Biography
Songwriter Bernie Hanighen worked alongside Clarence Williams to convert Thelonious Monk’s bop classic “‘Round About Midnight” into the vocal standard “‘Round Midnight,” which remained a fixture of the ballad repertoire for decades. Hanighen scored his breakthrough success in 1934 when “When a Woman Loves a Man,” written with Gordon Jenkins, became a major hit. Three years afterward, Bing Crosby popularized the Hanighen–Johnny Mercer song “Bob White (Whatcha Gonna Swing Tonight).” In 1944 Hanighen supplied a notably empathetic lyric to the Clarence Williams melody, and the resulting piece entered the vocal canon through recordings by Mel Tormé, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Nancy Wilson, Chris Connor, and Julie London.