Al Hoffman

Al Hoffman (September 25, 1902 – July 21, 1960) was a Russian-born American song composer. He was a hit songwriter active in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, usually co-writing with others and responsible for number-one hits through each decade, many of which are still sung and recorded today. He was posthumously made a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1984. The popularity of Hoffman's song, "Mairzy Doats", co-written with Jerry Livingston and Milton Drake, was such that newspapers and magazines wrote about the craze. Time magazine titled one article "Our Mairzy Dotage". The New York Times simply wrote the headline, "That Song".

Hoffman's songs were recorded by singers such as Frank Sinatra ("Close To You", "I'm Gonna Live Until I Die"), Billy Eckstine ("I Apologize"), Perry Como ("Papa Loves Mambo", "Hot Diggity"), Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong ("Who Walks In When I Walk Out"), Nat "King" Cole, Tony Bennett, the Merry Macs, Sophie Tucker, Eartha Kitt, Patsy Cline, Patti Page ("Allegheny Moon") and Bette Midler. In October, 2007, Hoffman's "I'm Gonna Live Til I Die" was the lead single from Queen Latifah's album, Trav'lin' Light.

Though Hoffman had apparently little connection to Chicago, he wrote the Chicago Bears fight song "Bear Down, Chicago Bears" in 1941 under the pseudonym Jerry Downs.

Life and career Hoffman was born in Minsk in the Russian Empire (now Belarus), to a Jewish family. His parents moved to Seattle, Washington in the United States when he was six. After graduating from high school in Seattle, he started his own band, playing the drums, and moved to New York City in 1928 to pursue a music career. "Black-Eyed Susan Brown" "Close to You" (with Jerry Livingston and Carl Lampl) "Don't Stay Away Too Long" "Fit as a Fiddle" (1932) (with Arthur Freed and Al Goodhart) "From One Minute to Another" "Goodnight, Wherever You Are" "Heartaches" (1931) (lyrics by John Klenner) "I Apologize" (1931) (lyrics by Al Goodhart) "If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake" (1950) (with Bob Merrill and Clem Watts) "I Must Have One More Kiss Kiss Kiss" "I Paid For The Lie I Told You" (1939) (with Al Sherman and Enoch Light) "I'm Gonna Live Till I Die" (1955) (with Walter Kent and Mann Curtis) "If You Saw What I Saw In Nassau" (1949) (with Al Sherman and Clem Watts) "Little Man You've Had a Busy Day" (1934) [with Maurice Sigler] [music by Mabel Wayne] "Mairzy Doats" (1943) (with Jerry Livingston and Milton Drake) "Roll Up the Carpet" (1933) (with lyrics by Raymond Klages, music by Raymond Klages, Al Goodhart, and Hoffman) "She Broke My Heart in Three Places" (c. 1944) (with Jerry Livingston and Milton Drake) "Fuzzy Wuzzy" (1944) (with Jerry Livingston and Milton Drake) "The Story of a Starry Night" (1941) (with Jerry Livingston and Mann Curtis) "What's the Good Word, Mr. Bluebird?" (1943) (with Allan Roberts and Jerry Livingston) "A Whale of a Tale" (1954) (with Norman Gimbel) "Who Walks in When I Walk Out?" (1933) (with Ralph Freed and Al Goodhart) "Without Rhythm" "You Meet the Nicest People in Your Dreams" (1939) (with Al Goodhart and Manny Kurtz)