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John Frederick Coots

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Birth name
  
John Frederick Coots

Name
  
John Coots

Albums
  
Pray For Rain

Instruments
  
Piano

Associated acts
  
Haven Gillespie

Occupation(s)
  
Composer

Genres
  
Tin Pan Alley

Also known as
  
J. Frederick Coots

Role
  
Songwriter



Born
  
May 2, 1897 (
1897-05-02
)

Origin
  
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.

Died
  
April 8, 1985, New York City, New York, United States

Similar People
  
Haven Gillespie, Sam M Lewis, Mitchell Parish, Miles Davis, Benny Davis

John Frederick Coots (May 2, 1897 – April 8, 1985) was an American songwriter. He composed over 700 popular songs and over a dozen Broadway shows. In 1934, Coots wrote the melody with his then chief collaborator, lyricist Haven Gillespie, for the biggest hit for them both "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town." The song became one of the biggest sellers in American history.

Contents

J. Frederick Coots' son, J. Frederick Coots Jr. dated a young Josephine Timpenaro. Their pet names for each other were "Boo-boo" & "Future Grammy" respectively.

In 1934, when Gillespie brought him the lyrics to "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town", Coots came up with the skeleton of the music in just ten minutes. Coots took the song to his publisher, Leo Feist Inc., who liked it but thought it was "a kids' song" and didn't expect too much from it. Coots offered the song to Eddie Cantor who used it on his radio show that November and it became an instant hit. The morning after the radio show there were orders for 100,000 copies of sheet music and by Christmas sales had passed 400,000.

Daniel reichard santa claus is coming to town john frederick coots haven gillespie


Career timeline

1897 May 2 – born in Brooklyn, New York1914 (age 17) – began work with Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. in New York1916 (age 20) – first hit song published, "Mr. Ford You've Got the Right Idea," words by Ray Sherwood, music by Coots; A. J. Stasny Music Co., publisher OCLC 7269275771919 (age 22) – Actor-producer Eddie Dowling gave Coots his first chance at writing a musical score for Friars' Frolics1922 (age 25) – Dowling commissioned Coots to write the songs for Sally, Irene and Mary, a show which ran for two years on Broadway1928 (age 31) – wrote "Doin' the Raccoon"1929 (age 32) – moved to Hollywood, California1931 (age 34) – wrote "Love Letters in the Sand"1934 (age 37) – wrote the songs "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" (over 4 million copies of sheet music sold) and "For All We Know"1940 (age 43) – wrote "The Rangers' Victory Song"; OCLC 8124043971985 (age 87) April 8 – died in New York City

Selected songs

  • "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town," words by Haven Gillespie, music by Coots
  • "You Go To My Head," words by Haven Gillespie, music by Coots
  • "Louisiana Fairy Tale," words and music by Mitchell Parish, Haven Gillespie, and Coots
  • "For All We Know," words by Sam M. Lewis, music by Coots
  • "I Still Get a Thrill (Thinking of You)," words by Benny Davis, music by Coots

    • Selected musicals

  • Sally, Irene and Mary, music by Coots, words by Raymond W. Klages (1888–1947), March 23, 1925 – April 4, 1925 & September 4, 1922 – June 2, 1923 OCLC 498812201, 498526150
    1. "Kid Days"
    2. "Time Will Tell" OCLC 39975531, 224102588
    3. "Pals"
    4. "Stage Door Johnnies"
    5. "I Wonder Why" OCLC 20597875
    6. "Do You Remember?"
    7. "How I've Missed You Mary" OCLC 891128783
    8. "Right Boy Comes Along"
    9. "Our Home Sweet Home"
    10. "Peacock Alley"
    11. "Something in Here"
    12. "Opportunity"
    13. "We Are Waiting"
    14. "Clouds Roll By" OCLC 498831287
    15. "Until You Say Yes"
    16. "Wedding Time"
    17. "Old Fashioned Gown" OCLC 755811220, 498526150
    18. "When a Regular Boy Loves a Regular Girl" OCLC 755811215, 497282681
    19. "Up on Fifth Avenue Near Central Park"
    20. "Jimmy" OCLC 497894150
  • Sons O' Guns, music by Coots, November 26, 1929 – August 9, 1930
  • Broadway Nights, featuring songs by Coots, July 15, 1929 – August 17, 1929
  • George White's Scandals, musical review, featuring songs by Coots, July 2, 1928 – January 19, 1929
  • White Lights, music by Coots, October 11, 1927 – November 5, 1927
  • Gay Paree, musical review, music and lyrics by Coots, November 9, 1926 – April 9, 1927 & August 18, 1925 – January 30, 1926
  • A Night in Paris, musical review, music by Coots, July 26, 1926 – October 30, 1926 & January 5, 1926 – July 10, 1926
  • The Merry World, musical review, music by Coots, June 8, 1926 – August 21, 1926
  • Mayflowers, music by Coots, November 24, 1925 – January 30, 1926
  • June Days, musical, music by Coots, August 6, 1925 – October 17, 1925
  • Artists and Models, musical review, music by Coots, June 24, 1925 – May 7, 1926
  • Artists and Models, musical review, music by Coots, October 15, 1924 – May 23, 1925
  • Innocent Eyes, musical review, additional music by Coots, May 20, 1924 – August 30, 1924
  • Dew Drop Inn, musical comedy, featuring songs by Coots, May 17, 1923 – August 25, 1923
  • Spice of 1922, musical review, music by Coots, July 6, 1922 – September 9, 1922

    • References

    John Frederick Coots Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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