{{Short description|American musician and composer (1903–1940)}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Einar Aaron Swan | image = Swan, Einar Aaron c. 1927.jpg | caption = Einar A. Swan, contemporary news paper photo from the ''Worcester Telegram''. | image_size = 200 | birth_name = Einar (Eino) William Swan | alias = | birth_date = {{birth date|1903|3|20}} | death_date = {{death date and age|1940|8|8|1903|3|20}} | death_place = [[Greenwood Lake, New York]], [[United States|USA]] | birth_place = [[Fitchburg, Massachusetts]], [[United States]] | instrument = [[Violin]], [[clarinet]], [[saxophone]], [[piano]] | genre = [[Big band]], [[Swing music|swing]], [[jazz]] | occupation = [[Musician]], [[songwriter]] | years_active = 1919-1940 | label = | associated_acts = [[Sam Lanin]], [[Vincent Lopez]] | website = }} '''Einar Aaron Swan''' (born '''Einar (Eino) William Swan'''; March 20, 1903 – August 8, 1940) was an American musician, arranger and composer. He is known for writing songs including "[[When Your Lover Has Gone]]" and "[[In the Middle of a Dream]]".
==Early life== Swan was born in Fitchburg, Massachusetts to [[Finnish people|Finnish]] parents who had immigrated to the United States at the turn of the century; he was the second of nine children. His father was a keen amateur musician and before Einar Swan had entered his teens, he played violin, clarinet, saxophone and piano. At the age of 16 he was already playing in his own dance band, Swanie's Serenaders, and travelling around Massachusetts for three years. Swan's main instrument had been the violin but during this period he switched to alto saxophone.<ref name="who was">Sven Bjerstedt: [http://finlander.genealogia.fi/sfhswiki/bilder/Swan.pdf Who was Einar Swan? - A study in jazz age fame and oblivion] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303205543/http://finlander.genealogia.fi/sfhswiki/bilder/Swan.pdf |date=2016-03-03 }} (2006) (published online by SFHS, [[The Swedish-Finn Historical Society]])</ref>
==Career== Around 1924, the bandleader [[Sam Lanin]] invited Swan to join his orchestra at New York's famed [[Roseland Ballroom]], and Swan played with leading musicians such as cornettist [[Red Nichols]], and members of [[The Charleston Chasers]] [[Vic Berton]] (drums) and [[Joe Tarto]] (tuba), with whom he soon started composing and arranging material for the orchestra. He also started arranging for the other resident band at the Roseland Ballroom, [[Fletcher Henderson]]'s orchestra.<ref name="who was" />
After five months with Lanin, Swan joined [[Vincent Lopez]]'s band in 1925 and went on tour to England. The band at that time also featured [[Mike Mosiello]], [[Xavier Cugat]] and his old bandmate Joe Tarto. Shortly thereafter, the [[Bar Harbor Society Orchestra]] released "Trail of Dreams" credited to Swan and Raymond Klages.<ref name="who was" />
Around 1930 Swan stopped working as a musician and concentrated on arrangements, starting to work for radio programmes and bandleaders such as [[Eddie Cantor]] collaborator [[Dave Rubinoff]] and [[Raymond Paige]].<ref name="who was" />
In 1931 he wrote "[[When Your Lover Has Gone]]" which was featured in the [[James Cagney]] film ''[[Blonde Crazy]]'' (1931). The song became a hit and has since been covered by many other performers such as [[Lee Wiley]], [[Louis Armstrong]], [[Ray Charles]], [[Ethel Waters]], [[Billie Holiday]], [[Sarah Vaughan]] and [[Frank Sinatra]].<ref name="who was" />
In 1939, he composed "[[In the Middle of a Dream]]" with [[Tommy Dorsey]] and [[Al Stillman]], which was recorded by [[Glenn Miller]] and [[Red Norvo]].
==Personal life== Swan married, on August 7, 1925, Ann "Billie" Kaufman in [[Brooklyn]]. Kaufman's sister, Pauline, was married to lyricist [[Albert Stillman]], with whom Swan would collaborate on "[[In the Middle of a Dream]]". At the same time, Swan converted to his wife's religion, [[Judaism]], and changed his middle name from William to Aaron. Swan's conversion exacerbated tensions with his father, who had already been unhappy about Swan abandoning classical music for jazz; his father never spoke to him again after the marriage.<ref name="who was" />
Einar and Ann had two children, Pearl, born in 1926 (later known as Leslie von Roeder), and Donald, born in 1930.<ref name="who was" />
He died of a [[cerebral hemorrhage]] in [[Greenwood Lake, New York]] in 1940 at the age of 37.<ref>"New York, State Death Index, 1880-1956", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGP2-LNJ7 : 3 March 2022), Einar A Swan, 1940.</ref> After Swan's death, Sinatra donated his royalties from "When Your Lover Has Gone" to Ann, Swan's widow.<ref name="who was" />
== Major compositions == * "[[White Ghost Shivers (song)|White Ghost Shivers]]" * "[[Trail of Dreams]]" (1926) * "[[When Your Lover Has Gone]]" (1931) * "[[In the Middle of a Dream]]" (24 May 1939); [[Al Stillman]] (words); [[Tommy Dorsey]] and Einar Swan (music)
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Swan, Einar Aaron}} [[Category:1903 births]] [[Category:1940 deaths]] [[Category:American jazz saxophonists]] [[Category:American male saxophonists]] [[Category:American male jazz composers]] [[Category:American music arrangers]] [[Category:American people of Finnish descent]] [[Category:Jazz musicians from Massachusetts]] [[Category:20th-century American saxophonists]] [[Category:20th-century American jazz composers]] [[Category:Converts to Judaism]] [[Category:20th-century American male composers]]