David Heneker

David Heneker, a British lyricist who earned three Ivor Novello Awards for his contributions as a songwriter and composer, gained his greatest renown through the score he created for the hit musical Half a Sixpence. Only after World War II did his professional path in music begin to accelerate, at which point he took up steady piano engagements in London clubs while also composing and committing his original pieces to tape. His initial forays into theater scoring arrived in 1958 via a partnership with Monty Norman on Expresso Bongo, a satire on London lowlife; soon afterward he joined forces again with Norman plus Julian More to deliver Irma la Douce, which achieved major success across the West End. The production later crossed the Atlantic and registered a hit on Broadway in 1960 before reaching the screen in a 1963 film that starred Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine. Heneker’s signature achievement, however, remained 1965’s Half a Sixpence, first staged that same year; its Broadway mounting introduced American audiences to Tommy Steele. He passed away near Cardigan, Wales, in 2001 at the age of 94.