{{short description|American Tin Pan Alley songwriter (1907–2007)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2022}} {{more citations needed|date = November 2018}} {{Infobox musical artist <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Musicians --> | name = Hy Zaret | image = | caption = | image_size = | background = non_performing_personnel | birth_name = Hyman Harry Zaritsky | alias = Hy Zaret | birth_date = {{Birth date|1907|8|21}} | birth_place = New York City | death_date = {{Death date and age|2007|07|2|1907|08|21}} | death_place = Westport, Connecticut, U.S. | instrument = | genre = | occupation = Songwriter | label = | website = | current_members = | past_members = }} '''Hy Zaret''' (born '''Hyman Harry Zaritsky'''; August 21, 1907 – July 2, 2007) was an American Tin Pan Alley<ref name="har"/> lyricist and composer who wrote the lyrics of the 1955 hit "Unchained Melody", one of the most-recorded songs of the 20th century.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3246887.stm | title=Brothers in good company with hits | first=Stephen | last=Dowling | date=November 6, 2003 | publisher=BBC News | access-date=July 3, 2007}}</ref>
==Personal life== Zaret was born on August 21, 1907, in New York City to Jewish parents Max Zaritsky and Dora Shiffman, who had emigrated from Russia in the 1890s. He attended West Virginia University and Brooklyn Law School, where he received an LLB. He shortened his name legally from Zaritsky to Zaret in 1934.<ref name=obituary /> Zaret served in the Army's Special Services division during World War II.<ref name="argosy">[https://www.argosymusiccorp.com/HyZaret/HyZaret.html Biography of Hy Zaret] www.argosymusiccorp.com. Retrieved August 12, 2021.</ref>
Zaret had two sons, and was married to the former Shirley Goidel. He died at his home in Westport, Connecticut, on July 2, 2007, at the age of 99, a month before his 100th birthday.<ref name=obituary>{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/03/arts/03zaret.html | title=Hy Zaret, 99, Tin Pan Alley Lyricist, Is Dead | work=New York Times | date=July 3, 2007 | first=Douglas | last=Martin | access-date=July 3, 2007}}</ref>
==Career== He scored his first major success in 1936, when he teamed up with Saul Chaplin and Sammy Cahn to co-write the pop standard "Dedicated to You." The early 1940s brought some collaborations with Alex C. Kramer and Joan Whitney, including 1941's "It All Comes Back to Me Now" and the socially conscious, WWII-themed "My Sister and I." In 1941 Vaughn Monroe had a top 5 hit with the song "There I Go",<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.vaughnmonroesociety.org/achievements/achievements_hits.htm|title=Achievements Hits}}</ref> which Zaret co-wrote with Irving Weiser.<ref name = obituary/>
Zaret wrote the lyrics for an English translation of the French Resistance song "La Complainte du Partisan" ("The Song of the French Partisan"). The song became popular after it was recorded by Leonard Cohen and others as "The Partisan". In 1944, he and Lou Singer wrote the popular hit novelty song "One Meatball", based on a song popular among Harvard undergraduates.<ref name="har">[http://harvardmagazine.com/2009/05/song-hard-times "Song for Hard Times"], ''Harvard Magazine'', May–June 2009</ref>
===Military=== Zaret wrote the lyrics for "Soldiers of God", the hymn of the United States Army Chaplain Corps, as well as the song of the Nurse Corps.<ref>{{cite news |title=NRHS To Hear Zaret, Singer |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-standard-star-nrhs-to-hear-zaret-si/181486355/ |work=The Standard-Star |date=20 February 1948 |pages=16}}</ref>
==="Unchained Melody"=== Zaret's co-wrote the song "Unchained Melody" with film composer Alex North for the 1955 prison film ''Unchained'' (hence the title), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Three versions of the song – by Les Baxter, Al Hibbler, and Roy Hamilton – hit the U.S. Top Ten that year. The song was also recorded by Eddie Fisher, Jimmy Young and Liberace, and many others. The Righteous Brothers' 1965 version reached the U.S. pop Top Five; their recording was revived in 1990 thanks to its inclusion in the film, ''Ghost'', reaching number 1 in the U.K. Elvis Presley, Sam Cooke, Cliff Richard, Roy Orbison and Donny Osmond also recorded versions of the song.{{fact|date=April 2024}}
This song is unique{{fact|date=April 2024}} in that it has made No.1 on the U.K. singles charts in four different guises by four different artists over a period of nearly fifty years: Jimmy Young (1955), The Righteous Brothers (1990), Robson & Jerome (1995) and Gareth Gates (2002). The latter three versions have all recorded certified sales in excess of one million copies in the U.K. alone.{{fact|date=April 2024}}
===Children's music=== Zaret turned his attention to educational children's music in the late 1950s, collaborating with Lou Singer on a six-album series called ''Ballads for the Age of Science''; different volumes covered space, energy and motion, experiments, weather, and nature. The records were quite successful, and the songs "Why Does the Sun Shine?" and "What is a Shooting Star?" were covered by alternative rock band They Might Be Giants in 1993 and 2000, respectively.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hy Zaret And Lou Singer |url=https://tmbw.net/wiki/Hy_Zaret_And_Lou_Singer |access-date=2025-09-19 |website=TMBW: The They Might Be Giants Knowledge Base |language=en}}</ref>
==See also== * Great American Songbook Foundation – where Hy Zaret's papers are housed. A collection guide can be found [http://www.thecenterfortheperformingarts.org/getattachment/Great-American-Songbook-Inititative/Archive-Gallery/Archive-Collections/FA-Mss-009-Hy-Zaret-Papers.pdf;;.aspx;.html here].
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.ascap.com/playback/2003/july/actionc.html ASCAP Foundation Living Video Archive interview Hy Zaret] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726011308/http://www.ascap.com/playback/2003/july/actionc.html |date=July 26, 2011 }} *{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060210121941/http://www.mplcommunications.com/zaret_bio.asp |date=February 10, 2006 |title=Zaret Bio at MPL Communications }} *{{cite web|url=http://www.mplcommunications.com/behind_song_unchained.asp |title=Story of Unchained Melody at MPL Communications |access-date=April 11, 2007 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060226112230/http://www.mplcommunications.com/behind_song_unchained.asp |archive-date=February 26, 2006 }} *[http://www.thecenterfortheperformingarts.org/Great-American-Songbook-Inititative Great American Songbook Foundation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170527013810/http://www.thecenterfortheperformingarts.org/Great-American-Songbook-Inititative |date=May 27, 2017 }} *[http://www.argosymusiccorp.com Argosy Music Corp.] **[http://www.argosymusiccorp.com/LittleSongs/LittleSongs.html History of Little Songs] *[http://www.unchainedmelodypublishing.com/ Publishing administrator for "Unchained Melody"] *{{MusicBrainz artist|id=e28d6352-c13e-407b-b72b-7f6cb1785c5f|name=Hy Zaret}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Zaret, Hy}} Category:1907 births Category:2007 deaths Category:20th-century American Jews Category:21st-century American Jews Category:West Virginia University alumni Category:Brooklyn Law School alumni Category:Jewish American songwriters Category:Musicians from New York City Category:Musicians from Westport, Connecticut Category:Songwriters from New York (state) Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent Category:20th-century American songwriters