Biography
Eddie DeLange first saw the light of day in New York in 1904 and later attended the University of Pennsylvania. Upon completion of his studies, he headed to Hollywood for a series of small film roles before settling in New York City to pursue lyric writing. His earliest published effort, the 1934 song “I Wish I Were Twins,” was created in tandem with Frank Loesser. The following year brought his two best-known numbers, “Moonglow” and “Solitude.” Between 1936 and 1938 he co-led the Hudson-DeLange Orchestra with Will Hudson; the group specialized in swing and ballads and featured vocalist Ruth Gaylor. DeLange afterward directed his own orchestra and supplied both lyrics and libretto for the brief 1939 Broadway musical Swingin’ the Dream. During the 1940s he devoted himself entirely to songwriting, teaming with composers that included Josef Myrow, Jimmy Van Heusen, Louis Alter, and Sam H. Stept. His work appeared in several motion pictures of the decade, among them When Johnny Comes Marching Home (1942), If I’m Lucky (1946), and New Orleans (1947), his final screen project. Active as both bandleader and lyricist from the mid-1930s through the 1940s, DeLange also contributed music to additional films of that era.