Name William Daly | Role Musical Artist | |
William Merrigan Daly, Jr., known to friends and colleagues as Bill Daly (1 September 1887, in Cincinnati – 3 December 1936, in New York City), was a pianist, composer, songwriter, orchestrator, musical director and conductor.
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Life and career
William Daly was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of a successful song-and-dance man. He attended Harvard University receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1908. By 1911 he was a writer, editor, and eventually general manager for Everybody's Magazine in New York. Daly left the company in 1914 to pursue a show business career. He married in 1915 settling in New York City.
Daly played piano with various Broadway orchestras, and in time established himself as a songwriter, arranger, orchestrator, and music director, conducting more than twenty shows between 1915 and 1934. He met George and Ira Gershwin in the late 1910s. Daly and George Gershwin collaborated on several Broadway scores. Both contributed songs to Piccadilly to Broadway (1920), a show which closed in Atlantic City, and For Goodness' Sake (1922). The two jointly composed the score for Our Nell in 1923. This was the beginning of a long friendship; Daly was a frequent arranger, orchestrator and conductor of Gershwin's music, and Gershwin periodically turned to him for musical advice. Gershwin dedicated his 1926 Preludes for Piano to Daly.
Around 1930, Daly also became conductor and music director of the National Broadcasting Company radio orchestra.
Daly died suddenly of a heart attack in December 1936.