Biography
Born on 15 August 1872 in London, England, and dying on 19 January 1944 at Dalcross Castle in Inverness, Scotland, Fraser-Simson studied at Charterhouse and Cambridge. While employed in business he tried to establish himself as a songwriter, achieving modest success with pieces such as “I Sent My Love Two Roses,” “The Raindrop And The Rose,” “Falmouth Town” and “The Old Land.” His initial West End musical, Bonita (1911), completed only 46 performances.
Recognition came with The Maid Of The Mountains, written in tandem with lyricist Harry Graham. Starring José Collins, the piece opened in Manchester before reaching the West End in February 1917 and running for 1,352 performances; later revivals, a 1932 film and a Broadway production followed. Three of the show’s four best-known numbers—“My Life Is Love,” “A Paradise For Two” and “A Bachelor Gay Am I”—were in fact supplied by James W. Tate, Clifford Harris and Arthur Valentine, leaving only “Love Will Find A Way” to Graham and Fraser-Simson.
A Southern Maid opened in Manchester in 1917 yet remained on tour until The Maid Of The Mountains closed in 1920, releasing Collins for a London engagement. Subsequent scores comprised Our Peg (1919, with Graham and Collins), Missy Jo (1921, Graham), Head Over Heels (1923, Graham and Adrian Ross), Our Nell (1924, with Ivor Novello), The Street Singer (1924, with Percy Greenbank) and Betty In Mayfair (1925, with Graham).
Fraser-Simson then abandoned musical comedy, writing the ballet Venetian Wedding (1926) and incidental music for The Nightingale And The Rose (1927) and Toad Of Toad Hall (1929). On the last of these he collaborated with A.A. Milne, who had adapted Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind In The Willows. Finding an ideal medium, he next supplied settings for Milne’s When We Were Very Young; demand led to further cycles drawn from Now We Are Six, Winnie The Pooh and The House At Pooh Corner. The Milne collections produced 67 songs in all, among them the well-known “Christopher Robin Is Saying His Prayers” and “They’re Changing Guard At Buckingham Palace.” Fraser-Simson also set other verse, publishing the collections Teddy Bear And Other Songs and Alice In Wonderland.
Recognition came with The Maid Of The Mountains, written in tandem with lyricist Harry Graham. Starring José Collins, the piece opened in Manchester before reaching the West End in February 1917 and running for 1,352 performances; later revivals, a 1932 film and a Broadway production followed. Three of the show’s four best-known numbers—“My Life Is Love,” “A Paradise For Two” and “A Bachelor Gay Am I”—were in fact supplied by James W. Tate, Clifford Harris and Arthur Valentine, leaving only “Love Will Find A Way” to Graham and Fraser-Simson.
A Southern Maid opened in Manchester in 1917 yet remained on tour until The Maid Of The Mountains closed in 1920, releasing Collins for a London engagement. Subsequent scores comprised Our Peg (1919, with Graham and Collins), Missy Jo (1921, Graham), Head Over Heels (1923, Graham and Adrian Ross), Our Nell (1924, with Ivor Novello), The Street Singer (1924, with Percy Greenbank) and Betty In Mayfair (1925, with Graham).
Fraser-Simson then abandoned musical comedy, writing the ballet Venetian Wedding (1926) and incidental music for The Nightingale And The Rose (1927) and Toad Of Toad Hall (1929). On the last of these he collaborated with A.A. Milne, who had adapted Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind In The Willows. Finding an ideal medium, he next supplied settings for Milne’s When We Were Very Young; demand led to further cycles drawn from Now We Are Six, Winnie The Pooh and The House At Pooh Corner. The Milne collections produced 67 songs in all, among them the well-known “Christopher Robin Is Saying His Prayers” and “They’re Changing Guard At Buckingham Palace.” Fraser-Simson also set other verse, publishing the collections Teddy Bear And Other Songs and Alice In Wonderland.
Albums