The first half of his life was spent as a reporter for the Louisville Courier-Journal. At another time, he was a riverman. (He commanded a
Mississippi River transport boat during the Civil War.)
He seems to have started writing songs on or about 1856, before the Civil War, and after the war, he made songwriting his career. In 1862, he wrote "Evangeline", based on the Longfellow poem. His first major success also came in 1862, with publication of his war song "Drummer Boy of Shiloh". This song was so popular, that it was used by both Northern and Southern troops.
Brief Chronology:
1871 Four of his songs were well received.
Other songs in this period were:
1877 Hays began to write Negro dialect songs, including:
Hays died in his home town of Louisville, KY, USA, in July of 1907.
Erskine Hawkins
b. 1914, Birmingham, Alabama, USA.
Erskine Hawkins is mostly remembered today as a trumpeter who led a swinging big band in the late thirties into the early forties. He is included here only for his composition "Tuxedo Junction," which was a major hit for the Glenn Miller Orchestra in I940.
Richard Hayman
b. March 27, 1920
A fine musician, this harmonica player, born in Cambridge, MA, is still active. In 1953, The film 'Ruby' featured his haunting theme song which he played on the harmonica. He did the same on the hit "April In Portugal". Also in 1953, Hayman composed "Dansero", - now a latin standard. He was arranger/orchestrator for the Boston Pops Orchestra (he followed Leroy Anderson) under their famed leader, Arthur Fiedler. He was the Music Director or Mercury Records. Over his careerr, he orchestrated such Broadway musicals as 'Girl Crazy', 'Meet Me In St. Louis', and 'State Fair'. He made wrote some tunes and made recordings with his his own orchestra.
Among his records are:
"No Strings Attached", Richard Hayman composer
"Ruby", from the film "Ruby Gentry", Heinz Roemheld (1953) composer
"Skipping Along", Richard Hayman composer
Will S. Hays
b. ca. 1837, Louisville, KY. d. July 1907, Louisville, KY, USA.
né: William Shakespeare Hays
Hays is very little remembered today, but, in the latter half of the 19th century, he was a most prolific writer, both words and music, of popular songs. Hays wrote more than 300 songs, with combined sheet music sales exceeding 20 million copies.
1866 Three of his songs were successful
"We Parted By the Riverside"
"Nora O'Nea"
"Write Me a Letter Home"
"Susan Jane"
"Mollie Darling", his most successful song.
"The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane"
"Number Twenty-Nine" This song celebrated the success of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad's
Thatcher Perkins locomotive no. 29.
"Nellie Brown"
"Angels, Meet Me at the Cross Roads"
"Oh, Give Me A Home in the South"
"Out in the Snow"
"Take This Letter to your Mother"
"Walk in de Middle of de Road"
"Early in de Mornin'"
"Roll Out, Heave dat Cotton"