Hy Zaret
NOTE: ONE MUST BE CAREFUL. THERE ARE DIFFERENT MEN NAMED HY ZARET

   Hy Zaret
né: Hyman Harry Zaritsky
b. August 21, 1907 New York NY, USA, d . July 2, 2007 (aged 99)
After matriculating from 'West Virginia University', Zaret attended New York's 'Brooklyn Law School', where he received an LLB. In 1935, he first teamed up with Saul Chaplin and Sammy Cahn to co-write the pop standard "Dedicated to You". In the early 1940s, he collaborated with Alex C. Kramer and Joan Whitney, which resulted in the 1941 hit "It All Comes Back to Me Now", and "My Sister and I", a World-War II hit. During WWII, he worked with the U.S.Army's office of Special services, USA, WWII; head writer, CBS TV show "Sing It Again"; and was music chmn, Brotherhood Week. He also wrote the novelty song "One Meatball", but perhaps more importantly, he also wrote lyrics for an English translation of the French Resistance song "The Partisan" (aka "The Song of the French Partisan"), which was later covered by Leonard Cohen. In 1947, Lou Singer, Zaret wrote the score for 'Patrick Henry and the Frigate's Keel': A Musical Legend by Howard Fast (Decca No.DA-522),

By far, Zaret's biggest hit was 1955s "Unchained Melody," a song he co-wrote with film composer Alex North for the 1955 prison film "Unchained". Subsequently, a Fraud by the name of William Stirrat, falsely claimed he was really Hy Zaret, and claimed title to the song. (See below). In time, this tune was recorded by such stars as Les Baxter, Al Hibbler, and Roy Hamilton, Jimmy Young, Liberace, amd in 1965 by the Righteous Brothers'. Even Elvis Presley recorded a version of the song. "Unchained Melody" became one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century.

In the decades after the World War II, Hy Zaret and Lou Singer frequently teamed up as lyricist and composer respectively. Together in the late 1950s and early 1960s, they composed a series of recordings called "Ballads for the Age of Science", which were sung by Tom Glazer, Dorothy Collins, and Marais and Miranda. The CDs covered space, energy and motion, experiments, weather, and nature. In 1994, one of the tunes, "Why Does the Sun Shine?" (aka "The Sun Is a Mass of Incandescent Gas") was recorded by alt-rockers 'They Might Be Giants'. In 1958, Zaret and Lou Singer composed the popular song "Young and Warm and Wonderful"

   FAKE Hy Zaret
b. 1921, Cortlandt (near Syracuse), NY, USA, d. July 2, 2004, Freehold Township, New Jersey, USA. Age: 83.
mé: William Albert Stirrat
Stirrat was an imposter who claimed to use a pen name, "Hy Zaret," as the lyricist of the hit "Unchained Melody." However, it is palpably clear that in fact, he stole the real Hy Zaret's name, and falsely claimed to be the lyricist of "Unchained Melody" However, "Unchained Melody" was written by a man really named Hy Zaret, (né: Hyman Harry Zaritsky, songwriter, born August 21 1907; died July 2, 2007 and who published over 178 songs.

In 1941, Stirrat graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a degree in electrical engineering, and soon joined General Electric in Schenectady, New York (claiming he had done some postgraduate work). . In 1950 he began working for the U. S. Army Electronics Command in Fort Monmouth, N. J. . In 1977, he became a principal engineer for Eagle Technologies, in Eatontown, New Jersey. Eagle Technologies was acquired by Logicon during the 1980s which in turn was acquired by Northrop Grumman in 1997. Stirrat retired in 1992.

Stirrat invented a fanciful tale of having written a poem, in 1936, while he was still in high school, before going on to establish a significant career as an electrical engineer. Stirrat told how at age 16, he had been pining over a girl (Mary Louise "Cookie" Pierce) in his high school. While on a summer scholarship at 'Yaddo's Triuna Arts of the Theatre School', he wrote the poem, which he named "Unchained Melody", in praise of his childhood sweetheart, and how a very young fellow student, Alex North, composed the music for his lyric. In fact, North, who would go on to become one of Hollywood's best known composers, never went to school with Stirrat or even knew him.

In 1950, Stirrat moved to the Jersey Shore when he was hired as an electrical engineer by the U.S. Army at Fort Monmouth, Eatontown. After working for the Army for 27 years, he retired and then became principal engineer for Eagle Tech Logican Inc. Northrop Grumman Corporation in Eatontown until 1992, when he retired for good.

   Paul J. Zaza
Currently no information available.
This composer was active (in Hollywood, CA) from the the 1970s into the 2000s. He worked on over 60 films beginning with 1978s film 'Three Card Monte'. Other films on which he worked are the Sherlock Holmes story of 'Murder by Decree', 'A Christmas Story', 'Breaking All The Rules', and 'Birds of Prey'. He worked on such TV series as 'Ford, The Man and The Machine', 'Katts and Dog', 'Flesh Gordon Meets the Cosmic Cheerleaders', 'I'll Remember April (1999), and 'Catch a Falling Star' (2000).

   Hans Zimmer
b. 1958, Frankfurt, Germany
né: Hans Florian Zimmer
As an actor Zimmer has been seen in 1994's TV production of 'The Lion King: A Musical Journey with Elton John' (playing himself), and in the 1987 film 'Man kann ja nie wissen'. Hans has been actively creating music and acting since 1982. Among his earliest works are 1982s 'Schwarzarbeit' (aka: Moonlighting), 1983s 'Eureka', and 1984s 'Success Is the Best Revenge'. Since then, he has worked on about 100 films. Among his most recent works are 2000s 'Gladiator', and in 2001, 'Hannibal',' 'Pearl Harbor', and 'Riding In Cars With Boys'.

On August 1, 1981, Hans was a member of the British band 'The Buggles' when their one-hit wonder (which he co-created) "Video Killed the Radio Star" would go down in history as MTV's maiden music video, shown during the launch of that channel. He was also the co-producer. The score for the Metallica S&M Concert was composed by Michael Kamen (with Gavin Greenaway conducting). The heavy metal band had originally asked Hans Zimmer who agreed but later had to step out to due some prior work taking longer than anticipated. Hans has one daughter, Zoe.

   J. S. Zamecnik
b: May 14, 1872, Cleveland, Ohio, USA, d: June 13, 1953, Los Angeles, California, USA
né: John Stepan Zamecnik
"Studied for five years with Anton Dvorak in Prague. Returned to America as violinist and concert master with Victor Herbert in the Pittsburgh Symphony. Became musical director at the Hippodrome Theater in Cleveland, first as a vaudeville house then as a movie palace. Published a vast collection of music for scoring silent films. Published under at least 14 pseudonyms. Moved to Hollywood in 1924" - quoted from the imdb site.

One of the songs he composed was "Neopolitan Nights", with lyric by Harry D. Kerr. The song was the theme song for the 1928 silent film "Fazil".

Here's the original waltz version of the tune recorded in 1928:
    "Neapolitan Nights": (437 kb): played here by the 'Casino Dance Orchestra' (still another name used by the Harry Reser Orchestra),

Some years later, Jack Denny and his Canadian orchestra recorded an up-tempo version.
    "Neapolitan Nights": (442 kb): played here by the Jack Denny Orchestra. 20 years later, in the 1948 film "Easter Parade", dancing teacher Fred Astaire teaches his student, Judy Garland, how to dance with this same tune.

The lyric for Neapolitan Nights is not shown anywhere on the Internet. Here's what lyricist Harry D. Kerr wrote:
    Oh Night of Splendor,
    Your charm so tender
    makes love surrender
    it's song of dawn.

    Oh night of laughter,
    those tears come after
    love regrets, love forgets
    when comes the dawn.

   "Amorita", (636 kb): Played here by Lenzberg's Riverside Orchestra (Composer: m: J. S. Zamecnik w: Harry D. Kerr) Rec'd: Edison 50696-R

Zamecnik co-composed many songs with Harry D. Kerr, among which are:

    Adios my Senorita
    Amorita (listen above)
    Blue Moon
    Jealous Moon
    Kisses
    My Paradise
    Neapolitan Nights
    Nights of Splendor
    One Sweet Day
    Paradise
    Redskin
    Somewhere in Naples
    Southern Moon
    Venetia
    Your Love Is All