Charles Segal - Biography, Discography & Albums

Biography

A prolific pianist and composer from South Africa, Charles Segal has earned recognition through his extensive catalog spanning children’s music, jazz, and soothing mood pieces. He first rose to prominence in the 1950s through popular English- and Afrikaans-language songs as well as compositions created for the South African Broadcast Company. Numerous works have become standards across the country, while Segal himself has received honors such as the 1973 South African Record Industry award and the 2017 Guinness Book of World Records designation as the Most Recorded Pianist in the world.

Born in 1929 in Joniškis, Lithuania, Segal left the country at age two with his Jewish family, who fled the Holocaust and resettled in Cape Town, South Africa. After studying classical piano, he earned performance and teaching diplomas from Trinity College of London. Public notice arrived in 1952 when his composition “Miskien,” the Afrikaans word for “Perhaps,” won a magazine songwriting contest. That success led to an active career in performance and recording; he established the Spin Record Company and launched his own publishing firm to handle his catalog. In addition to issuing his own albums, Segal contributed regularly to the South African Broadcast Company, appearing on radio broadcasts and supplying scores for productions that included “The Forsyte Saga,” “Story of an African Farm,” and “The Saga of Prunella.”

Between 1969 and 1992, “Carousel,” co-written with Dorothy Arenson, served as the theme for the external service Radio RAS. Several of his pieces achieved wide popularity in South Africa, among them “Africa,” “Kwela, Kwela,” “Die Ou Kalahari,” “Sy Kom Van Kommetjie,” “Kalkoenkie,” and “Hy-Ba-Ba-Rie-Bab.” International exposure followed from songs written for Arthur Prysock, Sheila Davis, and Ronnie Dove. In 1973 “My Children, My Wife” was named South African Song of the Year. Segal was also a founding member of both the Southern African Music Rights Organization and the Drama and Literary Rights Organization, and he opened the Charles Segal Music Schools in Pretoria and Cape Town.

Collaborating with his wife, singer and actress Colleen Hay, Segal created the musicals Magical Mystery Man, Rocky Road, Mystery Mansion, and Once Upon a Storyland. In the late 1980s the couple moved to the United States, where they wrote the musical Freedom! A Refusenik Story and issued several music tutorial books. They relocated to Los Angeles in 2018; Segal has continued to perform at events that include the Oscars, the Emmys, the Kids Choice Awards, and the Teen Choice Awards. In June 2017 he received the Guinness Book of World Records title of Most Recorded Pianist in the world after completing 11,721 tracks.