and roll in the 1950s, Carmichael continued to write songs—including such minor hits as “My Resistance Is Low” and “Winter Moon”—but had no more major successes as a songwriter. He also acted in a variety of television roles, such as his recurring dramatic part on the western series Laramie during the 1959–60 season. He never stopped composing, although most of his later songs were never recorded. One notable exception was a collection of children’s music released in 1971, Hoagy Carmichael’s Music Shop. Mostly, he devoted his later years to his hobbies of golf and coin collecting.
Carmichael wrote two well-received volumes of memoirs, The Stardust Road (1946) and Sometimes I Wonder (1965). He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1971. After Carmichael’s death in 1981, his family donated his archives and personal effects to his alma mater, Indiana University, which opened the Hoagy Carmichael Room in his honour in 1986.