Philip Springer

Life and career Early life Philip Springer was born in New York City in 1926 to Jewish parents. His mother, Sylvia, was a concert pianist and his father, Mordecai, a lawyer by profession, was a very musical person. Springer's musical talent was clear from a young age; at six he played a Bach piano piece by ear. Springer went to grade and high school in Cedarhurst, Long Island, then a rustic small town. In 1944, he graduated from Lawrence High School, having been voted the best singer and the most musical person of his class in the yearbook.

U.S. Army service Springer served as a truck driver in World War II; he was Mickey Rooney's Musical Director in 1945 when he did a show in Regensburg, Germany.

Education Springer studied composition under Otto Luening at Columbia College, his father's alma mater, graduating in 1950. During his time at Columbia, he co-composed the music for two Varsity Shows (1948 and 1950), including The Streets of New York, and started writing songs for the popular market. He also played dual piano with pianist Dick Hyman. They were commissioned to write a Christmas song for Eartha Kitt in 1953.

Tamir Music is Springer's publishing entity, and he owns the publishing rights to most of his songs. Tamir Music/Philip Springer owns 100% of "Santa Baby" for the United States, its territories and possessions. For several years, Springer wrote songs with Senator Orrin Hatch; Hatch dedicated their song "Headed Home" to Hatch's friend, Senator Ted Kennedy.

Springer was Yip Harburg's last collaborator before Harburg's death in 1981. Springer's collaboration with Harburg produced 15 songs, one of which, "Time You Old Gypsy Man" was called "a little known masterpiece" by Steven Holden of The New York Times in December 1989.

Some of Springer's songs recorded by well-known artists include: A number of Springer songs were recorded and popular in foreign languages, including the French version of "The Next Time", "Apres Toi" by Richard Anthony, "Allo Maillot" by Frank Alamo and others.

Score writing Springer composed and conducted six motion picture scores in Hollywood, including Kill a Dragon (1967); I Sailed to Tahiti with an All Girl Crew (1968); More Dead Than Alive (1969); Impasse (1969); Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon (1970); and Wicked, Wicked (1973).

He also scored episodes of the television series Gunsmoke, Mannix, Then Came Bronson, and Medical Center, and composed the theme for Crosswits, a 1970s game show. Songs interpolated in Broadway shows include "Salesmanship" (Ziegfeld Follies of '57; lyrics by Carolyn Leigh); and "You'll Make an Elegant Butler" (Tovarich, for which he wrote the opening song for Vivien Leigh in her last Broadway performance, with lyrics by Joan Javits).

In 1963, the Metropolitan Opera baritone, George London, announced his intention to take leave from the Opera in order to make his Broadway debut in a musical written by Springer and Javits called Solomon & She. However, London died before this work could come to Broadway.

In 1999, Springer's daughter, Tamar, produced her favorite of her father's works, The Bells of Notre Dame, a musical-in-concert based on the famous Victor Hugo novel. The concert was presented with singers and a narrator, in classic song style, with lyrics by Faith Flagg and Buddy Kaye. , Tamar Springer is currently working on a production of this musical.

Other compositions Springer has composed many serious works, including an hour-long requiem titled "Requiem for an Artist: An American Requiem". He wrote this hour-long work in 1995 to express his grief at the recent death of his brother, artist Anthony Springer. Springer has been quoted as saying this was his greatest work.

Springer taught electronic music at the UCLA extension from 1974 to 1986; a number of his students went on to make careers in the music world, including Eric Drew Feldman and Bill Bell. In 1981 he worked with Paul Simon, teaching him how to transcribe music.