Jimmy Van Heusen, American songwriter and composer, was born on 26th Jan. 1913

Jimmy Van Heusen was born Edward Babcock in Syracuse, NY in 1913, and began writing music at high school, changing his name for a radio show appearance, using the name of the well-known shirt manufacturer. He became friends with Harold Arlen’s brother, which helped him get into the business, and became a staff pianist for Tin pan Alley publishers, worked with Tommy Dorsey and lyricist Eddie Lange during the ‘30s. He teamed up with lyricist Johnny Burke in 1940 and moved to Hollywood, winning an Academy Award in 1944 for “Swinging on a star”. However, it was his work with Sammy Cahn in the 1950s that proved his most productive period,  and they won 3 Academy Awards for Best Song  with “All the way” (1957 from ‘The Joker Is Wild’) “High Hopes” (1959 from ‘A Hole In The Head’) and “Call Me Irresponsible” (1963 from ‘Papa’s Delicate Condition’). Van Heusen was nominated for an Academy Award 14 times in 12 different years. He and Cahn were legendarily associated with Frank Sinatra, with hits like “Love And Marriage” and “Come fly with me”, and were fixtures in the Hollywood bars near the Capitol Tower during the ‘50s where they punted their songs to Sinatra and Capitol’s other big stars. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame in 1971. He died in California in 1990 aged 77. His songs are widely represented in Acrobat’s catalogue, especially on our Frank Sinatra albums.