# Wally Gold > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Wally_Gold > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Wally_Gold.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wally_Gold > Source revision: 1351919771 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) American singer **Wally Gold** (May 15, 1928 – June 7, 1998)[1] was an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and music business executive[2] from [Teaneck, New Jersey](/source/Teaneck%2C_New_Jersey). Wally Gold in his office at Kirshner around 1981 ## Personal life Gold was born in [Brooklyn](/source/Brooklyn), [New York](/source/New_York_(state)), United States. Gold moved to [Teaneck, New Jersey](/source/Teaneck%2C_New_Jersey) with his wife Fredda and two young sons and was soon joined by the addition of his daughter. He had five grandchildren. ## Career Gold first performed as a saxophone player in the [U.S. Navy](/source/U.S._Navy) band during [World War II](/source/World_War_II). After returning from Japan, he started college at [Boston University](/source/Boston_University) where he formed the singing group [The Four Esquires](/source/The_Four_Esquires). Gold toured with [The Four Esquires](/source/The_Four_Esquires) in the late 1950s and had two hit singles "Love Me Forever" and "Hideaway". They also appeared on *The Patty Page Show* and *[The Ed Sullivan Show](/source/The_Ed_Sullivan_Show)*. By 1960, Gold joined [Aaron Schroeder](/source/Aaron_Schroeder) with whom he co-wrote two [Elvis Presley](/source/Elvis_Presley) Number 1 hits – "[It's Now or Never](/source/It's_Now_or_Never_(song))"[2] (1960) and "[Good Luck Charm](/source/Good_Luck_Charm)" (1962). During this period, Gold also co-wrote [Lesley Gore](/source/Lesley_Gore)'s number 1 hit "[It's My Party](/source/It's_My_Party_(Lesley_Gore_song))".[3] Gold's songs have been recorded by scores of artists, including [Duane Eddy](/source/Duane_Eddy)'s "[Because They're Young](/source/Because_They're_Young_(song))" which peaked at #4, [Gene Pitney](/source/Gene_Pitney)'s "[Half Heaven – Half Heartache](/source/Half_Heaven_%E2%80%93_Half_Heartache)" (#12) and "Take Me Tonight", [Nat King Cole](/source/Nat_King_Cole)'s "Time and the River", as well as by [Paul Petersen](/source/Paul_Petersen) and [Pat Boone](/source/Pat_Boone). Gold has a total of 81 songs credited in the [ASCAP](/source/American_Society_of_Composers%2C_Authors_and_Publishers) database.[4] By the mid-1960s, Gold was hired as a house producer for [Columbia Records](/source/Columbia_Records), where he produced albums for [Tony Bennett](/source/Tony_Bennett) and [Jerry Vale](/source/Jerry_Vale), and [Barbra Streisand](/source/Barbra_Streisand)'s 1969 album "[What About Today?](/source/What_About_Today%3F)". In the 1970s, Gold moved over to work as Vice President/general manager for [Don Kirshner](/source/Don_Kirshner)'s music organization,[5] where he discovered and produced the band [Kansas](/source/Kansas_(band)). He worked on other successful projects as well, including a TV game show called *[Musical Chairs](/source/Musical_Chairs_(1975_TV_series))* (1975) and a TV comedy *[A Year at the Top](/source/A_Year_at_the_Top)* (1977) (uncredited) starring [Paul Shaffer](/source/Paul_Shaffer) and [Greg Evigan](/source/Greg_Evigan). He also served as Musical Coordinator for the *Rock Concert* TV series. After leaving the music business, Gold worked as a [travel agent](/source/Travel_agent) until his death from [colitis](/source/Colitis) in 1998 at the age of 70.[1] ## References 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Dead_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Dead_1-1) Doc Rock. ["The Dead Rock Stars Club 1998 – 1999"](https://thedeadrockstarsclub.com/1998.html). *Thedeadrockstarsclub.com*. Retrieved March 31, 2013. 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Spencer_Leigh_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Spencer_Leigh_2-1) Leigh, Spencer (June 15, 1998). ["Obituary: Wally Gold"](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-wally-gold-1165286.html). Independent. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-Tumposky_3-0)** TUMPOSKY, ELLEN (February 18, 2015). ["Brooklyn woman recalls origins of Lesley Gore's 'It's My Party' from teen outburst"](http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/brooklyn-woman-recalls-origins-gore-party-article-1.2119662). *Gore's number-one hit "It's My Party"*. NEW YORK DAILY NEWS. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-Search_Wally_Gold_4-0)** Gold, Wally. ["ASCAP Database"](https://www.ascap.com/Home/ace-title-search/index.aspx). *ASCAP*. THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF COMPOSERS, AUTHORS AND PUBLISHERS. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["Rock band Kansas coming to Cone Denim Entertainment Center"](https://www.greensboro.com/blogs/gotriad_extra/rock-band-kansas-coming-to-cone-denim-entertainment-center/article_c0794e2e-b877-11e5-b58a-5b5947261a3d.html). Greensboro News & Record. greensboro.com. January 11, 2016. ## External links - [Obituary from the Independent](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-wally-gold-1165286.html) - [A Year At The Top listing at IMDb.com](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075602/fullcredits) Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF GND WorldCat National United States France BnF data Norway Poland Finland Artists MusicBrainz --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Wally Gold](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wally_Gold) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wally_Gold?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.